The Big Data Challenges Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Big Data Challenges - Case Study Example ral platform referred to as data ware house that helps integrate data from different sources such as; customers and dealers to name just but a few (Strader, 2011). The CIO chair at Volvo asserted that, through the establishment of a central platform, the company can be able to prevent potential losses and inherent risk that might occur in the future (Strader, 2011). The corporation captures data from vehicles sold to their customers through sensors and central processing units installed during car manufacturing (Strader, 2011). The data captured is then used to make necessary improvements on the model vehicles being manufactured (Verganti, 2009).This improvement has not only helped to meet customer satisfactions but also has helped to prevent mechanical problems that might occur in the future (Strader, 2011). Real time information systems are computer responsive systems that help to detect and give out responses after updating the computer master files with the detected information (Chaki, Nabendu & Cortesi, 2011). For instance, Volvo Corporation installed their vehicles with numerous sensors and central processing units in order to detect information about the performance of the vehicles when the vehicle is in the hands of a customer (Strader, 2011). Whereby, any impending mechanical problems or threat detected is sent back to Volvo Corporation and necessary improvements are made thereafter (Chaki, Nabendu & Cortesi, 2011). In above connection, the implementation of real time information system has enabled the corporation to make continuous quality improvements on the quality of vehicles manufactured (Strader, 2011). This in turn has increased customer satisfactions by responding accordingly to customers needs through utilization of real time information (Chaki, Nabendu & Cortesi, 2011). The company utilizes big data strategy to identify any potential flows that may occur in the future and provide a remedy to the problem before it happens (Strader, 2011). This

Big Skinny Online Marketing Development

Big Skinny Online Marketing Development Big Skinny Case Analysis Executive Summary In 2010, Big Skinny CEO Kiril Alexandrov was looking to transcend from retail distribution and print advertising to the world of online marketing to achieve maximum growth. The retail sales pitch was an easy one, as Alexandrov focused on the value of the wallet and the impulsiveness of consumers (Benjamin Kominers, 2012). Unfortunately, translating this type of sales pitch was much harder to do in the world of cyberspace. Big Skinny centered their online marketing efforts around display Ads, keyword searches, social media and relationships with online distributors and deep DISCOUNTED sites such as Amazon and Groupon respectively. The expansion caused much hardship, as Big Skinny received negative feedback on the review website Yelp that stemmed from their Groupon experiment. They also faced a glitch in their online promotion that allowed 4,000 people to order free wallets from their online store. Big Skinny needs to refocus their online marketing strategy by getting rid of display Ads, refining keyword searches and severing ties with deep DISCOUNTED sites. Big Skinny can create value for their product and manage their orders better by being more selective with who distributes their product and by keeping the price steady. A more seasonal approach surrounding keyword searches can create new revenue from those who are looking to make quick and impulsive purchases. Lastly, by being responsible for who distributes their products, Big Skinny can deliver their product in prompt and timely manner, which will resolve the majority of customer complaints against Big Skinny. Problem Statement Despite successful in-person sales campaigns, Big Skinny struggled to find an effective online marketing platform that would grow and connect them to their consumer base. Big Skinny also ran into glitches with their current online marketing campaigns that brought unwanted negative attention and resentment towards the company. Data Analysis When Big Skinny transcended into the world of online marketing, it had to develop a way to attract visitors to the website while attempting to convince these visitors to buy wallets. Since most of their wallets were being sold at trade shows or retail stores that centered on a straight-forward approach regarding impulse and value, the translation of this strategy to the internet proved to be a tall task. Big Skinny looked at various means of advertising such as display ads, algorithmic search, sponsored search, A/B Testing and social media. Display ads offered a two-frame animation; however, the click-through rate of general display ads in 2009 was only .1% (Bejamin Kominers, 2012). Algorithmic searches use algorithms that the search engine deems most relevant to the user’s query. The websites that most resemble