Adoption and Race

Historically, transracial adoption began to be practiced after the Second World War. Children from war-torn countries – Korea, Vietnam, and even Europe — without families were adopted by families in the United States with Caucasian paThrough the years, as more racial ethnic minority children within the United States were without families, domestic adoption agencies began to place African American, Native American, and Hispanic children with Caucasian families who wanted children.However, in 1972 the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) became concerned about the large numbers of African American children who were being placed with Caucasian families. They condemned the practice of transracial adoption of African American children to Caucasian parents.They cited psychological maladjustment, inferior racial identity, the failure to cope with racism and discrimination, and â€Å"cultural genocide† as the likely outcomes of transracial adoptive placem ents.As an offshoot of this, legislation was introduced in the form of the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) of 1994. MEPA, together with the Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP), has been signed into law to reduce the practice of race-matching in adoptive placements for children.These two pieces of legislation, commonly referred to as MEPA-IEP, were designed to decrease the amount of time children wait for adoptive placement, to improve and assist in the recruitment and retention of prospective foster and adoptive parents who are able to meet the distinctive needs of the children to be placed, and to eliminate discrimination in the practice of adoptive and foster care placements on the basis of race, color, or national origin.However, the passage of MEPA-IEP has not resolved the controversy over racial matching policies and transracial adoptions. Controversies still hound transracial adoption. Although the law prohibits categorical assumptions about the benefit of same-race placeme nts, child welfare workers still will have to make decisions about the importance of race in the life of an individual child.They are also tasked to identify reasons that may eventually require for the consideration of race. Those who believe that same-race placements are preferable may feel aggrieved that federal policy now contradicts their conviction and routinely calls for them to place children without giving weight to the child’s race.On the other hand, those who place little value on racial matching may have trouble identifying children whohave a specific need for a same-race placement.It is within this light that this study will take shape.   As issues continue to be raised regarding transracial adoption, it is only fitting to go beyond statistics and find out the feelings of those who are personally involved in the process. As this study will attempt to unravel the issues closest to the hearts of those involved, the approach that will be used will be generally qual itative.Statement of the ProblemWhat is the percentage of interracial adoption, and what are the controversies surrounding racial matching and transracial adoption?Objectives1) To define racial matching and transracial adoption;2) To find out the percentage of transracial adoption in America;3) To find out the various issues related to racial matching and transracial adoption;4) To find out the various legislations designed to address racial matching and transracial adoption.MethodologyThis study will use interview – which entails purposive sampling — as a method for gathering data. The interviews will be conducted with the aid of an interview guide which is an informally prepared unstructured questionnaire. Data will also be collected through numerous secondary sources.Materials and documents such as discourses in books, official publications, position papers, letters, newspapers and magazine clippings will also be utilized. The official websites of various organizati ons will also be used as necessary. Implications of the study will be derived from the analysis of the gathered data and issues raised in the interviews and the various secondary sources.Review of Related LiteraturePracticing social workers, leaders of minority group communities, and scholars have expressed concerns on the effects of transracial adoption (Hayes, 1993). In a study conducted by Kim (1995) on international adoption, he noted that â€Å"transracial adoption of black children stirred up many controversies regarding their psychological development, especially with respect to their ethnic identity, or cultural well-being† (p.141-142).In order to determine the effects of transracial adoption on adoptees, several studies were also conducted on the racial identity of transracial adoptees (Bagley, 1993).These studies conceptualized racial identity in terms of racial group preferences, objective racial self-identification, and knowledge or awareness of one’s racia l group membership. Andujo (1988) also studied racial identity by measuring levels of acculturation, and by assessing the degree of pride in one’s ethnic heritage and appearance.Johnson et al. (1987) found that transracially adopted Black children had greater awareness of their race at an earlier age than did intraracially adopted Black children. As they grow older, however, both groups of adopted children expressed analogous levels of awareness and preference.The findings of the study also indicated that transracially adopted children’s awareness and preference stayed constant over time, while that of intraracially adopted Black children’s both increased more swiftly to exceed that of transracially adopted children.In the end, the study concluded that transracially adopted children were developing differently from intraracially adopted children. This developmental difference could be the springboard of the problems in the transracial adoptees’ racial ide ntity.Shireman and Johnson (1986) likewise reported on the psychological adjustment, racial identity, and sexual identity of transracial adoptees as compared to intraracial adoptees and adoptees of single parents.All of the adoptees in the study were Black children and all of the parents were also Black except for the parents in the transracial placements all of whom were White. Parents and adoptees were interviewed separately. The findings of the study suggested that there were no differences in psychological adjustment among the three groups of adoptees as determined by objective ratings of the interviews.In the end, the controversies hounding transracial adoption, no matter how limited they are, still largely affect those who are involved in the process. Only when these issues are addressed and resolved can the matters be put to rest.BibliographyAndujo, E. (1988). Ethnic identity of transethnically adopted Hispanic adolescents. Social Work, 33, 531-535.Bagley, C. (1993a). Chinese adoptees in Britain: A twenty-year follow-up of adjustment and social identity. International Social Work, 36, 143-157.Hayes, P. (1993). Transracial adoption: Politics and ideology. Child Welfare, 72, 301-310.Johnson, P. R., Shireman, J. F., & Watson, K. W. (1987). Transracial adoption and the development of black identity at age eight. Child Welfare, 66, 45-55.Kim, W. J. (1995). International adoption: A case review of Korean children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 25, 141-154.National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (2000, August). Adoption: Numbers and trends. Available: http://www.calib.com/naic/pubs/s_number.htmProject 21. (1995, March). African-American leadership group condemns racist adoption practices. (On-line). Available: http://www.nationalcenter.inter.net/TransRacialAdopt.htmlShireman, J. F., & Johnson, P. R. (1986). A longitudinal study of Black adoptions: Single parent, transracial, and traditional. Social Work, 31, 172-176.http://www.transracialadoption .net/inform.htm#Psychological%20adjustment,%20self-esteem,%20and%20racial%20identity

Working with Financial Statements

Working with Financial Statements Accounting is the heart and soul of executing a successful business. Accounting is used to provide record for all items that are paid and received for a business over any period of time. Within the purpose of accounting lies the need to provide continuity and sustainability within a business, without it a business will not thrive. The information obtained is kept on record, in order to give insight to upper management on data concerning the daily revenue and expenses of that business. This data is needed to not only inform the employees of the business, but also the investing parties of that business as well.Success in business is equated to being accountable of all aspects of revenue and expenses. To help aid in the understanding of the practice of accounting, Team A will discuss the subjects of revenue and expense recognition principles. We will also discuss the importance of journal adjustments that are prepaid, unearned, and accrued for both reve nues and expenses over time. Each item discussed helps provided and maintains a balance for the completion of a financial statement. If entered correctly, the all entries used will provide a clear picture of the account efforts of any business.The Revenue Recognition and Expense Recognition Principle Being able to account for a business’s revenues and expenses in a certain accounting period is difficult to determine. To do it correctly, one would need to understand two principles that set the standard; the revenue recognition principle and the expense recognition principle. In chapter 4 of our textbook Financial Accounting Tools for Business Decision Making, it states â€Å"the revenue recognition principle requires that companies recognize revenue in the accounting period in which it is earned.In a service company, revenue is considered to be earned at the time the service is performed. † Therefore, the definition is that it is only to be recorded when the items sold where the profit can be estimated reliability and when the amount is recoverable. What tells the revenue to be recognized and to ignore when the cash inflows occur is when the account will use the accrual basis of accounting. An example to illustrate revenue recognition principle is when a phone company sells talk time through scratch cars. There is no revenue to recognize when a customer purchased the scratch card.The revenue is recognized when the customer has made the call and actually consumed the talk time. The expense recognition principle is defined in the same chapter as, â€Å"The principle that dictates that companies match efforts (expenses) with results (revenues). † They provide a simple rule to remember as â€Å"Let the expenses follow the revenues. † which would indicate how the expense recognition goes hand and hand with the revenue recognition. To illustrate that, we could say it is sales commission owed to an employee because it is based on the total of a sale.In the same accounting period as the sale, the commission expense is when it should be recorded. At the same time, the sale is recognized and expensed when the cost of inventory is delivered to the customer. That is when the commission expense should be recorded in the same accounting period as the sale. That would be the example of the matching principle is associated with the cause and effect of accounting. Situations That Require Adjusting Journal Entries Adjusting entries are grouped as deferrals and accruals and each has two subgroups. The two categories of deferrals are prepaid expenses and unearned revenue.Prepaid expenses are recorded as assets until they are used or consumed. For example prepaid monthly insurance is recorded as an asset until the coverage has been consumed. Because prepaid expenses expire with time does not require daily adjustments, which would be unrealistic. When preparing financial statements adjusting entries are made to record the expense co nsumed of the prepaid assets and show the remaining amounts in the asset account. Unearned revenue is when cash is received before service is provided, which increases the liability account. For that reason unearned revenue are opposite of prepaid expenses.When a company receives a payment for a future service, it credits liability the unearned revenue account increases. The recognition process occurs during the accounting period where the service was provided. Then the company makes the adjusting entry for the unearned revenue by debiting the liability account and crediting the revenue account. Before the adjustment is made liabilities are overstated and revenue is understated. The second category for adjusting entries is for accruals. Preceding the entry adjustments the revenue account or the expense account are understated.Consequently the entry adjustment for accruals increases the balance sheet and income statement account. Accrued revenue is accumulated revenue that is not rec orded at the statement date because revenue is accrued with passing time, which is impractical to record daily. The adjusting entry records the amount owed to a business at the balance sheet date and the revenue earned in that time. The adjusting entry increases both the revenue account and the asset account. If services provided to client that were not billed will not be recorded.The accrual of unrecorded service account increases accounts receivable, which also increases stockholder equity by increasing revenue account. It would be unethical for a company to backdate sales or accounts receivable to increase revenue and asset accounts to meet a quarter’s target sales. Expenses incurred but not yet paid or recorded at the statement date are called accrued expenses. Adjustments are made to recognize expenses incurred at the current accounting period and record debt that is present at the balance sheet date. Consequently adjusting entry increase expense account and increase lia bility account.Why Adjusting Entries are Important Every business or organization makes adjusting entries in the end of a set accounting period. Adjusting entries are entries made at the end of an accounting period to make certain that the profits and expenditures recognition principles are followed (Kimmel, Weygandt, & Kieso, 2011). Accrual transactions and the purposes of these transactions should be reported when these financial actions occur. These actions should be recorded not only when cash is paid or received but also anytime a financial action takes place.These important concepts in accounting are imperative because they recognize net gains or losses and a business’ financial position can be identified within the accounting period. The preparations of general entries and postings are important and the information added to these journals should be precise and reliable. The truth in numbers is critical, and the information should be calculated exactly. There are numero us reasons regarding why adjusting entries are important. To establish if the accurate value of cost of goods sold and gross profit, adjusting entry of closing stock is needed.To determine the correct value of net profit, adjusting entry of depreciation is needed. Making adjusting entries of advance expenses are essential because after this step is completed an accountant can take away advance expense from expenses collected, and this will be charged in next accounting period when these expenses will be payable. To show the correct amounts due to a third party and to show correct expenses for the accounting period making adjusting entries of outstanding expenses are important. In this entry the accountant must have debit expense and credit outstanding expense for a third party accounted for. ConclusionAs one can see, revenue recognition and expense recognition are important parts of the accounting process of any business. It is also important to understand what situations require a company to adjust their journal entries and why it is so important to do so. With the appropriate accounting techniques and accurate journaling, a company’s financial statements become more accurate and easier for both internal and external users to understand. Not only do accurate financial statements keep a company above suspicion and consequence, but it helps users make informed decisions about that company based on its financial health.Without good decision making based on accurate information, a company will not be able to succeed. References Kimmel, P. D. , Weygandt, J. J. , & Kieso, D. E. ( 2010). Financial accounting: Tools for business decision making (6th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 2011 Financial Principles Explained. Retrieved from http://accountingexplained. com/financial/principles/revenue-recognition Walther, L. (2012) Financial Accounting 2012 Edition. Retrieved from http://www. principlesofaccounting. com/chapter3/chapter3. html sofaccounting. com/ chapter3/chapter3. html

