A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay

A Study On Media And Audiences Media Essay With the coming of year 2010, the definition of â€Å"media† itself has changed the term of media now applies to many new communication technologies and many traditional media format has applied new technology to meet the needs of audiences. Thus technology and innovation have expanded media options for the public and audience, while the audience itself has changed in this new media age. The calling into question their role in democracy since many of these new media are essentially not â€Å"mass† any more (Sunstein, 2001). In light of this, â€Å"media use† should be re-conceptualized to include active and interactive, and not only passive, behavior on the part of the audience. The aim of this essay is to answer the question â€Å"In what ways do changing media formats and technologies present challenges to how audiences have been traditionally conceptualized?† author will answer the question by investigate the recent literatures and find out what resear chers recently consider the new audience and new media environment. The essay will go through the issues include the new media environment which focus on internet/online media; the notion of new audience whether the notion of audience has been changed, a comparison between historical audience and new audience will be conduct in the article; some audience theories will also be addressed in the essay such as reception theory and audience active theory, to take a look into these theory may be useful to analyse whether this theory still match the todays situation; challenge of new audience research will be the last part of the article, in this part, author will take an analysis based on the research work done by Livingstone (2004). It shows the challenges facing by audience and media research before and in the new age. By analyse those issues related with new media and new audience, there may be an answer to meet the question which be raised in the aim of the essay. Changing media environment We are in the midst of a digital revolution that is giving way to a â€Å"new information environment† (Bimber, 2003). We are facing the world with a moving target as once-new media become familiar and eve-never media emerge. The common feature of those new media is internet based. The internet made everything possible and changed peoples behavior after it emerged. Manuel Castells has argued that the flows dominate contemporary life in his book The Information Age, ‘our society is constructed around flows, flows of capital, flows of information, flows of technology, flows of organizational interaction, flows of images, sounds, and symbols (Castells, 2000: 442) the emerging of new media or the new format of media accelerate the liquidity of the world. For media user, you can whether read news on newspaper on the way to work or open the mobile phone and connect to the internet and read the news you are most interested in and check your email box anytime you want. You can also whether check the program schedule on newspaper and waiting for the program broadcast on television or just open your laptop and go to BBC website and watch the favorite drama anytime and any episode. When your tutor suggest s you to purchase a text book, you can whether go the high street book store or just go to Amazon.co.uk to buy a book in relevant cheap price. Those available choices indicate that the media environment has been changed, Producer like government, business, broadcast institution or press industry are taking advantage of internet and new technologies as it can be more globalised and fast disseminate to audiences in every corner of the world. Its different from traditional mass media but a more interactive media, most importantly, converging with new media to create a complex media-rich and liquid environment. Online media environment With no doubt, we are in the internet age now. Even in the media industry, almost every traditional mass media format has a new internet based version, online broadcast, online journal, online TV, online newspaper, online news, online games, online advertising etc. it shows both producer and audience are highly demand on the new technology based media because of the common features of those newly medium have such as convenient, easy to access and of course interactivity. â€Å"Web 2.0† is one of most important technology in newly internet space or cyberspace. Pew gave a definition of Web 2.0 the ability of people to use a range of information and communication technology as a platform to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace is often heralded as the next phase of the information society. (Pew, 2007: 2) Web 2.0 enhanced the interactivity of audience when they use online media and made them more active when they consumption news or other information. The example of famous media website which takes advantage of web 2.0 is www.youtube.com. People can not only watch video clip on it but also they can rating and leave comments on it. The hot video clips on home page usually depend on the rate of click. Moreover, people can upload their own video to the website and share the video with friends or people all over the world. At this time, audiences convert to producers. The chart below presents the result of a survey conducted in 2004 for investigate whether people prefer online or offline media to obtain information. From the chart we may find out the advantages of online media. Sources: Frank Magid Association, Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† 2004. www.online-publisher.org Although the data are gathered in 5 years ago, it dose shows the advantages of online media, people can find what they want easy and quick on internet rather than search on a news paper or television. However people in 2004 feels that use offline media are more enjoyable and satisfying. It indicates that traditional media cannot be replaced by the online media. One thing need to be mentioned is people consider both online and offline media are the same when they consider which is more reliable and trustworthy. It is different in my country, in China; most people prefer trust online media rather than offline media controlled by government. News media Take news consumption as an example. People traditionally obtain news and information from newspaper and TV News broadcast channel. But nowadays, the internet version of newspaper becomes more and more adoptable for audience. JOEY KA-CHING CHAN and LOUIS LEUNG (2005:7) suggested ‘online news media distinguish themselves from traditional media in a number of ways: they are interactive; they offer convenience, which embodies easy access, searchable features and the ability to cross-reference through hyperlinking; and they provide multimedia features. Being interactive is a important feature for new media, audience are not only passive receive messages but engage with the news event and trying to explore what happening behind news by search related news on the internet. Matt Carlson (2007) mentioned the rise of online news search engines allows users to set their own parameters governing the section of news according to personal preference. Matt took Google News as an example in h is article and states that Google news always reports a story from different side of view which may force the authority to be more democracy. ‘I want this to be a force for a democracy. One of the things that makes us objective is we show all points of view. Even if you disagree with one, we give you both the majority and the minority point of view. The ones you dont agree with are education. Its nice to know what the other side is thinking. Youll see left-leaning ones as much as much as you see right-leaning ones. Frankly, the software doesnt know the difference between left and right, which is good. (quoted in Kramer, 2003: n.p.) it just like King (1998: 26) argued that interactivity not only describe the high level of control and interactive with content but also present the increasing interactive with news producer such as feedback availability. Audience nowadays becomes more and more powerful in this new media environment. Audiences in historical perspective Before discuss the challenge of conceptualize new audience, it is necessary to take a look into audiences in history. Marie Gilespie (2005: 14) gives us a brief introduction of this perspective. He suggests in most research about media and communication in twentieth century, the researcher usually focus on todays media and todays audiences with the popular medium like television. However, the idea of the audience can be traced back to ancient times. And Marie think it is important to learn the lesson from history when something can be similar or entirely new ‘In history, audience means a face-to-face audience in the presence of a communicator or entertainer, whether at