the query appear the highest on the search engine’s list. Sponsored searches use keywords that the advertisers specify that they want to target. These are mostly sold on a â€Å"per-click† basis; however the company loses money if the clicks aren’t converted into sales. A/B testing is a marketing technique that shows different advertisements to different users to compare the response rates between the two. Lastly, social media utilizes websites such as Facebook and Twitter to try and create an interactive relationship with consumers. Alternatives Big Skinny could eliminate their means of online distribution and PAID ONLINEmarketing, only utilizing social media and their website to conduct advertising and business transactions. Big Skinny could be more selective in their selection of online distribution, while tailoring their paid sponsored searches to generate interest and sales. Big Skinny could scrap their online marketing plans, with the exception of social media, and reallot their advertising money strictly on deep DISCOUNTED sites like Groupon and Living Social. Big Skinny could focus their efforts on expanding in more brick and mortar retail stores by target marketing towards different demographics. They could use traditional media such as TV and radio to drive these efforts. Key Decision Criteria Increase customer satisfaction and corporate image Increase sales and market share Improve (or at least maintain) profitability Ease or speed of implantation Be consistent with corporate mission or strategy Within our present resources or capabilities Within acceptable risk parameters Minimize environmental impact Maintain and build employee morale and pride Alternatives Analysis 1. By limiting their online marketing to free social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook, Big Skinny can greatly reduce their marketing costs. With display advertisements only getting clicked through .1% of the time the money is essentially thrown away. Investing in A/B testing requires the hiring of a permanent person and huge overhead. Getting rid of online distributors allows Big Skinny to eliminate the 7-15% commission they pay to Amazon and eBay while being able to manage their order load. Social Media is more than enough because 71% of social media participants say they are more likely to purchase from a brand they follow online. 91% of local searchers say they use Facebook to find local businesses online (Bennett, 2013). The cons of this are that they are missing out on a lot of potential customers by eliminating Amazon and eBay. While ONLINE PAID marketing can be expensive, there is still benefit to sponsored searches. Some of the cost per conversions are profitable and b y completely eliminating these searches would be throwing away potential opportunities. 2. The pros of Big Skinny being more selective with their online distributors allows for a happy customer base. There have been several negative reviews on the Yelp site regarding slow delivery and non-existent customer service. By eliminating deep discounting sites such as Groupon, Big Skinny can manage their order load and keep customers happy. Big Skinny would also keep the revenue from the top paid sponsored searches rather than eliminating them all together. The negatives of this are that Big Skinny could miss out on a lot of revenue by not using Groupon or Living Social. They could also miss out on the repeat customers that are generated by these sites as well as missing out on the people who want to try their product without having to pay full price. 3. Instead of eliminating sites like Groupon and Living Social, Big Skinny could embrace the huge influx of customers that it brings. According to the customer satisfaction and analytics company ForeSee, 91% of customers have already or plan to conduct business with the merchant since buying the deal (Bedigian, 2013). This strategy generates a large influx of customers in a short time while attempting to generate residual income by repeat customers. The cons of this are that company’s often lose money during the initial Groupon. The product is discounted by 50% or more and then Groupon takes a 50% commission on the sale price, which leaves the seller receiving only 25% of the original selling price of the item (which in some cases is less than the cost of the item). Forbes has found that 1/3rd of businesses have lost money on a Groupon deal and there is no guarantee that the customers ever return to pay full price from the merchant again (Gleeson, 2012). 