To what extent are humans in a technological environment free from natural selection?

Humans in technology environment are not very free from natural selection. According to Charles Darwin, natural selection acts only for the good of each organism, so since our very first human ancestors had no natural defenses, they would die from what is considered today an insignificant disease. It was throughout millions of years, that the human body started to build an immunization to certain diseases and only the stronger humans were the ones to survive and carry on that trait.Likewise, having no fur on their bodies to survive in the cold weather, they learned how to use other animals’ skins and how to build some weapons, in order to chase wild animals. Nowadays, humans have made incredible discoveries; we have created a wonderful world of technology, which leads us to make some enormous progress in the field of medicine; especially in how to treat diseases which were, at some time, considered incurable. My point is, that since we have made such progress in technology, I am scared that we are keeping too many people alive, including some that might not fit the environment in which they live.In addition, we are allowing some infertile people to reproduce through in-vitro fertilization, when apparently they were not capable naturally. We are also letting babies survive by saving their lives at their birth even though they might not be perfectly healthy or other traits which could bedetrimental for the human species. But through science and the new technology, we have let these babies live and we have given them the opportunity to grow up and reproduce, transmitting their traits to other generations.Due to these facts, it is very probable that we are acting against natural selection in human beings, ever since humans became people who think and care for one another and we have made it immoral to kill another individual or to let him die. However, we could think about another definition of natural selection, such as a life on Earth dies if it is not ada pted to its environment and it lives if it has a niche and can reproduce in its surroundings, which is also called survival of the fittest.If we take the example of a fetus in his mother’s womb, the body of the mother can detect some errors coming from the fetus, and it would eliminate the fetus through a miscarriage. So, in this case, natural selection does still act upon human; acting within the womb of a woman, and therefore, not let a human being, which would not fit its environment, survive. For instance, we have not seen any people carrying the traits of Down’s syndrome on the chromosome 14.It is likely that this defect happened before but only inside a woman’s body which eliminated the mistake through a miscarriage, not letting the future human sees the light. So, in this case, the fact that humans are living longer, letting them reproduce thanks to many discoveries such as in vitro fertilization, surgeries, transplants, medication, etc. , is because we a re taking into consideration that the technology is part of our environment.

Data wharehousing case study assignment PowerPoint Presentation

Data wharehousing case study assignment - PowerPoint Presentation Example Facts table present real data stored while dimension tables describes each row in a fact table. Any data mart must present business changing trends and the user requirements in an organization. The database for MEGA SAVE was analyzed using OLAP Statistics and Reporting. The main advantage of data mart is that it can be used to analyze both small and large data of an organization because data marts are response to real business needs. This are some of the key guidelines that the designers of the database should base in coming up with the data mart. Charts and reports are used to describe the data set. Table 1.0 The above table shows group customer against group product from the sales. Table 1.2 From the schema the main aim of the developers of the schema is to evaluate the sales according to different groups of the buyers. The group products and the customer group ID are illustrated in the table above. For instance, customer group ID 1 is for Young Rich Women while 2 for Young Poor Wo men. The total sales for each product is given in the columns. Graph 1.0 The graph above shows the sales of group products sold overall in all counties. Fresh meat, soft drink and dairy were the least sold items while the highest sales was fruit vegetable followed by beer. The schema designed was to outline the group sales that has the highest score. The graph below shows the sales grouped by the product. The group customers are also categorized in the graph this graph is aimed at identifying the favorite precuts customers buy frequently. By different type of buyers. Decision makers can use this information in determining the type of product to be focused a given group of the consumers. Graph 2.0 Graph 3.0 The graph above shows sales of group product over the county. The decision makers may want to know which county has the highest sales and which product is the best sales. West Yorkshire has the largest sales above 1200 sales for fruit vegetables while east Yorkshire has the least sales below 800 sales for fruits vegetables. The decision maker may want to identify the sales in each county based on the scores. For instance, which store is in which county and how is it performing? The table below shows these data. Table 1.3 The company’s main trend or patterns are to the target population on the market and the kind of products it is selling to these regions. After looking at the design principles about data mart, there should be a single access point to the data mart hence the information from all the stores should be accessed at a given point. The schema omitted the most important question about the sales in each region. From a business perspective, the two main questions that emerge are: What is the specific business application of the data being loaded to the data mart from the operating system files. Therefore loading legacy data during the loading of the data mart should be done. The first law in data mart designing is the law of loading complexity in this case having multiple sources where data will be extracted from is a complexity. Some sources may not be loaded or the administrator may present information to the users in the format that they did not expect, hence to users data will not be available. Feedback mechanism should be design early in the designing stage of the data mart. I used bar graphs in representing my information because the values in the database are of frequency

Why hotel firms choose to integrate both vertically and horizontally Essay

Why hotel firms choose to integrate both vertically and horizontally within the wider tourism industry - Essay Example The purpose of a business is to get and keep a customer. As hotel firms are dynamically evolving entities operating within a dynamically evolving environment, some means of evaluation of the way in which the two interact has to be found to enable them to be better matched. In order to achieve these goals tourism and hospitality industry choose to integrate both vertically and horizontally to meet the needs of their customers and achieve overall objectives. It should be mentioned that integration is development beyond the present product and market, but still within the broad confines of the 'industry' within which the company operates: for example, Sheraton and Crowne Plaza are diversified corporations, but virtually all their interests are in the consumer service industry. Integration both vertical and horizontal therefore builds on the assets or activities which the firm has developed in service or market terms (Nebel, 1991). 1.1. Vertical integration. Vertical integration is a broader term used to describe either backward or forward integration. Backward integration is popular in tourism and hospitality industry. It refers to development into activities which are concerned with the inputs into the company's current business (i.e. are further back in the value system). Backward integration is important for tourism and hospitality industry because it refers to development into activities which are concerned with a company's outputs (i.e. are further forward in the value system), such as transport, distribution, repairs and servicing (Powers, Barrows, 2002). 1.2. Horizontal integration. Horizontal integration refers to development into activities which are competitive with, or directly complementary to, a company's present activities. A lending library's extension into tourist information or video cassette material would be an example (Stutts, 2001). The acquisition of, or merger with, a competitor would be one way of achieving this, for example. The strategic logic behind horizontal development is typically to gain leverage or market power over suppliers or buyers. Higher volume generally confers greater scale economies in purchasing whereas larger product market share confers greater pricing power over customers. 2. The role of vertical integration in hospitality and tourism industry Backward vertical development is movement towards a supplier of resources used by the business. This might be an attempt to secure supply of a key resource or to gain a cost advantage over competitors by 'locking in' a supplier. Conversely, forward vertical development is growth towards the next stage in the supply chain by gaining an interest in a buyer of the company's outputs. In both cases, the strategic logic is to secure a foothold in the same supply chain to guarantee supply or distribution. This degree of vertical integration was unusual in an industry which had become characterised by specialist companies concentrating on just one of these roles. The company believed the strength of its philosophy was that one division could help out another when times got hard, as in the recession of the early 1990s. For example, although demand for low rate hotels had declined, but standard services had experienced strong. As a result, the low rate hotels h