a political meeting, the theatre or a concert (Marie 2005: 14) Denis McQuail (1997: 3) use classical Graeco-Roman audience definition to identify the audiences feature today: Planning and organization of viewing and listening, as well as of the performances themselves Events with a public and popular character Secular content of performance-for entertainment, education and vicarious emotional experiences Voluntary, individual acts of choice and attention Specialization of roles of authors, performers and spectators Physical locatedness of performances and spectator experience We can find that some of the features of Graeco-Roman audience are similar with todays audience in mass media environment. The only obviously difference is mass media eliminated the limitation of co-location. Even in todays internet media background, some of the features above still match the todays audience, that is, no matter media environment changes, there are some characteristics will not change. This not means there will be no challenge to conceptualized new audience in new environment based on new technology. The aim of discussing the historical media audience is to find the link between history and nowadays society. Although the environment and technology has changed a lot, there are still many common features maintained from ancient time to mass media age and from mass media age to new media age. Changing audiences ‘From a coach potato to cybernauts is the title of Eugenia Siapera(2004)s article. The author analyse the change of television audiences to online audience. The article focuses on the broadcasters website such as BBC Channel to investigate the relationship of audience online and offline (TV broadcast). It is the fact that people gradually adopt into the new media environment. And it begins to change the notion of audience. Siapera (2004: 15) suggested the notion of audience has been expanded by the inter-media. The audience has been hitherto most interactive in the digital media age. (Rob cover 2006: 16) ‘Coach potato usually describe people who always sitting behind television and watch TV program. This image usually presents more passive way of people receive message from producer. However audience becomes more and more active. The new technology offers different platform for audience to interact with other audiences or the producer. Take fandom as example, Audiences no wadays can easily form or find a fan club on website such as blogging and forum, more over the broadcasts website usually design and develop the certain function to allow audience track their favorite star or program (Siapera 2004: 09) For example, ‘EastEnders (the BBCs soap opera and one of the most developed programme sites: http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/) has regular updates on what is happening in the soap, a chat room, newsletter, message board, and voting on what should happen to characters/storylines. The producer may be influenced by the audience opinions to adjust the storyline or what happened next to gain more audiences support. It is what I mentioned before that audience can interact and influence the producer in the new media age. The channel established by producer on internet made audiences more easily to send their feedback to the producer. The reason why producer take audiences opinions serious is because in todays world, the audience can be seen as consumer , ‘I suggested, is adopted by those who conceptualize the audience as a market (Livingstone 1998a) and the profitability of program is only standard to justify whether it should be continue or stop. Some American drama can continue make and broadcast for many seasons such as ‘Friends but some are not. ‘The ultimate power of internet fandom is in controlling the actual life and death of a series. For fans of a show, that power is usually in the hands of a network executive or, for a syndicated series, a production company. (Victor Costello and Barbara Moore 2007: 16) It depends on whether there are many audiences like it or not. It again, indicates that audience being more and more powerful which can influence both producer and context. Reception under new media environment The phenomena stressed above may challenge the traditional reception theory in mass media age. Reception theory points out that ‘Audience interpretations or decoding have been found to diverge depending on viewers socio-economic position, gender, ethnicity, and so forth, while the possibilities for critical or oppositional reading are anticipated, enabled or restricted by the degree of closure encoded into the text or genre.'(Marie Gillespie 2005: 40) Audience reception research towards television study revealed parallel connections between the conventions of television and viewers decoding strategies like the soap opera viewer builds up an understanding of the characters, puzzles over the secrets, eagerly anticipates the cliff-hanger, guesses the outcome of a subplot, recalls when appropriate the significant events from past episodes, etc., all in accordance with the conventions of the genre (Livingstone, 1998). It just like Cultural theorist Stuart Hall suggested in his theor y of encoding and decoding. He argued that audiences not just passive accept text but people can create their own mean of the text and the communication process should not be linear model such sender-message-receiver model rose by Shannon. The following chart is Halls Encoding and Decoding model, in the model, hall stressed the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader. We may find that even the halls model neglected the relationship between sender and receiver. As I mentioned before, the audience nowadays can influence the producer. So I suggest that todays communication process is a loop which every element in the process can be influenced by other elements. And nowadays, with the internet developed, the relationship between the text and the reader may convert to between the text and reader and other readers. Take times online as example, reader may write comments towards specific news and share the comment with other reader. The interactions within those readers which may influence the result by interpret the meaning of text. The two step flow theory also has been challenged by new media age as the process of decentralized the authority. The internet enhanced the availability of information flow. If people may express their opinion on the public space on the internet, Twitter can be a good example; audiences are more and more interested in tracking what other peoples point of views. At the same time the power of opinion leader becomes more and more declined. It is one of the reason why Twitter and youtube.com being successful. Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the New Media Environment With no doubt, the newer media environment enables audience to be more active, it not only means that audiences have muti-channels on the new cable television but also suggests that audiences nowadays have a wide range of medium choice. Perse (1990: 3) argues there are two dimensions of audience activity. The first one is a qualitative component and describes type of activity. It includes selectivity, evolvement, and utility. Audiences can easily target what they want to receive from the new media such as internet. Take online news as example, www.bbc.co.uk allows audience to customize their own home page. People can choose the type of news or information they may interest in and put them together on the home page of BBC website like the picture below: It has been changed a lot from traditional ‘one to many model to ‘one to one model which means highly customized and personalized design based on the cookie technology and web 2.0. The new media technology can help you to filter what you may not like and try to enhanced personal relevance with their audiences. And audiences become more selective and evolve with the context they received. Livingstone (2004: 6) suggested that the new media environment expended the range of issue and arguments in ‘active audience theory. Audiences or the media user become more active which means they are more selective, self-directed. Can new media environment blurry the boundary of being a producer and receiver. Changing relationship between audiences and producers A growing number of ordinary citizens are actively producing media content, challenging these traditional notions. We have seen an unprecedented level of citizen participation in media content-making, with the prevalence and use of blogs, chat rooms, forums, and citizen journalism (Bowman Willis, 2005). The â€Å"former audience,† a term coined by Dan Gillmor (2006), is now actively participating in content generation for a greater variety of media on a scale we have never seen before. Those large numbers of people are able to be more involved in the news and content making process