4. The pros of using a more traditional advertising medium such as TV or radio would bring brand recognition for Big Skinny. Big Skinny has always had success selling in retail stores because they market their products based on value and impulse. By putting the product in more retail stores, there is a greater chance people will put it in their hands and buy on impulse. Instead of targeting just one big audience, Big Skinny should advertise by target market such as Big Skinny Sport or Big Skinny Women. By doing this they could partner with big retail chains to get into more stores and generate more revenue the old fashioned way. The average time an American spends watching TV is 5 hours compared to just 1 hour browsing the internet, which leads for greater exposure. The cons of doing this are that TV advertising is much more expensive than online marketing (Nielsen, 1997). Another con is Tivo allows people to record their favorite shows and then fast-forward past the commercials. The last con is that TV advertising seems to be a thing of the past, as the amount spent on TV advertising was only up 4.5% in 2011 as compared to 21.7% via online marketing (Gleeson, 2012). Recommendations Based on the data, it is best for Big Skinny to be more selective of their online distribution, while tailoring their paid sponsored searches to generate interest and sales. In regards to online distribution, Big Skinny should keep eBay and Amazon, however, should drop deep-discount sites such as Groupon or Living Social. To offer a Groupon deal, Big Skinny is guaranteed to be taking a loss. To be eligible to offer a Groupon, Big Skinny must discount the price of their wallet by at least 50%. This turns a $20 wallet into a $10 wallet. Groupon takes a commission of 50% on the sale price, which leaves Big Skinny walking away with only $5 for every wallet sold (Bice, 2012). Essentially, they are taking a loss with every wallet they sell on Groupon. The goal of a Groupon is to try and get repeat customers; however, the people that use Groupon are bargain-hunters. They won’t return to Big Skinny, but rather, they will return to Groupon again looking for another bargain deal. By usi ng Groupon, Big Skinny also decreases the value of their brand (Gibbard, 2011). Why would a customer pay full price for a $40 wallet when they just bought it on Groupon for $15 or $20 just a short time ago? In addition to dropping Groupon, Big Skinny needs to manage their online distribution better because of customer satisfaction issues. On the review site Yelp, Big Skinny’s wallets are only receiving a rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars. A lot of the reviews include gripes about not receiving their order for 3-4 weeks or non-existent customer service (most of the negative reviews are from users who bought a Big Skinny wallet on Groupon). If the online distributor doesn’t ship your product in a timely manner, your company risks a tarnished reputation. Whether Big Skinny didn’t have enough stock to fulfill orders or whether Groupon didn’t ship the products in a timely manner, Big Skinny is taking the fall and abuse from customers. When people do research for a product they are going to see Big Skinny’s products with poor ratings. These poor ratings can scare potential customers away. Big Skinny should only use Amazon, eBay and their website to sell their wallets. This allows them to manage their inventory, not get behind on orders and make sure their product gets shipped in a timely manner . Big Skinny has excellent Amazon ratings and should continue to grow their product through the sterling reputation of Amazon. They should sell the product for a higher price on their website so that people are encouraged to buy through Amazon. This is a win-win for Big Skinny because if people buy through Amazon then Big Skinny doesn’t have to waste time and effort fulfilling and shipping orders. If they choose to buy direct than Big Skinny receives a larger profit on their wallets. Lastly, Big Skinny needs to tailor their sponsored keyword searches. They need to eliminate the term â€Å"leather wallet.† They don’t manufacture a true leather wallet and the cost per conversion for this keyword is a sky-high $20.26. Big Skinny should also bid less for the term â€Å"thinnest wallet.† The cost per conversion for â€Å"thinnest wallet† also has a high cost, which is $10.53. After replacing leather wallet and lowering the bid for thinnest wallet, Big Skinny should add keywords centered on holidays. Wallets are popular gifts on occasions such as Father’s Day and Christmas. Big Skinny should add season keywords such as â€Å"Father’s Day Wallet,† â€Å"Wallet for Dad,† â€Å"Best Wallet for Gift† and â€Å"Wallet for Christmas.† This will bring seasonal shoppers into the mix who are looking to spend quickly and impulsively. Action and Implementation Plan CEO Kiril Alexandrov will be responsible for delegating the following tasks. The Director of Marketing will pull any promotions or future plans with deep discounted sites such as Groupon or Living Social. The Director of Marketing in combination with the Director of Product Management will reach out to all of those who left negative reviews on Yelp to satisfy the customer complaints and retract the negative ratings. The Director of Sales will carefully select the online distribution channels which Big Skinny will sell through. Big Skinny will only sell through Amazon, eBay and any online outlets of the retail stores that they are currently featured in. The Director of Sales will also raise the prices of wallets on the Big Skinny Website by 10-15% to create value for the product and promote customers to purchase through the select online distribution. Doing this saves Big Skinny the time it would take to fulfill and pack orders, however, if a customer decides to purchase direct, then Big Skinny recoups the 10-15% it would pay Amazon or eBay to sell and fulfill the order. This new price point will be conveyed in a message from the Director of Sales to Big Skinny’s distribution channel. References Bedigian, L. (2013). Does Groupon Help Businesses Thrive or Bury Them Alive?. In NASDAQ. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://www.nasdaq.com/article/does-groupon-help-businesses-thrive-or-bury-them-alive-cm243672 Bennett, S. (2013). 6 Amazing Social Media Statistics For Brands and Businesses. In Media Bistro. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social- media-facts_b40978 Bice, B. (2012). Groupon Isn’t a Good Deal for Businesses. In CNBC. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://www.cnbc.com/id/49092709 Donnelly, T. (2011). How Groupon Can Boost Your Companys Exposure. Inc. Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://www.inc.com/guides/201101/how-groupon- works-for-small-businesses.html Edelman, Benjamin, and Scott Duke Kominers. Online Marketing at Big Skinny. Harvard Business School Case 911-033, February 2012. (Revised from original February 2011 version) Gibbard, J. (2011). Considering Offering a Groupon? Read This First. In Social Media Today. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://socialmediatoday.com/jgibbard/337550/considering-offering-groupon-read-first Gleeson, B. (2012). TV Advertising VS Digital Marketing. Forbes. Retrieved June 12, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2012/11/20/tv-advertising-vs-digital- marketing Nielsen, J. (1997). Why Advertising Doesnt Work on the Web. In Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved June 13, 2013, from http://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-advertising- doesnt-work-on-the-web

Teenage Stress Essay -- essays research papers fc

Laura sits in her room surrounded by a stack of notes, cramming for a test that she entirely forgot about, while James stares blankly at a college application. He also has the knowledge that he must be at work in 20 minutes, and that his car hardly has any gas left in it. Both of these teenagers suffer from a common dilemma, stress. Stress is a reaction to external and internal pressure. It is a normal function that helps people in their daily lives ("Stress: Who"). Without some level of stress, individuals wouldn't have the motivation to meet deadlines or complete projects ("Stress: Who"). However normal stress can become a burden over a long period of time and this leads to chronic stress. Chronic stress is what people are referring to when they say that they are "stressed out" ("Spotlight"). Stress can become even more overwhelming if chronic stress goes into overload; this is what is known as distress (Romero, B1). Since stress is a reaction, there must be a trigger to cause that reaction. The items that cause the stress reaction are called stressors, and they can fall into three different categories: catastrophes, major life changes, and daily hassles ("Stress (psychology)"). A catastrophe can be described as a sudden calamity that pushes people to their outmost coping abilities. Some examples of catastrophes are: Ø Earthquakes, Fire, Flood, etc, Ø War/Torture, Ø Car accidents, Ø Violent physical attacks, Ø Sexual assault ("Stress (psychology)"). Catastrophes often affect the victim's mind long after the incident is over ("Stress (psychology)"). - The following form of stressor is major life changes. A few examples of this, is: Ã ¼ Death, Ã ¼ Divorce of a parent, Ã ¼ Imprisonment, Ã ¼ Disability/Illness ("Stress (psychology)"). The final class of stressor is the daily hassles. These may not appear very stressful but if experienced repeatedly over a long period of time may have very severe effe... ...espair can Spur Suicide, Experts say." Denver Mountain News. (Denver, CO). CD Newsbank. 23 October 2000. Seibold, Douglas. "The Kids are All Right." Our Children. April 1999: pp. 8-12. in Social Issues Research Series, Inc. Siegfried, Tom. "Adolescents' Risky Rebellion Reflects rewiring in the Brain." Dallas News. (Dallas, TX). CD Newsbank. 21 August 2000. "Spotlight on Stress." 17 November 2000. http://kidshealth.org/teen/mind_ matter/feelings/stress_p4.html. "Stress: Mental or Physical Tension?" 20 November 2000. http:www.pgcps.org /~wwict/teen/stress.html. "Stress (psychology)." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. 1999. "Stress: Who has Time for It?" 17 November 2000. http://familydoctor.org/ handouts/278.html. "Teen Stress." 17 November 2000. http://library.thinkquest.org/13561/english/ teen_stress.html.