Domestic and Foreign Intelligence Services Research Paper

Domestic and Foreign Intelligence Services - Research Paper Example The domestic intelligence agency in United Kingdom is known as Security Service and commonly referred as MI-5.  (Ehrman, 2009). The role and responsibilities of MI-5 include response to security threats such as terrorism, counterintelligence, weapons of mass destruction and organized crimes within the confines of the United Kingdom territory (Vitkauskas, 1999). It is the agency that is charged with the protection and safeguarding of British economic interests and parliamentary democracy in the United Kingdom.   As a domestic intelligence agency, MI-5 is responsible for the protection of public utilities such as air, gas rail and key industries such as defense contactors, civil nuclear power, oil and other crucial industries in United Kingdom (Posner, 2005).   MI-5 boasts of a long term and established tradition of executing domestic intelligence operations in United Kingdom and the wider scope of responsibilities that have included electronic surveillance, recruitment and infil tration of terrorist groups (Burch, 2007). In relation to information sharing, MI-5 is the central domestic intelligence agency in United Kingdom that is charged with the collection and analysis of information and further relay them to United Kingdoms Joint Intelligence committee. The role Joint Intelligence Committee is to prioritize intelligence information from MI-5 and regularly update and provide intelligence assessments to ministers and other senior officials (Ehrman, 2009).  ... Comprehensive comparison and analysis of intelligence services mandates, functions and operations is thus hampered by the restriction that exist on information access and even though the internet and other sources of data from scholars can be exploited, they are often classified (Burch, 2007; O’connell, 2004). Current prospect suggest that comparison of intelligence services can be done in a transparent environment, it should be acknowledged that it is the secrecy that enable intelligent services to operate. Domestic and foreign intelligence services between countries can be compared based on various benchmarks and parameters. Example of benchmarks or frameworks that intelligence services might be compared include national security context, national security structure, organizational size and budget, organizational cohesion, management and oversight and information collection emphasis. In addition, intelligence service comparison can also be based on the analytic emphasis of t he respective agencies, intelligence-decision making relationships, operational emphasis, cooperation of intelligence agencies with other diplomatic and security organization and policies, practices and procedures for counter-intelligence (O’connell, 2004). Domestic Intelligence Both domestic intelligence services of United States and United Kingdom have common jurisdiction in relation to national security. The main function of the intelligence services include the provision of unique, special and secretive information that can aid and support security of both nations. In United States, domestic security intelligence is collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a law enforcement agency that also acts as a subordinate to

Domestic violence Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Domestic violence - Assignment Example The title identifies the variables in the study and the types of people who participated in the research process in the article. The article deals with a very social problem which is domestic violence and which has been on an increasing trend in the US. There is no specific focus on theories and therefore the title of the article also does not contain the mention of any specific theories. But one of the identified negative aspects in the title of the article is that the title is too long and further it is divided into two sections one is â€Å"Domestic Violence and Immigrant Communities in the United States: A Review of women’s Unique Needs† and the other portion is â€Å"Recommendations for Social Work Practice and Research†. From the title of the article it is understood that the main focus is on the domestic violence and immigrant communities in the US. Under the marking system the title of the article can be awarded 4 points.   2) With reference to the abst ract of the article it is effective and appropriate. ... The highlights of the results have not been described in details but only a brief outlook has been provided. The abstract states that Literature review has been provided and also recommendations have been stated which is appropriate for any abstract. The abstract states that complete interferences at both macro as well as micro levels have been provided to reduce domestic violence in immigrant communities. The abstract also states that future directions have been provided. Analyzing the abstract of the article the abstract can be awarded 4 points. The reason of awarding 4point is that the abstract could contain more statistical information regarding the percentage of population who experience domestic violence in the US especially among immigrant communities. â€Å"Abstracts should not include references top tables and figures, descriptions of published work, or reference citations. Conclude the abstract with one or two major points of discussion† (Smith, 1998, P. 93) 3) To be gin with the introduction and the literature review are effective and appropriate. The researcher has provided a very satisfactory introduction which states that every intimate relationship has a contained risk of domestic violence. The researcher begins by identifying the specific problem area of domestic violence. It has been stated in the introduction itself the literature which is analyzed is mainly for the period of the past five years. In the literature review strong evidence of literature regarding the patriarchal cultural values, the social acceptance of violence has been provided. In the literature review section it has been stated that cultural differences are related to the perception of domestic violence

To what extent are cuts to the public sector likely to affect employee Essay

To what extent are cuts to the public sector likely to affect employee motivation Restrict your answer to an analysis by Kehr's - Essay Example 479). Prior to Kehr’s model (2004a), conceptions of work motivation largely ignore the role of implicit motives and how these are distinguished from explicit motives (2004a, p. 479). In this work, Kehr’s model of compensatory work motivation and volition is reviewed for its possible relevance given budget cuts in government. A key concept of Kehr’s compensatory model is that implicit/explicit motive discrepancy gives rise to decreases in volitional strength (Kehr 2004b, p. 315). In discussing the future of motivation theory, Steer et al. (2004, p. 385) acknowledged that Kehr’s model synthesized several lines of research on motivation covering implicit and explicit motive as well as helped answer several intriguing as well as previously unanswered problem s concerning goal attainment. This is significant as the International Research Centre on Organizations has emphasized that motivating people is not an easy task (2007, p. 1). Kehr’s model is highly relevant given the a CATO Liberty news report by Mitchell (2010) indicated that United Kingdom Prime Minister Cameron is poised to implement savage government budget cuts in the United Kingdom. II. Kehr’s compensatory model of work motivation and volition As described by Kehr (2004a, p. ... 482). In Kehr’s example (2004a, p. 482), a manager high in affiliation implicit motive may enjoy a companionship with his unproductive subordinate but will still defer to the demands of his or her supervisor to increase productivity by dismissing the subordinate (Kehr 2004a, p. 482). The supervisor demands constitute an extrinsic factor. In Kehr’s (2004, p. 482) analogy, implicit motives â€Å"push† while explicit motives â€Å"pull† the individual. This means that implicit motives come from within the individual while explicit motives reinforce, moderate, or even suppress the â€Å"push† coming from the implicit motives. In Kehr’s analogy of a senior personnel and an unproductive subordinate, Kehr suggested that extrinsic factors and explicit motives could override intrinsic factors and intrinsic motives. Citing the work of McClelland (1995), Kehr (2004a, p. 480) identified that the three major implicit motives are power, achievement, and af filiation. Implicit motive are not consciously accessible but â€Å"they are assessed by operant, fantasy arousing, picture-story tests, such as the Thematic Apperceptation Test or TAT (Kehr 2004a, p. 480). The implicit motive for power pertains to the need to dominate, control, or influence (Kehr 2004a, p. 480). The implicit motive for achievement refers to the need to meet or exceed personal standards (Kehr 2004a, p. 480). Finally, the implicit motive for affiliation revolves on the need to establish and deepen social relationships (Kehr 2004a, p. 480). Implicit motives determine long-term behavioural trends while explicit motives or values produced by extrinsic factors result to cognitive choices or goals (Kehr 2004a, p. 482). In Kehr’s example (2004a, p. 482), people with explicit power motive may aim for positions of

What Holes Has The Financial Crisis Revealed In The G8 Will The G20 Essay

What Holes Has The Financial Crisis Revealed In The G8 Will The G20 Fill Such Holes - Essay Example World’s wealthiest country; America was the major sufferer of this crisis. In fact many people believe that America was responsible for stimulating recent global recession. The unhealthy lending habits of American banks and the crazy life styles of American public have given momentum to the recent financial crisis. G8 and G20 are two of the major coalitions in the world at present. G20 was proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in 1999 to deal with international financial matters. Sustainable development is the major theme of G20. It is also interested in solving global energy crisis, economic problems, demographic problems etc. Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United States, India, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and European Union are the members of G20. On the other hand the Group of seven (G-7) comprises Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United states. â€Å"The G7 is often referred to as G8 because Russia fully participated in all but financial and certain economic discussions of G7 since the 1998 Birmingham summit†. Before the formation of G7, G6 was formed in 1974 by world's major industrialized democracies such as United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, West Germany, Japan and France. In 1975 Canada joined G6 and it became G7. Russia joined G7 in 1997 to make it G8. Since, its formation G8 contributed heavily to global economy. Fratianni, et al (2005) pointed out that â€Å"The world without G8 would be more brutish and riskier than it is now† (p.4). The recent financial crisis has unveiled many of the loopholes in G8 functioning whereas G20 stood well to the challenges raised by the recession. It should be noted that G8 consists of mainly European and American countries whereas G20 consists of countries from Asia also. It is often said that global wealth is currently shifting from America a nd Europe to Asia at present. This is evident from the fact that most of the prominent Asian countries escaped from recession problems whereas American and European countries are still struggling for survival. In other words, G8 failed miserably in tackling recession problems whereas G20 managed these problems well, mainly because of the contributions of Asian countries. This paper analyses the loopholes in G8 in tackling recession problems and the ability of G20 in filling that loopholes. What holes has the financial crisis revealed in the G8? Even though G8 countries are believed to be the wealthiest countries in the world, recent financial crisis has unveiled the loopholes in the governance of these countries. According to Fratianni et al. (2007), â€Å"Today, the G8 leaders are dealing directly with central question of how to build better global governance in both public and private sphere† (p.23). As a result of globalization, privatization is taking place at rapid pace in most of the countries. Moreover, governments in G8 countries are privatizing many of the publicly owned companies to stay away from the responsibilities of servicing the people. It is a fact that private capital is essential for the economic growth of a country. However, uncontrolled private capital in critical sectors may bring more harm than good. India like emerging economies is allowing private participation cautiously even though they are following mixed economic policies. On the other hand, China does not allow private capital in critical sectors even though they are doing everything possible to encourage private capital on all other sectors. G8 countries on the other hand allowing private companies to invest at will in all major industrial