itself. Typical media use is more active and interactive than it has been in the days when a handful of companies controlled content and dissemination. Consequently, the once distinct roles of â€Å"the elite producers of content and the mass consumers of content† are shifting, and the â€Å"distinction between producers and consumers of content† is blurring (Howard, 2004, p.11). A Pew study found 57% of teens who use the Internet create content online (Pew, 2005). People use digital media to share their favorite news and information with others, by emailing or posting on other sites. Until May of 2008, youtube.com and facebook.com ranked 3rd and 4th most visited website on internet. This information indicates audience keen on produce their own video or context on internet and express themselves which also means there has been a shift in power from large media institution to ordinary people. Challenging of audience study in new media age Livingstone (2004: pointed out three main challenges which audience research facing for recent age. Those challenges include the gap between what people say and what people do in real life and the unclearly relationship between text and reader, for example the reception theory and the debate on the process of encoding and decoding and also the question of media effects which may influence audiences. Furthermore, the demographic factor should be considered in audience research just like other social science diversified audience from different demographic background may interpret the same message differently. Those challenges have been existed in mass media age. The question is dose the challenge will be modified in new media or their will be some new challenge towards internet/online media age? Livingstone (2004) gives us the answer in his article called the ‘challenge of changing audience he suggests that all the old challenges towards mass media research still exist, and in s ome extent the challenges has been magnified in todays internet media background. It is more and more difficult to find out what online audience practices in their private space such as their bedroom. What they said on online chatting room may totally different with their own behavior in real life. This type of real practices or experiences is hard to record compare with to investigate the audience in a public space such as Movie Theater. Even to research family television experiences in audiences living room is more achievable than to investigate the online audience as Livingstone argues that online audience and online experience is more personal and private. It leads to the difficulties when conduct observation and interview research. Despite the issue of privacy, the cookie may be a good tool to track online audiences behavior when they surfing on the internet. It may track what part or type of website are most frequently being click by online user, this technology now being widely used in website design, such as www.amazon.com, the most famous online book ret ailer, customized the home page when people login to the website. There will be some book on the suggestion list which based on you pervious practice like keyword scan or the book you being purchase. The second challenge raised by Livingstone is about the relationship between text and reader. He suggested when this challenge met the online media environment, it brings both practical and theoretical problem. Not like data collected from traditional mass media, new media researcher need to process uncountable data gathered from internet to analyse the relationship between the text and the audiences. In addition, large portion of data are temporary and mean less. More over the notion of text itself has been modified in some extent in online environment. For most of online user (include online media researcher), they have no idea with the hypertext. It is the source of the online content, producer or website designer develop the online world by this hypertext rather than the text we familiar with in real life. Again, the blurring of producer and audience also can be seen as a challenge to research in to the relationship between the text and receiver as the notion of receiver itself has been changed. The last point draw by Livingstone is about moral panic related with online media such as the question about whether internet will result harm to young people or children. This challenge has been inherited from television age. Researchers tried to identify the harm towards young audience caused by the violent movie, TV program, comics or other threatens factors. ‘At present, these moral panic centre on the internet, with anxiety expressed about violent, stereotyped, commercially exploitative or pornographic content and about the reinforcement of individualistic, lazy, prejudice, uncritical or aggressive actions. (Gillespie 2005: 12-13) Compare with traditional media, internet is more accessible for any resource on the virtual world. It is the reason why some researchers prefer to ban the online media rather than to take an in-depth research towards it. Take online game in China as an example. The famous MMORPG World of Warcraft is quite popular within Chinese player. 5 million accounts have been created in this online game in Chinese mainland. Many young people spent much time on playing online game in the virtual world. This phenomena draws socialist attention, they worries about those young people may be affected by the violence game like World of Warcraft, however most of them just want ban this online game in China without doing any research on other related area to investigate why young people addicted to this game. Some so called ‘psychologist even use electric shock to ‘help those young online game addicts. Doubtless, challenges faced by new media research can be trace back to history, however some new problems gradually out and beginning to be addressed (Hine 2000) Conclusions We are now in the liquid world. The new information environment, enabled by digital technology (internet), has changed the relationship between audience and media. Although the new audience still maintain some features from traditional audience, some new features of audience has been addressed by new media researcher. Audiences are becoming less passive and more in control of the use of media platform. They can be more selective and evolved with new media they can decide when, where and what type of the information they need to engages with. Audience now my decoding context better while they share their comments with other audience, also if they want, audience can convert to producer and create their own content on cyberspace. The classical audience theory need to be modified to suit the new environment such as the encoding and decoding process, as the audience becomes more powerful than ever before, they can influence the producer and messages producer created that is the communica tion process in new media age should pay more attention the interactive between producer and audiences. In addition, the two-step flow model has been challenged in online environment as audience nowadays are less influenced by opinion leader but peer review on internet offered by other audience. In the new media environment, the challenges, both old and new problems, which media researcher facing still exist. It is difficult for researcher to record online audiences practice and their experiences since the privacy of online behavior. In addition the new model of text hypertext becomes a challenge for explore the relationship between text and receive in new media environment. Moreover some researchers consider the online media can harm for young people and been a threat to society. It leads them to be more reluctant to do more complex research into this area. The analysis of the issue in this article suggests that even if most features of audience and media which addressed in past r esearch still suit todays situation, the changes in media technology and format do cause the challenges about how we conceptualize audiences. Reference Marie Gillespie (2004) Media Audiences, Open University Press, Chapter 1 pp40 Livingstone, S. (2003) ‘The Changing Nature of Audiences: From the Mass Audience to the Interactive Media User, pp. 337-59 The Blackwell Companion to Media Research. Oxford: Blackwell. Livingstone, S. (1998) Making Sense of Television: The Psychology of Audience Interpretation, 2nd edn. London: Routledge Hine, C. (2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage. Hall,S.(1980) ‘Encoding/Decoding in Hall, S., Hobson, D., Lowe, A. and Willis, P. Culture, Media, Language, London, Hutchinson Bimber, B. (2000). The study of information technology and civic engagement. Political Communication. 