Learning Team A Week One Reflection Essay

The object of the reflection for this week is to discuss the objectives for Week One and their relation to the importance of the balance sheet to internal and external users. The objectives discussed by Learning Team A are the components of cash and cash equivalents, and the comparison and contrast of different inventory cost flow assumptions and how they are valued. The internal users are indentified as management and the external users are investors and creditors. Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash is defined in the text as the â€Å"most liquid of assets† and is identified by companies as a current asset. (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010) What has become very popular is the classification called cash and cash equivalents. FASB has determined that classification to be misleading and it will probably be eliminated from financial statements. Cash will be cash and what used to be short term cash equivalents will now be reported as temporary investments. One of the situations leading to this decision is some companies having to take large losses on auction-rated notes. These notes are liquid because they can be traded daily, but they are not short term because the terms of the notes can be lengthy, in some cases 30 years. When the economy went bad, the auctions stopped, the value went away and the companies participating had to take sizeable losses. Why inventory is important on the Balance Sheet Inventory is an important aspect on the balance sheet. When an outsider studies the balance sheet, they have to look at the assets that the company currently has to make the inventory portion of the balance sheet make sense. The reason that the inventory shows on the balance sheet as a current asset is so outsider investors assume the inventory sells in the future when the product is complete. When investors review the balance sheet, they also like to see that the company does not have too much inventory in case they are cannot sell it, or get rid of the inventory in the future. If companies do not have an accurate amount of inventory they have to estimate it to reflect the information on the balance sheet. Calculating inventory value using Gross Profit and Retail Inventory methods The gross profit inventory valuation method is pretty simple. Beginning inventory plus purchases minus sales at selling price less gross profit percentage equals ending inventory. The major disadvantage of this method is that it is an estimate and not actual which is why it is not a GAAP approved method unless physical inventory is done to back up the valuation (Kieso, Weygandt, & Warfield, 2010). The retail inventory method, on the other hand, is an acceptable way to valuate inventory. Many retail stores have so many items it is really impractical to do regular inventory counts. To calculate inventory valuation this way, the store takes the beginning inventory plus purchases less sales to determine ending inventory at the retail price. Then the goods available for sale at cost amount is divided by the goods available for sale at retail amount to determine the cost-to-retail ratio; that figure is multiplied by the retail ending inventory to come up with the cost. Internal users of accounting can include management, employees, and owners. Managers use this accounting information to view the company’s performance. Employees view accounting information for job security. Owners view accounting information to view profits from their investments. External users can insist of creditors, investors, and customers. Creditors use this information to check the company’s credit worthiness. Investors would like to earn money from their investments. Customers would like to maintain a long term company customer relationship. The balance sheet allows internal and external users to view what the business has and what the business owes. Knowing a company’s net worth is very important. Using different methods to calculate inventory for companies can be very critical.