USGS Bird Population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

USGS Bird Population - Essay Example Indeed, it found as far north as Alaska on the west coast as well as New England on the east coast and as far south as Mexico and the Bahamas. It is also found in eastern Canada, in Great Britain, and Ireland. Its ability to survive on a variety of diets, which include fish, amphibians and crustaceans, also indicate that the Double Crested Cormorant is a generalist. The Great Blue Heron is also a generalist/opportunistic species. This species is found not only in freshwater and saltwater habitats but also in mangrove swamps, flooded meadows, lake edges as well as along the shoreline. Indeed, it thrives in almost every part of North America, from Alaska and southern Canada in the North to Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean in the south. It is also found in South America, Greenland and England (Elliott, del Hoyo, Sargatal, & Imboden, 1992). Though the primary food of the Great Blue Heron is fish, it opportunistically feed on a variety of aquatic organisms such as shrimp, crabs, insects, rodents, amphibians, reptiles and other smaller birds. The Wood Stork is an example of a specialist given that it is found in limited habitat mainly tropical and subtropical climates of South America, Central America and the Caribbean. It is also found in subtropical climates of the United States such as in the States of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina where they live on cypress trees in marshes and swamps (Ehrlich, Dobkin, & Wheye, 1992). The Wood Stork, which is an endangered species (Ehrlich, Dobkin, & Wheye, 1992), preys on a limited variety of aquatic organisms that include fish, frogs and large insects. The America Robin is indeed a generalist that is found in almost all parts of North America, from Alaska and Canada in the North to Florida and Mexico in the south (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2011). Thus is can survive in different types of environments though its habitat is mainly woodland. It is also found in the Caribbean, Greenland, and in

Marketing mix of Coca-cola in the United Kingdom and the United States Essay

Marketing mix of Coca-cola in the United Kingdom and the United States - Essay Example The Coca-Cola brand name was developed because of the ascetic value of the two Cs and the thought that this would make the company name stand out. In 1887 the extract and syrup for Coca-Cola was copyrighted. At this point, Asa Chandler became involved in the company, and attained personal control of both the formula and patents. He finally purchases the company in 1892 and continues to advertise the product and grow the company. In 1899, Chandler contracts a Chattanooga company to bottle Coca-Cola, a distribution technique that the company continues today. By 1913, the company was spending more than $1 million annually in advertising, had began expansion into Asia and was distributed through upwards of 415,000 retailers. In 1916, the contour bottle was developed, a distinctive advertising tool that was used to ensure recognisability of Coca-Cola. A substantial change came about for the Coca-Cola Company in 1919 when it was purchased by a group of investors, head of which was Earnest Woodruff. Throughout the following decades, the company continued to develop, including the use of movie stars in advertising for the product, overseas bottling and the presence of Coca-Cola in South Africa, Australia and Austria. As the company continues to develop, additional beverages are added, and the distribution of the products expands throughout the world . Coca-Cola is now the most recognizable brand of soft drink worldwide, and may be the most recognizable brand of any industry. Currently, Coca-Cola products are present in more than 200 countries and it is estimated that 1.7 billion servings of products are consumed each day. Worldwide, the company employs 139,600 staff members . The company is the largest beverage company... This essay will examine the marketing mix employed by Coca-Cola in two countries, the United States, where the brand was first developed and the United Kingdom. This consists of four key components, known as the 4Ps: product, price, promotion and placement. Coca-Cola has become a household name worldwide since its humble beginnings 125 years ago. Much of this growth comes from Coca-Colas innovative marketing methods and the way that the company quickly responds to changes in demand and public opinion. This can be seen in the use of Santa Claus as an icon to increase winter sales and the recent marketing work to associate Coca-Cola with happiness. Coca-Cola has a large product line, which differs depending on the country. The USA and UK are different markets with different market environments, although they do have many similarities. For the most part, Coca-Cola has continued with its global strategy of using a general advertising approach, rather than one that is specific to country. The main differences in marketing mix between the UK and the USA is the focus that the UK has on the environment and the need for additional information on packaging for the UK market that is not required in the US market. This trend may continue within the UK, creating significant differentiation between the two markets but currently Coca-Cola effectively in both countries uses most of the same marketing mix.

Haiti Earthquake Essay Example for Free

Haiti Earthquake Essay Haiti is situated in Hispaniola in the Caribbean. Hispaniola, which consists of two countries Dominican Republic and Haiti itself. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and it is the 145th poorest country the world. 80% of its 9.7 million people live below the poverty line. The Haitian earthquake occurred on the 12th January 2010; it left the country in devastation. The Social impacts of this earthquake left people homeless, the Haitian homes were not earthquake resistant as this was the biggest earthquake that Hispaniola has had so they did not prepare for it , the last earthquake occurred in Dominican Republic. The quake didn’t only leave the country either dead or injured it also brought back cholera a disease that the country hadn’t seen for a century this was because of the wrecked water treatment systems and crowded conditions it had spread quickly. Food shortage was also a side effect to the Haitian earthquake as staple crops like maize, plantains and bananas had been affected by the earthquakes mainly by the dust or being squashed, which means Haiti had to rely even more on increasingly expensive food imports that they couldn’t afford as country. Injuries and deaths was a big impact as the population went down .The death total tolls topped 200,000 a number of bodies were found under buildings and injuries were caused, fire fighters tried to retrieve many of these people, some survived but some sadly lost their lives. Another side effect after the devastation of Haiti was more crime as 3000 prisoners escaped. After the earthquake, orphans were also formed as parents of young children died and children were left homeless, parentless school less as the construction of the school wasn’t earthquake resistant each and every school in Haiti was destroyed. Life expectancy also went lower to 62 years and 7 months only. No residents couldn’t be aided without clean drinking water and dead bodies rotting in the hot sun the risk of life threatening diseases were expected. Economic Impacts was to do with government, the cost to rebuild and how Haiti was 145th poorest country in the world so they had no money to rebuild. Death tolls topped 200,000 and reliable industries and  structures were destroyed, leaving the nation in a tough situation. Haiti had never been known as a wealthy country. The homes of people were destroyed and job places were destroyed, so nobody could work, so no money could be made in the country therefore there was no income for the residents to rely on to rebuild the nation. Haiti had no chance to rebuild the country with their income in 2010. It is been no different three years later in 2014. In 2009 Haiti’s GDP stood at $11.9 billion compared to $11.6 billion in 2008. The population in Haiti increases by 2% of the total population of 10 million every single year. This made the country less rich because they didn’t have enough income for such large number people for the government to rebuild homes, more schools etc. Shops and businesses were destroyed. Looting had to take place. Damage to transport and communication links made trade became very difficult. Environmental impacts were outcomes of the earthquake to the environment. Farmers areas had been destroyed no crops could be grown due the dust and the destruction of the country. Air was also a victim to this disaster as it was polluted by the dust of the buildings and that collapsed and water was affected as chemicals and spillages from collapsed buildings oil had leaked out of damaged storage facilities into water which made it poisoned. The Earthquake reduced Haiti’s forest cover from 60% per cent to less than 2 per cent today. Today the population in Haiti has increased to 10.32million people. To avoid any further destruction to the country in future they should consider making their homes earthquake resistant and the country less populated to avoid a poor country. The number of people living in camps decreased from 1.5 million to 145,403 today, allowing over one million people to return home. More than 11,000 families have now been relocated, allowing the closure of 50 temporary camps. UNDP has been a major help to Haiti to help rebuild their small nation.UNDP is a charity that helps affected countries like Haiti. Key words Definitions. Earthquakes: Sudden release of energy through the earth’s crust in the form of waves. Tension builds up within the crust as convectional forces in the mantle try to move the plates above but are prevented from doing so by friction between plates. When friction is overcome, an earthquake occurs.  Social Impacts: Social impact is the effect of an activity on the social fabric of the community and well-being of individuals and families Convectional: Transfer of heat in a gas or liquid by upward movement of the hotter, less dense portion. Cholera: Cholera is an infection of the intestines. People get it from drinking water or eating food thats contaminated with a type of bacteria called Vibrio cholera. Food Imports: Food imported from other countries Life expectancy: How long you are expected to live for Economic Impacts: Impacts that have affected the country’s money GDP: Gross Domestic Product. Population: All the inhabitants of a particular place Incomes: Money received. Looting: Stealing from unguarded homes or businesses Environmental Impacts: Impacts to do with Environment affecting the Landscape UNDP: United Nation Development Programme is a charity. Convectional: Final way that heat is transferred from one place to another is convection

Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children

Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Dilemma, Practices and Implications of Children Advertising Creating outstanding products and programs to win marketplace is not an easy job. Specialists in marketing have to develop comprehensive research plans, carry out market researches, analyse the data collected and finally come up with marketing plans that target specific consumer segments. Finding out about human psychology, their preferences, choices and appeals are not only difficult but at times disappointingly inaccurate. Yet marketers today consider themselves experts in such endeavours, and are capable of achieving the almost impossible marketing objectives.   As if these aspects of marketing are not difficult enough, in modern-day marketing field there is a niche in which the marketers have to deal with children. The most difficult task is perhaps the determination of the choices and preferences of these fickle individuals who are still developing, absorbing the environment and learning to become like their adult counterparts. The task of marketing to children is not only daunting but also critical for many businesses such as Nike, Microsoft, Johnson Johnson, Disney, Pepsi, Sega,Kellogs and Mattel to name a few. These companies go through extensive research and consultancy to get to the untapped market of child consumers. One such example is evident in Dan S. Cuff and Robert H. Reiner’s (1998) Youth Market Systems.  According to the authors the development of outstanding products and programs to win childrens marketplace is entirely different from the rest of the market segments. For this purpose they invent a marketing process called Youth Market Systems. The System ensures marketers consider all aspects of marketing to children or teens for any category of goods or services that companies want to sell. There Isa great need for a system of analysis and interpretation as the authors feel that information pertaining to cognitive, emotional and social needs of age groups could transform the programs or product features that target them. Cuff and Reiner’s (1998) strategy merely opens window to the world of advertising to children. As one investigates the categories of products and services that are available to young children, one also tend to develop the consistent belief that children are a separate kind of consumer group and must be treated differently, from advertising to the designing of products. All these efforts no doubt are valid and justified in their own place and position, however a niggling thought crosses the mind when one observes the various approaches and efforts that marketers adopt to reach out to the vulnerable youth consumer segment. There are reasons for these tactics. Cuff and Rehire record approximately $1 billion annual gross revenue for Mattel Incorporated that sells Barbie’s. There are others such as Garfield, He-Man, Cabbage Patch Kids, Power Rangers, LEGO, GI Joes and a myriad of upcoming products invading the market with the sole purpose to tap on these young consumers who are bound by childish emotions and penchant for toys and games. Schemes and strategies are being devised to win over these young consumers for high stakes amounting to billions of pounds. What is more, advertising and marketing to children does not only involve the youngsters but their parents also. For example the Youth Market System identifies parents, grandparents and other close family members as the most influential on children’s purchasing decision. Exploring this group is critical because they are the ones who have control over the wallet and it is on them that children are dependent. The complexity in children marketing therefore lies in attracting both the youngsters and appealing to the parents. A winning formula must be developed to attract both the parents and children. The complexity of this formula makes success rate low which induces marketers to resort to all kinds of schemes and strategies to achieve their desired target, including crossing the line of ethics especially in the field of advertising of children related products (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Scholars and parents alike feel that there are no avenues that advertisers and businesses will not exploit to reach to the young consumers. Exploitations through mental, moral and physical developments of children are common. The strategies to target children involve creation of wants to satisfy the impulse rather than actual needs. For example consoles such as Mattels Hot Wheels, and Barbie’s fashion collections are not really required by children but wants created by advertisers and marketing campaigns. Long term needs satisfaction has been replaced by short term needs. They are not the only ones exploited. Their parents are also plagued with different kinds of created needs for their children such as the wellbeing; status symbol; and their selfish need to have their child preoccupied with the multitude of products and free them from child responsibilities. Statement of the Problem These aspects portray not only the ugly but also the unethical sides of the world of advertising. How true are these aspects and to what extent do advertisers reach to capture their target consumers? Do they cross the borders of ethics or not to maximise gains from vulnerable consumer market? And what, if anything, should be done to control and ultimately restrict the freedom of advertising aimed at children are some of the areas that the following research will endeavour to enumerate. Literature Review Children have become the key target for many advertisers. Children are vulnerable, easy to exploit consumers and they perceive things as advertisers want them to perceive, or so many of us believe. Despite the fact that children are nowadays smart and knowledgeable of the marketplace nevertheless for many marketers they are relatively easy to target due to the sheer size of the childrens consumer market. Advertisers thrive by earning billions of pounds with the backing and funding of the profit seeking organizations that hire them. These companies are not only producing goods that appeal to the children but they are also exploiting their parents. The dual targeting approach makes this market segment attractive as well as representative of high yield for investment. For example in many regions of the world including the US, Europe and Japan, companies are investing billions so that they can capture and tap the youth market segment but at the same time they are also reaping billions in return. Advertisers and marketers are entrusted with the task to achieve sales targets by generating desired actions from the segment. The wide appeal has motivated many professionals to enter and adopt whatever means and measures to achieve their targets. Ethical implications surpasses but few in the field of advertising that target children. For these reasons the authority, lobbyists and parents are demonstrating their concerns regarding the impact of media and advertising on children. The following literature review will first outline why and how children are targeted, followed by a review of the kind of ethical implications advertising and the media has on children. This will be followed by an exploration of the measures that are being taken to counteract the problem, if any. Children Advertising Advertising to children has not been an issue until recently with the boom of the media. More and more parents are concerned about the legal controls that the authority levy on advertising criteria as most are concerned about the kind of tactics advertisers are using to influence children for the sake of maximizing their profits. For example Begot and Dottie (2004) note that pornography, cigarette and tobacco related, alcohol and other products prohibited for children are being promoted on television freely without restriction. Advertisement messages for these adult related products are tailored for adult consumption but due to the appeal of mass viewership and the higher profits, the advertisements are aired during children television primetime. As a result the advertisements expose children to contents that are not meant for them. Had that been the only case then the issue of advertisement would not have been so controversial. Research suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old watch about 25 hours of television per week in the US and they are exposed to 20,000 commercials in a  year (Moore and Lutz 2000).Children at this age are vulnerable because they are developing a sense to comprehend and evaluate messages in the environment. Stimulated messages on television not only have a harmful impact but they are also detrimental in persuading children to develop wants for products that are not meant for them. According to Moore and Lutz (2000) Beyond advertisements, children gain marketplace information from the products they encounter, advice from friends and relatives, and their own consumption experiences. Through consumption, children learn what products are good and bad, whether advertising claims are truthful, what brands they prefer, and even products that convey social meanings apart from their functional properties. For children the experiences that heighten their importance in their social circle and the adult world have the most meaning. They do not have the ability to counteract or check on the viability or the authenticity of the message initially when they are young as they are dependent on adults for explanatory information accessible only through print media. By the time children grow to the teenage level the functionality of literacy diminishes tube replaced by their desire and need to fit in their social life. Without consideration for product usefulness or content, children develop wants for products beyond their pockets and reach. Similarly, children are also exposed to advertisements for fashion products that are actually designed for adult consumers but they are often condensed to tailor to the younger audience with the purpose to include the young consumers in the marketing campaigns. For this reason children develop receptivity for fashion products without the required information for decision making.  Moore and Lutz (2000) recognize the importance of childrens advertising and its impact on young audience by revealing that children are receptive to advertising demonstrated in experiments of relation between ads and products. They write: Research investigating childrens receptivity to television advertising has studied what children understand, under what circumstances they are persuaded, and how their responses evolve as they mature (e.g. Macklin 1987; Redder 1981). Drawing extensively on information processing and stage models, researchers have gained substantial insight into the development of childrens cognitive skills and their deployment during ad processing. (Moore and Lutz 2000) Their research indicates that children are at a stage where they are developing cognitive abilities. Advertisers vie on this susceptible developmental stage by targeting the limited processors of children that have not yet acquired efficient information processing strategies, a fact that may be reflected in their inability to distinguish between central and peripheral content in message learning. (Moore and Lutz2000). They further this idea by writing that at the stage of ages 8and 12 children are susceptible to information that are stimulated and that target the vulnerability of the strategic processors.   Because at this age group children tend to spontaneously employ efficient information storage and retrieval strategies. They organize and retrieve information based on available information and stimulus. Unless their knowledge of advertising is expressly activated by such acute, these children tend not to think critically or generate counterarguments spontaneously. They may also neglect to differentiate between central and peripheral content when learning new information. When there is an appropriate cue in their environment, however, they are likely to retrieve and use relevant information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Therefore children may develop recognition mechanism on how advertising should be viewed but that is dependent on external factors like parental guide, government policies or other mediating channels. Evidence suggests that there is substantial amount of influence on this age group when they are not guided in the preliminary stages in understanding the intent of advertisements. Research reveals that significant guidelines must be levied before children rationale and deliberate on the content of advertisements shown on television. â€Å"Advertising is thus implicitly accorded substantial power to shape children’s thinking until they acquire sufficient cognitive and attitudinal defences. (Moore and Lutz 2000). Other than the cognitive development impressions on children, advertising also influence them to take actions. In a study by Smithland Wynyard (1982) on consumer behaviour and response towards product trials offer through advertisements suggests that because consumers know that advertisers wish to present their brands in a favourable light, they react to ads by partially discounting claims and forming tentatively held brand beliefs and attitudes. In contrast when consumers have direct usage experience, they form stronger, more confidently held brand beliefs and attitudes. This phenomenon has been observed in a number of studies with adults and may be consistent with the case of children. The same expectations is held with regard to children advertising as researchers are of the opinion that with age, the capacity to form brand opinions tend to be more among older children. For example children of age groups 10 and 12, and 12 and 14year olds tend to tell the truth and more likely to be sceptical towards the institution of advertising rather than blindly accept advertisement claims. According to Michel Begot and Barbara Dottie (2004) children advertising are dynamic and highly appealing. The authors are of the opinion that children are the key target for advertisers because brand preferences in this age group remain unchanged for a long time. Children remain loyal to the brands they are used to yet at the same time they have