17:329-333 Livingstone S. (2004). The Challenge of Changing Audiences: Or, What is the Audience Researcher to Do in the Age of the Internet? European Journal of Communication, Mar 2004; 19: 75 86. Livingstone, S, (1998a) ‘Audience Research at the Crossroads, European Journal of Cultural Studies 1(2): 193-217. Sonia Livingstone (2006) The Influence of Personal Influence on the Study of Audiences. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 2006; 608; 233 ROB COVER (2006) Audience inter/active: Interactive media, narrative control and reconceiving audience history.New Media Society 2006; 8; 139 Joey Ka-Ching Chan, Louis Leung (2005). Lifestyles, reliance on traditional news media and online news adoption. New Media Society, Vol. 7, No. 3, 357-382. Frank Magid Association (2004). Online Publisher Association, â€Å"Multichannel Media Brands,† www.online-publisher.org Sunstein, C. (2001). Republic.com. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Pew Internet American Life Project (2007, May 7). A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users Bowman, S. C. Willis (2005). The future is here, but do news media companies see it? Nieman Reports, 59(4):5-9 Howard, P.N. (2004). Deep democracy, thin citizenship: The impact of digital media in political campaign strategy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 597:1-17. Matt Carlson (2007). BLOGS AND JOURNALISTIC AUTHORITY: The role of blogs in US Election. Journalism Studies, Volume 8, Issue 2 April 2007, pages 264 279 Kramer, S. (2003) ‘Google News Creator Watches Portal Quiet Critics With â€Å"Best News† Webby, Online Journalism Review 25 September, King, E. (1998) ‘Redefining Relationships: Interactivity Between News Producers and Consumers, Convergence 4(4): 26-32. Victor Costello and Barbara Moore (2007) Cultural Outlaws: An Examination of Audience Activity and Online Television Fandom. Television New Media 2007; 8; 124 ELIZABETH M. PERSE. (1990). Audience Selectivity and Involvement in the Newer Media Environment. Communication Research 1990; 17; 675 Eugenia Siapera. (2004). From couch potatoes to cybernauts? The expanding notion of the audience on TV channels websites. New Media Society 2004; 6; 155 Fernando Bermejo (2009) Audience manufacture in historical erspective: from broadcasting to Google.New Media Society 2009; 11; 133 Alexa Traffic Rank for YouTube (three month average). Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/youtube.com. Retrieved 2009-08-26. Accessed @ 15th Dec 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6900001.ece#comment-have-your-say Accessed @ 1st Nov 2009 http://media-ucn.co.uk/Lecture%20notes/EncodingDecoding%20Lecture.htm Accessed @ 6th Jan 2010

Marketing Strategy of Mercedes and BMW

Marketing Strategy of Mercedes and BMW What is marketing? Who really knows? In our era, most of the people have in their mind a different meaning of the marketing. For me, marketing is a mean which pulls the strings of our economy. The language of marketing has been borrowed from the military. We talk about defensive marketing, offensive marketing, and guerrilla marketing. Often overlooked, however, is flanking, one of the most powerful military strategies. As for the official meaning of the word, marketing is: Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association (AMA) as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. Maybe there are thousands different meanings of marketing but in the end they are all agreed that it was created to help the market and the consumers to fulfill their needs. BMW VERSUS MERCEDES-BENZ This assignment is to analyze and compare the marketing strategies of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Both companies are renowned market leaders in supplying automobiles. The pair has a history of providing innovative cars for the past century. Over the years with the improvement of technology BMW and Mercedes-Benz have met customer needs by producing the most inspiring and well developed cars of their times. The BMW Group concentrates on selected premium segments in the automobile market. This means that they specialize in providing a high quality product and in return they can achieve higher revenues per vehicle sold. In contrast Mercedes-Benz which also provide to the premium segment of the market have concreted their name in history as manufacturers of luxury cars, have opened their doors to a range of more dynamic models targeting the slightly younger market. Mercedess most powerful competitor has long been BMW. The two companies marketing strategies seemed to mirror one another in the 1 990s. Thus in 1996, Mercedes signed a deal to promote its vehicles in Universal Pictures The Lost World, but it was several years behind BMW, which in 1995 made an agreement to feature its vehicles in the James Bond film Goldeneye. More important was an overall shift by both companies in response to the rise of Japanese luxury vehicles such as Lexus and the Acura Legend. Farrell reported in Brandweek, With repricing and repositioning-advertising messages emphasize more value instead of luxury-Germanys two luxury leaders, Mercedes and BMW, are on the offensive à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Both have rebounded with a reversal of marketing strategies that include new, lower-priced products and even ads that tout price. Nonetheless, of the two manufacturers, Mercedes has made the more drastic changes. THE HISTORY OF BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW), or Bavarian Motor Works, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1913 with the formation of the Rapp-Motorenwerke company by Karl Rapp. The firm were engaged in the production of aircraft engines from a former bicycle factory located near Munich. It was close to this plant that Gustav Otto established the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG aircraft factory and in 1922 these two organisations merged to form BMW. The letters stand for: Bayerische Motoren Werke. In their early years BMW produced mainly aircraft engines, but also some motorcycle engines. In fact the BMW badge is supposed to resemble a spinning aircraft propeller. It wasnt until 1928 when BMW bought a car factory at Eisenach/Thuringia that BMW began producing cars. Along with the factory they bought the license to produce a small car called the Dixi. It was in 1936 that BMW introduced the type 328 roadster which quickly became the most successful sports car of the time. The type 328 roadster accumulated a number of prestigious wins on the racing circuit and was nominated as car of the century in 1999. BMWs involvement in aircraft engine production during WWII led to a 3 year ban on production at the end of the war. It wasnt until 1949 that they were able to return to production which they did with the 250cc R24 motorcycle. It was in 1951 that BMW introduced a spacious, 6-cylinder sedan called the 501. This was followed by the 502 which featured a lightweight alloy V8 engine. Later in the 1950s they began producing the BMW 507, a lightweight, V8 propelled sports car. This was the vehicle they hoped would revive the sporting success theyd achieved with the 328 roadster. But this wasnt to be. They were losing money on every 507 that was produced and so production stopped in 1960. Also during the 1950s BMW bought the design and manufacturing rights to the Isetta which was to become one of the most successful microcars in the post WWII years. It was a time when cheap, short distance transportation was much needed and the 2-seater, with an economical 250cc engine, fit the requirements nicely. Manufacturing rights for the Isetta were sold to various production companies around the world and these included the British Railways works in Brighton, UK. The 1960s saw BMW enjoying a number of notable successes including the BMW 1500 which was a 1499cc, four cylinder touring sedan introduced in 1961. This was the first of the modern BMW sports sedans. They went on to produce a series of popular sedans including the famous BMW 2002. This was a 2-door sedan that had been based upon the 4-door 1600. The 2002 was to be the forerunner of the BMW 3 series and production of this successful model continued until 1976. By the 1970s BMW had cemented their reputation as an innovative automobile manufacturing company. The 70s saw the introduction of the 3-tier sports sedan range consisting of the 3-series, 5-series and the 7-series. Between 1970 and 1993 BMW car production quadrupled and turnover increased by 1700%. The 1990s, after 1994, saw BMW take ownership of the British Rover Group. This was not a successful venture and in 2000 BMW disposed of Rover. Todays beemers have retained their highly prestigious reputation for quality and reliability. The company are taking steps to reduce the impact they and their motor cars have upon the environment so we can expect to see more innovative and exciting developments from the motor car company who have not only survived two world wars and a massive depression, but thrived. TARGET MARKET OF BMW BMW marketing targeted customers