Justice, Gender, and Affirmative Action Essay

                  Affirmative action is a policy that is aimed at providing positive measures to remedy effects of past discrimination against members of certain groups (Clayton & Crosby 1992, p.2). One of the areas that suffer underrepresentation of the diverse, underrepresented individuals and minority group in colleges is the laws schools and subsequently in the legal profession. The questioned posed is â€Å"Is affirmative action the best solution to alleviating this crisis or is it the major cause together with other practices that have contributed to these underrepresentation?                  First of all is the admission procedure. Admission selection considers those with a bachelor’s degree for an accredited university or college. Few underrepresented minority students are able to attend college and obtain the relevant qualifications. Moreover, there are disparities in number of applicants and the number who get enrolled. For example in 2000, 74500 individuals submitted their application to ABA- approved school and an estimate of 67% of the total were admitted (ABA/ LSAC Pre-Conference Report, 2005, p, 4). This illustrates a flaw in the acceptance procedure that focus on higher merit in which its well document trend that underrepresented minorities score less on the Law Schools Admission Test (LSAT).                  Secondly the individual state bar exams are a severe impediment. â€Å"While the LSAT remains a reliable predictor of success in law school and the Law School Admission Council (makers of the LSAT), warn against over-reliance on numerical qualifiers alone† (ABA/ LSAC Pre-Conference Report, 2005, p, 5). Raised cut off points detriment the minorities who are disproportionately at the bottom in addition the bars are also misapplied. The percentage of residents in a state should have a proportionate percentage at the law school. The lack of a national bar does also contribute to this issue.                     The above two examples illustrate why affirmative action is needed in leveling admissions. Higher merit and higher cut off points are serving to lock out minority groups from accessing law education. In coming up with a criteria for selection, the selection board should put into consideration performance of minority groups which is at the lower end of the spectrum.                Terry Eastland suggests that affirmative action promotes discrimination. He argues that there is nothing like positive or negative discrimination. In Higher education for example, when the institution sets a lower grade for color students, the act in itself creates discrimination. These groups of students who will be enrolled under affirmative action are well aware that they are in that position due to their race. It is a negative experience that is not easy to erase. Sometimes attitudes from the majority students will affect the students from the minority. The majority students may not look at the minority as equals.                   Affirmative action leads to stigma. Eastland says that very few people are aware of the abilities and potential of the marginalized groups. In this case they are likely to be less respected and less valued. This can end up psychologically affecting these groups and it can be worsened if they fail to perform. Terry end believes that an environment should an equal working basis. If students have to be enrolled for higher education, it should be based on merit and not race. This will create an equal working environment of mutual relationship.                  Furthermore, Eastland equates ‘Affirmative action’ to ‘lower standards’. The rationale of having a policy that sets asides positions after a normal criterion creates a barrier between quality and less quality. By having this policy, institutions are accepting that results posted from minority groups are of lesser quality and lesser magnitude to that from the majority. Policy makers argue that the minority are affected by certain factors that make them not to equal results of the majority. It then beats logic that it would be easier resolving factors that make minority perform lesser than providing a criterion that guarantee certain results.                  Terry Eastland comments and views in regard to affirmative action tend to disapprove use of affirmative action against underrepresentation based on color. His views do not factor underrepresentation due to gender. However the logic behind his reasons and those of other scholars can equally be equated to affirmative action on gender and sex segregation                  Gender affirmative actions have shown to improve the status of women in the society. In fact advocates for gender affirmative actions have sprung from various women activists and organizations. Women have gained access to representations in legislative organs, various courses in colleges that stereotypically were set for men. However it is urged that continuous paying attention to a group of people will result in then differences becoming more salient than the commonalities among people (Clayton & Crosby 1992, p.11). This statement thus emphasizes Terry Eastland’s arguments against affirmative action.                To conclude, the benefits of affirmative action are actually visible. Moving forward however, the fundamental principles of affirmative action seem to have been overtaken with time. Putting into consideration Terry Eastland arguments in regard to affirmative action, the negatives of affirmative action outweigh the positives. Affirmative action has led to lower productivity, increased segregation and stigmatization. The call to end affirmative actions thus is justified. References Clayton, Susan D, and Faye J. Crosby. Justice, Gender, and Affirmative Action. Ann Arbor, Mich: Univ. of Michigan Press, 1992. Print. Law Schools Admission Council. Pre Conference Report (2005) Collaborating to Expand the Pipeline. Retrieved from http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/op/pipelineconf/PipelinePostReport.authcheckdam.pdf Source document