growing pockets to afford more expensive items as they grow older. The above aspects indicate that children though are smart and knowledgeable to sceptically evaluate and experiment with products through advertisement claims they are also aware of the fact that these advertisers claim may not be true. At this point it is arguable to note that some school of thoughts separate the vulnerable youngsters from the smart young consumers who have the cognitive ability to critically examine the advertisement claims and disregard them if not proven true. According to Robertson and Resister (1974) if ads present information different from a childs actual experience, confusion may result and trust in advertising may be determined. Conversely, others suggest that until children actually experience discrepancies between products as advertised and as consumed, they are unable to fully comprehend advertisings persuasive intent. For this reason Moore and Lutz (2000) claim that advertising use frames for product trials known as transformational advertising in which adult consumers are drawn towards the products prior to advertising exposures by asking them to participate in the process of experimenting and interacting with the product with the view to interpret, evaluate and subsequently form their experience impressions. The expectancy or discrepancy frame sets are formed for comparison of later product trials which help in determining discrepancies or consistencies of product qualities. Mooreland Lutz (2000) present the testing paradigm to show that rational consumers are clever in testing advertising claims of product performances. Testing paradigm enable them the opportunity to evaluate and form opinions. Children, on the other hand do not have the same reaction or taste for distinguishing discrepancy in the same manner. On the other hand Ziegler (1996) believes that advertising and product trials have different effects on childrens capacity to integrate multiple sources of information for consideration. Young children tend to engage in one-dimensional thinking pattern and rely on multiple dimensions for a given task. Integration is imperative for children because they are dependent on this integration processing of information for forming perceptual domains and consumer behaviour. When younger children are presented with information it is encoded and stored in the recesses of the mind, and whenever needed retrieve it for evaluation. Information integration is basically combining new information presented in the media with the old information, and comparing the two. Disparate media information result in discrepancy inexperience. This in turn results in loss of trust in advertisement messages. Not all children however are wise enough to discriminate information. Moore and Lutz (2000) believe that age differences differentiate expectations and credibility of advertising. They write Younger children have been found to hold more positive attitudes about advertising, to be more likely to believe its claims, and to be less likely to understand its essential purpose. Thus, among younger children advertisings credibility is not likely to arise as a concern, and they are likely to perceive both advertising and a product trial experience as believable sources of information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Clearly, this statement identifies with the fact that younger children are more susceptible to advertising and they are prone to take actions without critical evaluation. For older children advertisers may not integrate strong expectations about a brand and instead focus on the stronger results to generate confidence in product usage (Fazio1986). Alternatively there are groups of advertisers who vie on the physical habits of children. For example one of the most invidious techniques is to use junk food in advertising for children. The use of celebrities to endorse these foods without any consideration for balanced diet or fitness is common in the industry. In the UK the BBC which is funded by licence and tax payers, received around 32 million pounds in 2001for franchising its Tweenies’ characters to McDonalds the Food Commission found that the Tweenies’ products were high in junk elements. Despite this fact the UK government continues to allow brands such as Cadburys to market its products and launch campaigns that have negative effects on the physical health of children. These efforts are designed to generate more profits and not the public interest. They are aware of the fact that the lack of exercise coupled with high calorie food result in obesity and other related diseases in children. The rate of obesity has doubled in the past 10 years from 8.5percent to 15 present among children under 16 years (The Lancet 2003).Yet advertisements continue to infiltrate the media and other channels with the objective to vie on children. Advertising Strategies Children have long been recognized as the target market for many companies due to its economic potential. Recent estimates by Moore(2004) indicate that children and associated markets account for 24billion dollars of direct spending and it has an additional 500 billion dollars influence over family purchases. Children are considered to be potential gold mines for campaigners and advertisers alike. Television channels and the print media as well as companies are constantly engaged in complex product placements, sales promotions, packaging design, public relations, and in-school marketing activities with the view to reach out to children and their parents. Given the time children spend in front of the television, on the Internet and media gadgets, marketers realize that children form a huge consumer base for â€Å"toys, breakfast cereals, candy and snacks etc. For this purpose there are more and more commercials on television to induce buying preference and action. TV commercials especially are being developed to induce children to purchase and participate in programs promoting cars, fashion, cell phones and other such adult related products. According to Moore (2004) At the root of the childrens advertising debate is the question of childrens unique vulnerabilities. Concerns about young children range from their inability to resist specific selling efforts to a fear that without benefit of well-developed critical thinking skills they may learn undesirable social values such as materialism†(Macklin, 1986 qt. Moore 2004). Her view is also affirmed by Cuff Andrei her (1998) who indicate through their study that children are susceptible to advertisements because of the extensive measures and strategies adopted by the advertisers. Their study reveals that marketers devise winning formulas to gain the confidence of children by sending out messages that winning children are those who are associated with certain brands. These may be Barbie, He-Man, Teletubbies or Spider-Man. Identification and association are the keys to the winning formula. The success rate of the winning formula depends on how deep an impact the product or brand has through the advertisements. These are developed based on the knowledge of the development of the mind of the growing consumers. The product leverage mix is formed based on qualities that are demanded by children such as characteristics of aero, power of a character and/or qualities of the product. The product leverage matrix is a comprehensive model formed for analysing the needs and wants of the young consumers and a guide to allow marketers to have look at the bigger picture. Once the matrix is determined the medium, concept, content, context, process, characters or personality, and attitude or style are established. Elements to be noted include: What is the psychological point of view of the target audience? What are the visual and verbal contents that will be used for the product? How marketers will form the context of the advertisements for the target audience and the kind of processes that will be involved to create an interface for interaction with the potential consumers? Character association or the use of personality to denote product quality is also common in the designing of the matrix etc. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The marketers are also aware that young children are intelligent individuals who exercise their developing cognitive abilities by associating qualities with certain images. For example Bugs Bunny is clever rabbit or Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are fruity flavoured etc. They are able to associate as well as distinguish between products and characteristics of the products. Identifying the points of difference from the children’s perspectives is critical but not impossible. Acuffand Rehire (1998) also note that these are assumptions that adults make regarding the preferences of children such as teens wanting more energy; identifying with hero athletes; wanting great taste or new product names. Yet at the same time they also warn the marketers that: more often than not these assumptions are left unexamined as to veracity and strength. Its an important practice to check assumptions: check what the leverage actually is, and its relative power versus what has been assumed. More often than not, adults make erroneous assumptions about what kids perceive to be important and powerful because adults are looking at their product or program through adult eyes. It is critical to get at the actual leverage rather than the assumed leverage. With the above hypothetical Enerjuice example in mind, adults may be surprised when testing directly with kids focus groups reveals that the new products blue colour is its most powerful point of leverage and that the majority of kids tested dislike the new name. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The basic premise in such a condition is that marketers need to ensure they give promises and fulfil them too thereby gaining competitive advantage. This kind of positioning helps them to organize and categorize products in the mind of the targeted consumers. In the end however, the marketers must realize that it is the bigger picture that needs to be satisfied that is product leverage matrix. At the centre of the matrix are the crucial elements that should not be neglected such as gender, stage, age, structure, dimension, style and past experience. The consumers are at the end of this list and are the most powerful deciding factor that can make or break their products. They conclude that Successful products and programs are those that satisfy their needs and wants in the short term (impulse) or in the long term. While a colourful and involving Tricks cereal package with a maze on the back provides for short-term needs satisfaction, Mattels Hot Wheel scars year after year continue to provide young boys with something they need and want small, easily manipulability, colourful minibars that are fun and involving to play cars with (Vroom! Vroom!) And to accumulate and collect. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Ethical Implications Children advertising have attracted legal, scholars and parental attention. Proponents of the children targeted marketing and advertising argue that the financial backing that children programs are getting derive from sponsors who make programs on television possible. Advertising to children are therefore motivated by profitability. Furthermore they also argue that these sponsors target a separate niche market of children of age group 12 and 14. Advertising provides them with product information and does not really provide stimulus as children in this age group are more like adults with their specific ideologies, attitudes and behaviours where preferences of products and services are concerned. They have been exposed to persuasive messages for a long time and can distinguish persuasive messages from empowering ones. Thus they are product and advertising savvy. On the other hand opponents such as parents and consumer protection groups argue that advertising directed at children are not only unethical but they are also manipulative stimulants that promote consumerism in children from a very young age. Advertisements create wants and poor nutritional habits that induce children to pester parents for products that are harmful for them (Berger 1999). Their opinions have been affirmed by Cuff and Rehire (1997) who suggest that preschool children at two and three years old tend to identify with frequently seen images and therefore would be attracted towards spokes-character in advertising and marketing. The desire to see these characters and related products they see on television, packaging and promotions induce demand for the same among children. According to DelVecchio (1998, p. 225), The objective is to select an effective piece of advertising that will break through clutter, communicate the name of the brand, its key feature and benefit, and do so in a cool way that will elicit a childs request. Those advertisers are successful who successfully use innovation, meticulous marketing, planning and massive exposures in their key characters according to Schneider (1989). The ethical dilemma enters the scenario when one refers to the degree and extent of the use of stimuli. Research indicates that spokes-characters use role play and features that would relate animated with human characters and thereby influence childrens attitudes(Cheat et al 1992). The issues surrounding the use of advertising characters to children stem from the fact that the characters are commoditized without consideration for its impact on the children. Without regulations, advertisers tend to deviate from the conventional use of these characters. They treat children and adult related products alike. That is perhaps the reason why Cross (2002) indicates that there has been a rise in restrictions on tobacco advertising during the 1990sto curb tobacco companies from targeting children by the use of spokes-characters in their advertising and marketing campaigns. In this context advertisements have a deep ethical impact on the cognitive and development of growing children and the authority needs to recognize this fact. According to Redder (1981) children are vulnerable and fail to utilize cognitive plans for storing and retrieving information. The categorization of processing deficiencies stem from the childs inability to use the actual