between the ages of 25 and 45 who were new to the luxury car market, nevertheless without alienating their current customer base. The customer base of BMW was 46-year-old male, married with no children, and had a median income of about $150,000. More importantly, the Internet was used by 85% of customers before buying a BMW (Hespos, 2002). Combining the ideas of producing a series of short films and using the Internet in an advertising campaign, short films for the Internet was born with BMW Films (Hespos, 2002).The luxury automobile maker that has established a mark for itself in the luxury car segment with its high performance cars. BMW is a powerful brand that is truly experienced by car lovers all over the world as a symbol of performance, power and luxury, all combined into its power packed machines that are treat to watch, drive, and possess. Thats why, it is truly known as the Ultimate driving Machine. BMWs tighter feel and enhanced responsiveness gave drivers the sense they were in complete control, something no other brand of automobile offered. This handling advantage was greatly appreciated by sports car aficionados and car enthusiasts. MARKETING STRATEGY OF BMW BMW has many different strategies of marketing. One of these strategies is the support of its dealer network. This succeeds only through a range of actions. Dedicated Dealer Marketing Service which assists with all marketing requirements for example: Local advertising for product range Support for local promotions National promotions Hire of promotional equipment for dealer events Image library which stocks various images available for dealers to use when creating their own marketing communications such as leaflets, invitations and direct mail. Educational materials Moreover, there is a Continuous Customer Contacts Program (CCCP) with the objective of increased customer loyalty and satisfaction. BMW also focuses on a great range of advertising. One thing that all BMW adverts have in common is that they focus entirely on the cars. On TV there are many branding campaigns and new car launches. Some TV spots depict stereotypical corporate-cog executives who squelch creativity and initiative. Beware of the compromisers. They say things like, Choose your battles, or Is this idea really worth falling on your sword for? Later, the recurring message throughout the campaign comes in, At BMW, ideas are everything. Radio branding campaigns (2002 was the first year that BMW used radio for national advertising) also uses. It does not tend to be used at a national level, although may be used regionally. As for the press, Color press is listed, for example: Tatler, Vogue, lifestyle magazines, motoring publications, broadsheet newspapers and tabloid newspaper weekend color supplements. Black white: national press. In addition to higher profile national advertising, dealers also run their own local campaigns through: Local press Radio Bus advertisements At the cinema, screens usually show short films. Other ways of advertising includes supply of sales literature, brochures, direct marketing, price lists and point of sale materials. Finally, other methods BMW use to promote its brands and products: Product Placement BMW Art Car Collection Sponsorship These and many others are the marketing strategies of BMW in order to enhance its market share. As for Mercedes-Benzà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. THE HISTORY OF MERCEDES-BENZ The roots of Daimler-Benz went back to the 1880s and founders Carl Benz and Gottfried Daimler, whose separate companies became one in 1926. Besides the two Germans, an important early figure was Austrian banker Emile Jellinek, who in 1897 became a Daimler board member. Jellinek offered a variety of useful marketing advice and suggested a car with an engine to the front, because that was where the horse used to be. After outlining a type of racer that he wanted built, he promised to purchase 36 of them, a sizable order at a time when few people had even ridden in an automobile. In return he asked that Daimler name the car after his one-year-old daughter, Mercedes. The car, introduced in 1900, had a top speed of 30 miles per hour, which at that time made it one of the fastest vehicles on the road. But a Mercedes could go much, much faster, and just nine years later its manufacturers built a special Benz capable of reaching 141 miles per hour. In the economic upheaval that followed World War I, Daimlers and Benzs companies joined forces as Daimler-Benz AG, founded in 1926. Its symbol was a three-pointed star, which reportedly symbolized air, land, and sea-arenas in which Daimler engines dominated. During World War II, Daimler-Benz became associated with the Nazi regime. Hitler had several models specially built for his use, and the company turned to producing airplane engines and military vehicles for the Third Reich. But it recovered quickly from the war and in the 1950s established itself as a manufacturer of luxury sedans in Europe and America. TARGET MARKET OF MERCEDES-BENZ In 1993, Rosemarie Totzauer reported in Brandweek, Mercedes is attempting to reinvent itself, to evolve from a company long defined exclusively by its gas-guzzling luxury sedans and sports cars. The reborn Mercedes will offer a broader, more complete line of vehicles for the rapidly changing, more complex, higher risk luxury segment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Mercedes-Benz, therefore, has to gear itself for a metamorphosis into a company known for value and a diversity of vehicle concepts rather than for the prestige of the three-pointed star. These words, occasioned by the shift in slogans from the old Engineered Like No Other Car in the World. created by McCaffrey and McCall, to the new Sacrifice Nothing, gave a succinct statement of the companys changed marketing policy, The target market had broadened, and so had the Mercedes lines. The latter now included the C class, which replaced the 190 series as a product for the low end of the market; the E class, a mid-size luxury car; the S class, for the high-end luxury vehicles that had previously comprised the sum total of the companys product; and the SL for sports cars. Although, as Fara Warner wrote in Brandweek in 1994, Mercedes is still considered an exclusive luxury car for white males, the company sought to broaden its appeal with value prices and new products. Greg Farrell, writing in the same publication a year later, offered a compelling example of the effect produced by the shift in target market: Maria Pestonit, a 28 year-old Miami computer consultant, didnt like her first three cars à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ [and] after three performance cars, luxury struck her fancy. Mercedes may have hooked her for life with its C280, costing about $34,000. My family had a Mercedes. But that was my parents car, she said. I thought I could never reach that.' MARKETING STRATEGY OF MERCEDES-BENZ Mercedes Benz marketing strategy was once centered on the safety, luxury, and precision engineering of its cars, but due to increase competition in the luxury car industry and changing consumer attitudes about the Mercedes Benz brand that strategy has changed. Now their marketing strategy is more life style oriented and is focused more on presenting the more fun loving, approachable, and energetic side of Mercedes Benz. The evolution of Mercedes Benzs marketing strategy can be directly connected to the expansion of its target market, which now includes persons twenty five to forty five years old as well as its initial targets the baby boomers. In order to provide superior customer value to its target market Mercedes Benz has found it necessary to expand its product line up, provide more competitive prices, increase communications with its target market, maintain accessibility to consumers, and continue its excellent customer service. The marketing strategy of Mercedes-Benz is short of the same as BMW. More specifically, Mercedes spends a big amount for advertising campaigns. Mercedes-Benz launches an international advertising campaign on the theme of sustainability. The first printed advertisements using the new brand design will feature the E 300 BLUETEC to be launched in Germany in December 2007. Moreover, four different print ads will be placed in all large-circulation magazines in Germany, running in parallel with a TV commercial and an online campaign. The sustainability campaign will then be extended in mid-2008 to include additional vehicles and developments related to Mercedes-Benz activities which are combined under the heading True Blue Solutions. In our marketing campaign on sustainability we promote innovative technologies for environmentally sound mobility such as the BLUETEC emission treatment system, which Mercedes-Benz offers to its customers as the worlds cleanest diesel, says Dr. Klaus Maier, Executive Vice President of