Unit 3 Group Project Essay

Unit 3 Group Project Essay Unit 3 Group Project Essay Title: Do Advertisements Really Cheat? You Decide! Author: Leah Amber Lopez Contact Email: leahlopez2010@live.com Story: The story I am about to tell you is by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Brazil, and it focuses on the World Trade Center. The caption is â€Å"Let US†, which is basically a re-enactment of September 11, 2001; however, the ad has a large number of airplanes and jets. This ad shows several airplanes and jets pointing towards the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. This same ad has already been created by DDB, and also made into a commercial. Each ad depicts how the tsunami that hit Eastern Asia killed over one hundred times more individuals than that of the September 11, 2001 attack on the Twin Towers. In my opinion, this shows the lack of morals and ethics of the Brazilians. To go along with this, it has been proven that the WWF was aware of this ad, and they approved it. The ad was actually printed out one time in a local newspaper. The honest reason that this ad was printed in the local newspaper was to see if it would qualify to win any types of awards. I know, th is must be upsetting to you, as I know it is for me. The ad actually did become eligible for one award in New York, but the name of the award show, I honestly do not know. In my opinion, WWF, which enjoys an international reputation, should have known better than to approve of this type of advertisement. An ad of this type only makes them look bad, and makes its viewers wonder what their true intentions were. The true goal of an ad campaign is to position a brand in such a way that it pleases management and consumers. In the case with the WWF, they should have exhausted ad campaigns to position their brands as sensitive, ethical, and above any doubts; however, in this case, the WWF positions their image in a fashion that would definitely cast doubts

Racism and Segregation

Racism and Segregation Introduction In the book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the author, Maya Angelou, describes how she grew up as an intelligent Afro-American girl in South America and later in California in 1940’s. She gives an account of the various characteristics of her society that made her to mature. Having worked with Martin Luther in combating racism before her book, she had to incorporate the theme of racism in her work. Thus racism and segregation is highly depicted as a theme in her book (Angelou 1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Racism and Segregation specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Racism and Segregation In this book, Maya comes across many instances of blatant racism. She is forced to face racism and segregation in her country at a very young age. While living in Stamps, Arkansas, she experiences the region’s characteristic segregation to the extent that she believes that white people do not exist. At this tender age, she is made to believe that every good thing belongs to the whites. This is evidenced in many incidences. An example is that, as she fails to recite her poem in church, she notes that her dress is probably a handout from a white woman. She associates blond hair with beauty and believes that she is trapped in a â€Å"black ugly dream† (Angelou 7) with an unattractive African-American body. She also believes that she will soon wake from her nightmare and become as beautiful as the whites. The segregation that is characteristic of Stamps is evidenced by the statement that Mrs. Henderson owns a store in the black segment of Stamps (Angelou 1 11). As she grows older, Maya encounters racist incidences that are more open and personal. Some of these incidences include the demeaning address that is directed towards her by a white speaker during her eighth-grade graduation, she also faces racist problems while applying for a streetcar job but she overcomes the problem s to get the job. Her white boss is also depicted as a racist. He calls her Mary despite her disapproval. When she visits a white dentist, he declines to treat her. There is evidence that black people were prone to acts of violence perpetrated to them by their white counterparts. This is from the incidence in which Maya and Willie help a black man escaping a white lynch mob. The importance that the black attach to the world championship boxing match of Joe Louis shows how the black people thirst for recognition and also proves inequality in the community. Maya is also portrayed as a racist in some ways. For instance, she feels guilty of loving the works of William Shakespeare due to the mere fact that he was white (Angelou 11 23). In summary, the book has a notable thematic bias on racism.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that the community Maya is living in is faced with serious segregation and racism. Maya uses this community to describe how life was during her time. She creates events that depict how racism was deeply rooted in the American community in the 1940’s. As described, these events include her belief that black people are ugly, the derogatory address by a white speaker during her graduation, the refusal by a white dentist to treat her, etc (Angelou 10 24). Through these experiences, she learns how racism and segregation has affected her family members’ characters and strives to overcome the pressure mounted on her by these social problems. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. U.S. Bantam Books, 1983. Print.