strategies and aids for storing information in the memory. Limited processing capabilities in young age group especially induce children to learn through memorization and are not capable of using tools for separating, segregating and processing information according to utility. Instead they use information incidentally. Television uses fast pace visual graphics and audio-visual medium to influence pre-schoolers and around that age group. The effects become consistent when children are regularly exposed to these audio-visual images so that they become imprinted on the minds of the young children (Alit et al 1980).Animation and other stimulus have double impact on the information processors of children. As children become receptive to advertisements or images that are regularly shown they come to recognize it in their daily experiences. Once the images are imprinted in the targeted group’s mind it is easy to generate brand recognition through triggering keys which may be in the form of visual or audio effects. Spokes-characters such cartoon characters have this essential effects on the children. Studies have found that young children often discriminate between products on simple heuristic of whether one particular quality (which may include brand name or character) is present or not (Rust and Hyatt 1991 qt.Neeley and Schumann 2004). Another aspect of advertisements is that children tend to associate with the characters and brand that they prefer. Instilling a brand in children’s minds is easy when spokes-characters are used to define the qualities of the products. For example in Ban’s (1996) study four and five year olds proved to be receptive to product characteristics by inferring spokes-characters. Bah gives the example of cereal boxes. Boxes with cartoons are associated with sugary and sweet cereal meant â€Å"for kids while those that do not have cartoons are bland and not sweet, and are meant for adults. This logic for cereal preferences and choices indicate that advertisements with their logos, characters and cartoons all have a great impact on the minds of young children in this age group. While Ban’s example seem harmless whereby advertisers are merely using the characteristics and qualities of products to appeal to the young consumers, Fischer et all’s (1991) example raises ethical dilemma. In their study the researchers asked children ages three to six to identify logo brands with the appropriate product. They observe that children tend to associate the Old Joe character with cigarettes. This association has been developed through the inference of the Camel advertisements that uses Old Joe a cartoon character for brand personalization. Hence, the researchers conclude that regardless of the intentions of advertisers and marketers, the effects of advertising on children are inevitable. Yet there are arguments against this view by psychologists such sapient (1929). This group of individuals are of the view that preoperational children between ages two and seven do not really process information logically or abstractly. They rely on processing strategies such as â€Å"transductive† to connect between thoughts and reasoning and therefore not susceptible to the underlying qualities. They may understand simple expressions of but have difficulty in associating it with product differentiation. Consequently Neely and Schumann (2004) write: While research findings show that young childr Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Dilemma, Practices and Implications of Children Advertising Creating outstanding products and programs to win marketplace is not an easy job. Specialists in marketing have to develop comprehensive research plans, carry out market researches, analyse the data collected and finally come up with marketing plans that target specific consumer segments. Finding out about human psychology, their preferences, choices and appeals are not only difficult but at times disappointingly inaccurate. Yet marketers today consider themselves experts in such endeavours, and are capable of achieving the almost impossible marketing objectives.   As if these aspects of marketing are not difficult enough, in modern-day marketing field there is a niche in which the marketers have to deal with children. The most difficult task is perhaps the determination of the choices and preferences of these fickle individuals who are still developing, absorbing the environment and learning to become like their adult counterparts. The task of marketing to children is not only daunting but also critical for many businesses such as Nike, Microsoft, Johnson Johnson, Disney, Pepsi, Sega,Kellogs and Mattel to name a few. These companies go through extensive research and consultancy to get to the untapped market of child consumers. One such example is evident in Dan S. Cuff and Robert H. Reiner’s (1998) Youth Market Systems.  According to the authors the development of outstanding products and programs to win childrens marketplace is entirely different from the rest of the market segments. For this purpose they invent a marketing process called Youth Market Systems. The System ensures marketers consider all aspects of marketing to children or teens for any category of goods or services that companies want to sell. There Isa great need for a system of analysis and interpretation as the authors feel that information pertaining to cognitive, emotional and social needs of age groups could transform the programs or product features that target them. Cuff and Reiner’s (1998) strategy merely opens window to the world of advertising to children. As one investigates the categories of products and services that are available to young children, one also tend to develop the consistent belief that children are a separate kind of consumer group and must be treated differently, from advertising to the designing of products. All these efforts no doubt are valid and justified in their own place and position, however a niggling thought crosses the mind when one observes the various approaches and efforts that marketers adopt to reach out to the vulnerable youth consumer segment. There are reasons for these tactics. Cuff and Rehire record approximately $1 billion annual gross revenue for Mattel Incorporated that sells Barbie’s. There are others such as Garfield, He-Man, Cabbage Patch Kids, Power Rangers, LEGO, GI Joes and a myriad of upcoming products invading the market with the sole purpose to tap on these young consumers who are bound by childish emotions and penchant for toys and games. Schemes and strategies are being devised to win over these young consumers for high stakes amounting to billions of pounds. What is more, advertising and marketing to children does not only involve the youngsters but their parents also. For example the Youth Market System identifies parents, grandparents and other close family members as the most influential on children’s purchasing decision. Exploring this group is critical because they are the ones who have control over the wallet and it is on them that children are dependent. The complexity in children marketing therefore lies in attracting both the youngsters and appealing to the parents. A winning formula must be developed to attract both the parents and children. The complexity of this formula makes success rate low which induces marketers to resort to all kinds of schemes and strategies to achieve their desired target, including crossing the line of ethics especially in the field of advertising of children related products (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Scholars and parents alike feel that there are no avenues that advertisers and businesses will not exploit to reach to the young consumers. Exploitations through mental, moral and physical developments of children are common. The strategies to target children involve creation of wants to satisfy the impulse rather than actual needs. For example consoles such as Mattels Hot Wheels, and Barbie’s fashion collections are not really required by children but wants created by advertisers and marketing campaigns. Long term needs satisfaction has been replaced by short term needs. They are not the only ones exploited. Their parents are also plagued with different kinds of created needs for their children such as the wellbeing; status symbol; and their selfish need to have their child preoccupied with the multitude of products and free them from child responsibilities. Statement of the Problem These aspects portray not only the ugly but also the unethical sides of the world of advertising. How true are these aspects and to what extent do advertisers reach to capture their target consumers? Do they cross the borders of ethics or not to maximise gains from vulnerable consumer market? And what, if anything, should be done to control and ultimately restrict the freedom of advertising aimed at children are some of the areas that the following research will endeavour to enumerate. Literature Review Children have become the key target for many advertisers. Children are vulnerable, easy to exploit consumers and they perceive things as advertisers want them to perceive, or so many of us believe. Despite the fact that children are nowadays smart and knowledgeable of the marketplace nevertheless for many marketers they are relatively easy to target due to the sheer size of the childrens consumer market. Advertisers thrive by earning billions of pounds with the backing and funding of the profit seeking organizations that hire them. These companies are not only producing goods that appeal to the children but they are also exploiting their parents. The dual targeting approach makes this market segment attractive as well as representative of high yield for investment. For example in many regions of the world including the US, Europe and Japan, companies are investing billions so that they can capture and tap the youth market segment but at the same time they are also reaping billions in return. Advertisers and marketers are entrusted with the task to achieve sales targets by generating desired actions from the segment. The wide appeal has motivated many professionals to enter and adopt whatever means and measures to achieve their targets. Ethical implications surpasses but few in the field of advertising that target children. For these reasons the authority, lobbyists and parents are demonstrating their concerns regarding the impact of media and advertising on children. The following literature review will first outline why and how children are targeted, followed by a review of the kind of ethical implications advertising and the media has on children. This will be followed by an exploration of the measures that are being taken to counteract the problem, if any. Children Advertising Advertising to children has not been an issue until recently with the boom of the media. More and more parents are concerned about the legal controls that the authority levy on advertising criteria as most are concerned about the kind of tactics advertisers are using to influence children for the sake of maximizing their profits. For example Begot and Dottie (2004) note that pornography, cigarette and tobacco related, alcohol and other products prohibited for children are being promoted on television freely without restriction. Advertisement messages for these adult related products are tailored for adult consumption but due to the appeal of mass viewership and the higher profits, the advertisements are aired during children television primetime. As a result the advertisements expose children to contents that are not meant for them. Had that been the only case then the issue of advertisement would not have been so controversial. Research suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old watch about 25 hours of television per week in the US and they are exposed to 20,000 commercials in a  year (Moore and Lutz 2000).Children at this age are vulnerable because they are developing a sense to comprehend and evaluate messages in the environment. Stimulated messages on television not only have a harmful impact but they are also detrimental in persuading children to develop wants for products that are not meant for them. According to Moore and Lutz (2000) Beyond advertisements, children gain marketplace information from the products they encounter, advice from friends and relatives, and their own consumption experiences. Through consumption, children learn what products are good and bad, whether advertising claims are truthful, what brands they prefer, and even products that convey social meanings apart from their functional properties. For children the experiences that heighten their importance in their social circle and the adult world have the most meaning. They do not have the ability to counteract or check on the viability or the authenticity of the message initially when they are young as they are dependent on adults for explanatory information accessible only through print media. By the time children grow to the teenage level the functionality of literacy diminishes tube replaced by their desire and need to fit in their social life. Without consideration for product usefulness or content, children develop wants for products beyond their pockets and reach. Similarly, children are also exposed to advertisements for fashion products that are actually designed for adult consumers but they are often condensed to tailor to the younger audience with the purpose to include the young consumers in the marketing campaigns. For this reason children develop receptivity for fashion products without the required information for decision making.  Moore and Lutz (2000) recognize the importance of childrens advertising and its impact on young audience by revealing that children are receptive to advertising demonstrated in experiments of relation between ads and products. They write: Research investigating childrens receptivity to television advertising has studied what children understand, under what circumstances they are persuaded, and how their responses evolve as they mature (e.g. Macklin 1987; Redder 1981). Drawing extensively on information processing and stage models, researchers have gained substantial insight into the development of childrens cognitive skills and their deployment during ad processing. (Moore and Lutz 2000) Their research indicates that children are at a stage where they are developing cognitive abilities. Advertisers vie on this susceptible developmental stage by targeting the limited processors of children that have not yet acquired efficient information processing strategies, a fact that may be reflected in their inability to distinguish between central and peripheral content in message learning. (Moore and Lutz2000). They further this idea by writing that at the stage of ages 8and 12 children are susceptible to information that are stimulated and that target the vulnerability of the strategic processors.   