Mercedes. Mercedes new marketing campaign stresses safety over luxury. This isnt surprising since the financial crisis has reversed consumer priorities. Its now frowned upon to brag about buying the most luxurious car. Instead the most popular guy is the one who gets the most worth for as little money as possible spent on a new car. Mercedes-Benz is now allocating 50% of its UK marketing budget to digital media, according to its VP for brand communications, Anders Sundt Jensen.The dynamics of the UK market and the advanced consumer behavior in the UK meant the automotive brand was already allocating half of its budget to digital, well ahead of other European territories where the company was far from allocating even 40%.The key to the companys success online was the creation of specialist expertise within the company.We dont have normal marketers just doing online ads, or just putting our TV ads online, Anders Sundt Jensen said. We have a whole department, for example, at our headquarters in Germany just doing digital marketing. Also, one of the marketing strategies of Mercedes-Benz followed is to start promoting some of its cars on IPhone and Facebook. Another marketing action than gave a step forward to Mercedes-Benz is the promotion of a series of green cars. Mercedes-Benz brings to the market hybrid cars that are environmental friendly. To sum up, the key that makes Mercedes-Benz a powerful competitor in the market is the below: Delightful customer care Retail network ready for the future Efficient, integrated processes and systems Sales and Marketing MBC Product Price Place Promotion People Processes Perfectly positioned brand and effective marketing Fascinating products Motivated, qualified employees Effective market penetration CONCLUSION Undoubtedly, BMW and Mercedes-Benz were, are and always be two whoppers. Their marketing strategies are about the same. Their advertising campaigns, the tv and radio spots, the costumers services etc. The difference between them and the reason why they are both special is their target market and their market position, what they want their customers to remember about them. BMW focuses to young customers aged 25 to 45 and it promotes the slogan  «Ultimate driving machine ». It appeals to those who want to have the sense they were in complete control. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz is still considered an exclusive luxury car for white males, but now decides to broaden its appeal with value prices and new products. It appeals to those who love luxury and safe cars but not too expensive.

navy seals Essay -- essays research papers

SO YOU WANT TO BE A NAVY SEAL? From Sea, Air, and Land, the U.S. Navy Seal Teams are the most feared and respected commando forces in the U.S military if not the world. The Seal Teams are the most elite and highly trained forces on the face of the earth. President John F. Kennedy formed the teams in 1962 as a seagoing counterpart to the U.S Army Special Forces. Most Seal missions are unreported and unknown to the general public. The Seals are trained to operate in small units, one or two men, or a platoon consisting of sixteen or more men. Not all Seal teams are made for everyone, in fact 80% of the men who attempt to become one, fail or will drop out. To become a Seal you must have dedication, hardwork, and a lot of commitment. The process of becoming a seal is broken down into three different phases, Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3. â€Å"The first phase starts with a bang and ends with a boom,† says Travis Schweizer, a twenty-three year-old Seal. Phase 1 consists of a two and three-mile timed run, physical training, one to two mile ocean swims, and a gut burning obstacle course. These items are a part of everyday delight for these men. Phase 1 lasts for approximately eight weeks and that is only if you do not get set back. The First five weeks the student’s learn life saving, knot tying, underwater knot tying, basic first aid, and surf passages in small inflatable boats. Along with this is a 50-yard underwater swim, which must be completed and the students are often revived when they pass out. Also throughout out the whole six months of BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition School), the Seal Teams go through many torturous events and lessons. One of these being surf torture. This is where the entire class must wade into the surf zone to their waistline, then sit down with arms linked. Just to let you know the water in Coronado, California never gets above sixty-eight degrees during the summer and fifty-eight degrees during the winter. There the men with linked arms will sit there for hours at a time, soon the cold sucks out all of their body warmth and the whole class is shivering in unison as the waves crash over there heads. After this the men will find themselves doing hours of calisthenics to warm up, only to go back in the cold water for a few more hours. This is a very effective way to teach a potential Seal to mentally resist the effects of hypothermia,... ...o the students who are in SEAL training, but have not yet completed all 3 phases). The twenty or so men who graduate with stern faces and hardened bodies, show little resemblance to the wide eyed kids who arrived on the quarter-deck six and half months earlier to set sail on the journey of a lifetime. The moment of reflection and rest is short lived though. For now it is off to jump school, then assigned to a Seal team on the East or West Coast. Once on the Seal Team, it becomes clear that training has just begun. From now on they must prove worthy of wearing the coveted â€Å"Trident† Naval Warfare emblem. Once at Jump School these determined men will now start learning the proper techniques of jumping out of a perfectly good plane. This is known as Post BUD/s training. This is a thirty-week course that teaches you everything you need to know about war combat, and jumping techniques.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Though grueling and tedious, the rewards for hard work and studying are priceless. You leave the military with a whole new meaning of life. To be able to protect your friends, family, and country is an honor that anyone should be able to enjoy.

Essay --

The Journey of Knowledge In David Northrup’s Africa’s discover of Europe, he gives an overview of the encounter between Africans and Europeans from 140-1850. Africans played a huge role of the globalizing of cultural and economic transactions. The first encounters between the two continents were mutual. Both parties tried to gain from each other through their transactions. The purpose of this book is to inform readers that we shouldn’t look at Africans as the victim, rather as an active contributor in the African-European relation. Early encounters of Africans in the Western world and Europeans in Africa began to change the societies in Europe and Africa. The fifteenth century â€Å"marks the beginning of an era of continuous and increasing interactions between the two continents and their cultures† (Northrup 2). Also, â€Å"commercial and cultural interactions grew both Africans and Europeans made many adjustments in their ideas of each other† (2). In other words, the depictions of Africans in Europe began to change as Africans became more common in Europe, and â€Å"Africans were also expanding their knowledge and understanding of Europe† (3). One important aspect of the encounter between European and African precolonial nations was trade. Before the European voyages of exploration in the fifteenth century, African rulers and merchants had formed a trade link between the Mediterranean world and within the continent, there were local exchanges among regional neighbors which will later conn ect themselves in long range trade. For example, the supply of slaves from Africa into the Mediterranean Europe was increasing in the thirteenth and fourteenth century; â€Å"the number of â€Å"black† was rising among the Slavic and North African slave populations ... ...slave societies that emerged on Saint Louis and Gorà ©e. The emergence of slave societies created slave-owning merchants: â€Å"Gorà ©e and Saint Louis developed from a small society of signares, French merchants, and slaves into an urban slave society dominated by a slave-owning class of habitants† (Searing 107) due to the fact that slave society was an independent society from the Atlantic merchants and the habitants became obligatory intermediaries in the trade between the islands and the mainland (107). The urban slave population contained high proportion of skilled laborers and native born slaves who were less likely to revolt or run away (104). In conclusion, the relation between Africans and Europeans were mostly mutual. Africans should not be seen as victims of slavery as both parties profited and lost from each other, and were both victims in the Atlantic economy.

Allen Sapp :: essays research papers fc

Allen Sapp is a famous Indian artist. He was born in 1928 on the Red Pheasant Reserve near Battleford, Saskatchewan. He was raised and cared for by his grandmother, Maggie Soonias because his mother died of tuberculosis. He was a sickly child who was often picked on by other children. He took great pleasure in painting and drawing, beginning at age eight. Sapp married and in 1960 his son David was born in a tuberculosis sanitorium where his wife was sick. In 1961 she got out and they moved to Battleford. Allen tried to live off his art and tried to paint waht he thought the white man would like, often calendar art of places and animals he’d never actually seen. He dressed as he thought the white man would accept, and he knew little English. One morning in 1966 Sapp walking into the North Battleford Medical Clinic to sell his paintings. Here he met Dr. Allan Gonor, who liked his work. On his second visit Dr. Gonor saw a painting of Cheif Sam Swimmer and liked it. He bought it and asked for more. Allen began painting what he knew from the reserve. He turned out many paintings at a tremendous rate. Dr. Gonor arranged for him to see an art professor from the U of S. The little instruction he got form her was the only formal instruction he has ever had. In September 1968 she showed some of Allen’s paintings in her backyard. The show was a great success. On the Easter weekend of 1969 Allen had his first major exhibition. The people loved him. He became a great success. The value of his paintings went way up in the next little while as his popularity streadily increased and he did shows all over Canada and in the US and England. He once again became proud of his Indian heritage and began to dress the part. By 1974 h e even had a book written about him. In 1977 Sapp’s son, David, died. In 1985 Dr. Gonor died while visiting Thailand In December 1985 Sapp was elected to the Royal Canadian Acadamy of Arts (R.C.A.A.). He also became one of the first eight receipants of the Saskatchewan Award of Merit. In 1986 he was recognized as one of the Senior Native Artists in Canada. In January 1987 the Governor General of Canada appointed Sapp as an Officer to the Order of Canada.

Rahming Giovanni

Rahming 1 Giovanni Rahming Ms. Joan Norman English 119 29th March, 2010 Causes of Childhood Obesity At some point in life, every parent has told their child to eat their vegetables. Most children ignore this request, however they should oblige. Obesity among children is becoming more and more common in today’s society and many people are wondering why. In 2006, then Minister of Health Dr. Marcus Bethel stated in the House of Assembly that 65% of adult Bahamians are overweight and 23% of children and teenagers between the ages of 11 and 20 are overweight.He stated that this was a 10% increase over the previous year in terms of children and teenagers. The percentage of adults who were overweight only went up by 5%. These figures were calculated in the year 2006. It is now 2010 and those figures have probably doubled. This major increase in childhood obesity was brought about by a multitude of causes. Some of these are lack of exercise, poor diet and genetic predispositions. Befo re one can examine the causes of obesity, one must understand what obesity is.The Centre For Disease Control describes obesity as a medical condition which involves the accumulation of excess body fat to the point where it is a risk to the general health of the person. Being obese should not be confused with being overweight. If a person is overweight it Rahming 2 simply means that the person has gained more weight than is necessary. It is not a direct threat to the general health of the person but it should still be taken seriously. Before a person can become obese he/she must first be overweight.It is the first step on the way to becoming obese and a step that many children in the Bahamas have already passed. Lack of exercise is one of the main reasons for obesity in children and teenagers. It is recommended that one should engage in at least thirty minutes of vigorous exercise per day. Unfortunately, this is not the case concerning most children in The Bahamas. In a recent broadc ast news program, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis stated that children and teenagers are beginning to surpass adults in terms of the obesity level in the country.Parents are directly responsible for this because they don’t encourage their children to exercise. If you drive around New Providence during the evening hours and look on the sidewalks, you will see people jogging or walking. Most of these people are elderly or middle aged adults who are only walking because they received some threatening news from their doctor. Children are hardly seen jogging, walking or outside on the whole. Technology has come so far that people don’t have to go outside hardly at all these days. Regardless of this fact, parents need to step up and get their children to exercise.In an article in the Nassau Guardian, a few tips were given on how to encourage children to be more active and it was suggested that the parent’s participation would be the best way. It stated, â€Å"Tu rn off the television, shut down the computer and drag the kids outside if you have too. † Challenging them to a game usually works well. When parents go walking or jogging in the evening they should encourage their children to come with them. This way the whole family can get exercise and stay healthy. It has been proven that habits developed at a young age will carry Rahming 3 n into adulthood. If children get used to exercising everyday they will continue this habit into their adult years. Thus this problem of childhood obesity can be partially solved if parents would just exercise with their children. Working out is not the only way to combat this problem of childhood obesity, a healthy diet is essential as well. It is perhaps more important than exercise and is something that most children do not have. A healthy diet consists of the correct amount of carbohydrates, protein and fats. These nutrients are needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle.Most children get these nutrien ts; the problem is they take in too much of one type and not enough of another. For example they consume very large amounts of protein but not enough carbohydrates. This extra protein is then changed into fat and stored resulting in excess weight. Another nutrient that children consume too much of is fats. Believe it or not fats are needed but only in small amounts. The large amounts of candy and sugars that kids eat cause them to gain weight at an alarming rate. Adding to this, fast food makes up the majority of the diet of most of the children in The Bahamas.They get no nutritional value and simply gain weight. If children consume more vitamins from vegetables in their diet, they will be a lot healthier and less obese. The complaint with most children is that vegetables taste horrible, which some do. The way to get around this is to make the children eat their vegetables without them knowing they are eating healthy. They can be hidden in soups, casseroles or even sandwiches as lon g as the dish looks as if it has no vegetables in it. A lot of parents wonder why their obese children act depressed or withdraw themselves from other children their age.The answer is their obesity is affecting their emotions and behavior. Research has proven that children whom are obese tend to be more depressed and antisocial than Rahming 4 children who are at a normal weight level. This just adds to the stress and challenges obese children have to face on a daily basis and it is also one of the reasons why losing weight is so difficult for them. If they feel depressed all the time then they won’t have any energy to exercise. These emotional problems seem to prove the statement of Nutritional Consultant Charlotte Skiles to be true.She said: â€Å"The food that we eat affects the structure of the body and thus it affects the function of the body. These functions don’t have be just physical but psychological as well. Psychological effects of obesity can include depres sion, withdrawal, lack of energy, loss of enthusiasm, anger and anti-social behavior. † People tend to blame obesity on a lot of things; the reason they often fail to mention is genetics. Many people don’t know or understand that some children are just designed to be obese because it was passed along in their jeans.The Center for Disease Control reports that scientists have linked one hundred and twenty seven jeans in the human DNA system to obesity. These jeans cause some children to gain weight without excessive eating or lack of exercise. Also some children are born obese and continue to gain weight as they become adults. Children who are obese because of genetic causes find it most difficult to lose weight. The best way they can do this is try to slow down the amount of weight they gain by eating a well balanced diet and exercising.In the Bahamas, childhood obesity is not the most talked about disease but it is evident that it is on the rise. Children are becoming l ess active, fewer kids are seen playing outside and slowly the youth of the country are becoming bigger and bigger. Because of the lack of parental Rahming 5 encouragement, children eat what they please and do not get the essential vitamins and minerals they need. Instead all they get is sugar and thus fat. Then they don’t exercise which is the major reason why obesity is on the rise in the country.Even those with genetic predispositions can eat healthy and exercise to try and control their weight. However the majority of Bahamian children whom are obese do not have genetic predispositions. All they need to do is eat right and exercise to put a real dent in the obesity level in the country. The youth of a country is its future and an obese nation does not bode well for any country.Works Cited â€Å"Childhood Obesity Caused By Lack of Exercise. † Medical News Today 2004. 16 Mar. 2010 â€Å"Getting Your Kids To Exercise† Nassau Guardian 5 May. 2005 16 Mar. 010 Int erview with Dr. Hubert Minnis. Bahamas Tonight. ZNS Network. 28. Feb. 2010 Kopland, Jeffery. , Koraak, Vivicka. , Liverman, Catharyn. , eds. Preventing Childhood Obesity, Health In The Balance. Washington D. C. , 2005 Obesity and Genomics 2005. Center For Disease Control 23 Mar. 2010 Skiles, Charlotte. Effects Of Poor Diet In Children 2009. 16 Mar. 2010 Thompson, Lindsay. Minister of Health Encourages Fight Against Obesity. 2008 26. Mar. 2010 Thompson, Zandra. Obesity As A Risk Factor For Disease. 2006 26. Mar. 2010

Moll Flanders: From Innocence to Maturity Essay

Moll Flanders is the central character of the novel â€Å"Moll Flanders†, who was born in Newgate, England and passed different phases of her life across England and America. The entire novel depicts those phases of her life through five marriages, among which only one was fruitful. Between her marriages and through them, the character of Moll Flanders evolves which shows her ingenuity, energy and determination to survive and do well. Moll is born in a prison in Newgate and soon after her birth, her mother is deported to America alone, to serve her punishment. She is taken over by a group of gypsy, with whom she lived until she was three years old. Then she was raised by a nurse until she was eight. It was tradition that she should now find a job as a servant, like many other orphan children. However, this is when we see the first piece of Moll’s intelligence when she pleads that she could be a ‘gentlewoman’ with whatever little education and work skill she has achieved so far. Soon, she becomes a celebrity and was assisted by many women and finally was taken by one of the prominent families where she grows like the other daughters of the family. So, if we look thoroughly up to this phase of Moll’s life, we see the ingenuity of her character which she keeps growing over time through the rest of the novel. As the elder son of the family becomes physically intimate with Moll, she starts to become emotionally very intimate to him. She starts to believe that she could be a wife someday in that house. However, soon she turns wrong and learns the about the harshness male dominance. Later, she marries the younger brother and gives birth to 2 children. We see Moll starts to become self-sufficient through this phase of life. She understands that if she wants to get herself as a respectable woman in the society, she requires the identity of being married to a gentleman. However, it is also interesting to observe that she still preserves a sense of dignity in her. The thought of lying with the elder brother for financial reason disgusts her. But she grows a perspective which decides her reaction to such events and let her choose the appropriate course of action to survive. She becomes aware of the physical relationship but at the same time she becomes pragmatic and marries the elder brother. Soon after the death of her first husband, she gets married to a draper. But her second marriage does not last long either as the tradesman becomes a fugitive and runs away to France. And the wealth that Moll has achieved over the period of affair with the elder brother, comes down to less than half. And this is when she falls into a strange kind of problem of having no husband despite having one. But she finds a solution by concealing her true identity and becomes a trickster to get married again. It is notable that at this stage of her life, she realizes that being honest and devoted to relationship does not always settle a woman into a society. Her love for the elder brother is real but is not enough to achieve a stable life. Life teaches her to be tricky and she tricks her step-brother to marry her by vowing him that he would still marry her even if she is penniless. After being married for the third time, Moll goes to Virginia with her husband and starts to live a happy and prosperous life. However, that does not last long as the secret is soon revealed that she has married her own half-brother. Moll’s reaction at this stage of her life is quite contrasting to the rest of her reactions previously. So far she has exposed mostly the negative aspects of her character to get a sustainable life. However, despite being happy with her step-brother, she decides to leave her. This time her moral principle wins over other consideration and she expresses her disgust over this incestuous relationship. Even her own mother cannot convince her to forget everything and live the life. So, she returns to England by leaving behind a perfect life in America. As she returns to England, she starts to live in a place called Bath, which is known more to find a mistress than a wife. After three unsuccessful marriages, Moll becomes aware that she has to be very careful about her next relationship. She meets a banker who is ready to marry her but she denies after knowing that he already has a wife who is insane. She says she would only consider marrying him if the banker can obtain a divorce. This shows the sign of her being matured over time. She also meets another man named Jemy, who becomes her fourth husband and perhaps her best match. Jemy is another trickster, like Moll herself. So, this phase of Moll’s life shows her calculated treatment to the male companions and her sensitivity in getting married. However, she and Jemy cross each other in the same game and they fitted each other rightly, and in later life it proves right. So, at this segment of her life, we see the little morals and bits of wisdom which shows the ultimate maturity of Moll Flanders. Going through the life of Moll Flanders through her first four marriages, one might say she is hard to stand. But despite her less than appealing qualities, we see the development of a woman who leads a hard fought life. Interestingly, Daniel Defoe has chosen a character of low moral as the principal protagonist of this novel which is rather uncommon. But her imperfection and the nature of fluidness in her character glorify the fight of a woman from an era when they were seen as an inferior. And through the first four marriages, we see the evolution of an ordinary girl towards sensible maturity to sustain in a society which is vulnerable for women.