Because at this age group children tend to spontaneously employ efficient information storage and retrieval strategies. They organize and retrieve information based on available information and stimulus. Unless their knowledge of advertising is expressly activated by such acute, these children tend not to think critically or generate counterarguments spontaneously. They may also neglect to differentiate between central and peripheral content when learning new information. When there is an appropriate cue in their environment, however, they are likely to retrieve and use relevant information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Therefore children may develop recognition mechanism on how advertising should be viewed but that is dependent on external factors like parental guide, government policies or other mediating channels. Evidence suggests that there is substantial amount of influence on this age group when they are not guided in the preliminary stages in understanding the intent of advertisements. Research reveals that significant guidelines must be levied before children rationale and deliberate on the content of advertisements shown on television. â€Å"Advertising is thus implicitly accorded substantial power to shape children’s thinking until they acquire sufficient cognitive and attitudinal defences. (Moore and Lutz 2000). Other than the cognitive development impressions on children, advertising also influence them to take actions. In a study by Smithland Wynyard (1982) on consumer behaviour and response towards product trials offer through advertisements suggests that because consumers know that advertisers wish to present their brands in a favourable light, they react to ads by partially discounting claims and forming tentatively held brand beliefs and attitudes. In contrast when consumers have direct usage experience, they form stronger, more confidently held brand beliefs and attitudes. This phenomenon has been observed in a number of studies with adults and may be consistent with the case of children. The same expectations is held with regard to children advertising as researchers are of the opinion that with age, the capacity to form brand opinions tend to be more among older children. For example children of age groups 10 and 12, and 12 and 14year olds tend to tell the truth and more likely to be sceptical towards the institution of advertising rather than blindly accept advertisement claims. According to Michel Begot and Barbara Dottie (2004) children advertising are dynamic and highly appealing. The authors are of the opinion that children are the key target for advertisers because brand preferences in this age group remain unchanged for a long time. Children remain loyal to the brands they are used to yet at the same time they have growing pockets to afford more expensive items as they grow older. The above aspects indicate that children though are smart and knowledgeable to sceptically evaluate and experiment with products through advertisement claims they are also aware of the fact that these advertisers claim may not be true. At this point it is arguable to note that some school of thoughts separate the vulnerable youngsters from the smart young consumers who have the cognitive ability to critically examine the advertisement claims and disregard them if not proven true. According to Robertson and Resister (1974) if ads present information different from a childs actual experience, confusion may result and trust in advertising may be determined. Conversely, others suggest that until children actually experience discrepancies between products as advertised and as consumed, they are unable to fully comprehend advertisings persuasive intent. For this reason Moore and Lutz (2000) claim that advertising use frames for product trials known as transformational advertising in which adult consumers are drawn towards the products prior to advertising exposures by asking them to participate in the process of experimenting and interacting with the product with the view to interpret, evaluate and subsequently form their experience impressions. The expectancy or discrepancy frame sets are formed for comparison of later product trials which help in determining discrepancies or consistencies of product qualities. Mooreland Lutz (2000) present the testing paradigm to show that rational consumers are clever in testing advertising claims of product performances. Testing paradigm enable them the opportunity to evaluate and form opinions. Children, on the other hand do not have the same reaction or taste for distinguishing discrepancy in the same manner. On the other hand Ziegler (1996) believes that advertising and product trials have different effects on childrens capacity to integrate multiple sources of information for consideration. Young children tend to engage in one-dimensional thinking pattern and rely on multiple dimensions for a given task. Integration is imperative for children because they are dependent on this integration processing of information for forming perceptual domains and consumer behaviour. When younger children are presented with information it is encoded and stored in the recesses of the mind, and whenever needed retrieve it for evaluation. Information integration is basically combining new information presented in the media with the old information, and comparing the two. Disparate media information result in discrepancy inexperience. This in turn results in loss of trust in advertisement messages. Not all children however are wise enough to discriminate information. Moore and Lutz (2000) believe that age differences differentiate expectations and credibility of advertising. They write Younger children have been found to hold more positive attitudes about advertising, to be more likely to believe its claims, and to be less likely to understand its essential purpose. Thus, among younger children advertisings credibility is not likely to arise as a concern, and they are likely to perceive both advertising and a product trial experience as believable sources of information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Clearly, this statement identifies with the fact that younger children are more susceptible to advertising and they are prone to take actions without critical evaluation. For older children advertisers may not integrate strong expectations about a brand and instead focus on the stronger results to generate confidence in product usage (Fazio1986). Alternatively there are groups of advertisers who vie on the physical habits of children. For example one of the most invidious techniques is to use junk food in advertising for children. The use of celebrities to endorse these foods without any consideration for balanced diet or fitness is common in the industry. In the UK the BBC which is funded by licence and tax payers, received around 32 million pounds in 2001for franchising its Tweenies’ characters to McDonalds the Food Commission found that the Tweenies’ products were high in junk elements. Despite this fact the UK government continues to allow brands such as Cadburys to market its products and launch campaigns that have negative effects on the physical health of children. These efforts are designed to generate more profits and not the public interest. They are aware of the fact that the lack of exercise coupled with high calorie food result in obesity and other related diseases in children. The rate of obesity has doubled in the past 10 years from 8.5percent to 15 present among children under 16 years (The Lancet 2003).Yet advertisements continue to infiltrate the media and other channels with the objective to vie on children. Advertising Strategies Children have long been recognized as the target market for many companies due to its economic potential. Recent estimates by Moore(2004) indicate that children and associated markets account for 24billion dollars of direct spending and it has an additional 500 billion dollars influence over family purchases. Children are considered to be potential gold mines for campaigners and advertisers alike. Television channels and the print media as well as companies are constantly engaged in complex product placements, sales promotions, packaging design, public relations, and in-school marketing activities with the view to reach out to children and their parents. Given the time children spend in front of the television, on the Internet and media gadgets, marketers realize that children form a huge consumer base for â€Å"toys, breakfast cereals, candy and snacks etc. For this purpose there are more and more commercials on television to induce buying preference and action. TV commercials especially are being developed to induce children to purchase and participate in programs promoting cars, fashion, cell phones and other such adult related products. According to Moore (2004) At the root of the childrens advertising debate is the question of childrens unique vulnerabilities. Concerns about young children range from their inability to resist specific selling efforts to a fear that without benefit of well-developed critical thinking skills they may learn undesirable social values such as materialism†(Macklin, 1986 qt. Moore 2004). Her view is also affirmed by Cuff Andrei her (1998) who indicate through their study that children are susceptible to advertisements because of the extensive measures and strategies adopted by the advertisers. Their study reveals that marketers devise winning formulas to gain the confidence of children by sending out messages that winning children are those who are associated with certain brands. These may be Barbie, He-Man, Teletubbies or Spider-Man. Identification and association are the keys to the winning formula. The success rate of the winning formula depends on how deep an impact the product or brand has through the advertisements. These are developed based on the knowledge of the development of the mind of the growing consumers. The product leverage mix is formed based on qualities that are demanded by children such as characteristics of aero, power of a character and/or qualities of the product. The product leverage matrix is a comprehensive model formed for analysing the needs and wants of the young consumers and a guide to allow marketers to have look at the bigger picture. Once the matrix is determined the medium, concept, content, context, process, characters or personality, and attitude or style are established. Elements to be noted include: What is the psychological point of view of the target audience? What are the visual and verbal contents that will be used for the product? How marketers will form the context of the advertisements for the target audience and the kind of processes that will be involved to create an interface for interaction with the potential consumers? Character association or the use of personality to denote product quality is also common in the designing of the matrix etc. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The marketers are also aware that young children are intelligent individuals who exercise their developing cognitive abilities by associating qualities with certain images. For example Bugs Bunny is clever rabbit or Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are fruity flavoured etc. They are able to associate as well as distinguish between products and characteristics of the products. Identifying the points of difference from the children’s perspectives is critical but not impossible. Acuffand Rehire (1998) also note that these are assumptions that adults make regarding the preferences of children such as teens wanting more energy; identifying with hero athletes; wanting great taste or new product names. Yet at the same time they also warn the marketers that: more often than not these assumptions are left unexamined as to veracity and strength. Its an important practice to check assumptions: check what the leverage actually is, and its relative power versus what has been assumed. More often than not, adults make erroneous assumptions about what kids perceive to be important and powerful because adults are looking at their product or program through adult eyes. It is critical to get at the actual leverage rather than the assumed leverage. With the above hypothetical Enerjuice example in mind, adults may be surprised when testing directly with kids focus groups reveals that the new products blue colour is its most powerful point of leverage and that the majority of kids tested dislike the new name. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The basic premise in such a condition is that marketers need to ensure they give promises and fulfil them too thereby gaining competitive advantage. This kind of positioning helps them to organize and categorize products in the mind of the targeted consumers. In the end however, the marketers must realize that it is the bigger picture that needs to be satisfied that is product leverage matrix. At the centre of the matrix are the crucial elements that should not be neglected such as gender, stage, age, structure, dimension, style and past experience. The consumers are at the end of this list and are the most powerful deciding factor that can make or break their products. They conclude that Successful products and programs are those that satisfy their needs and wants in the short term (impulse) or in the long term. While a colourful and involving Tricks cereal package with a maze on the back provides for short-term needs satisfaction, Mattels Hot Wheel scars year after year continue to provide young boys with something they need and want small, easily manipulability, colourful minibars that are fun and involving to play cars with (Vroom! Vroom!) And to accumulate and collect. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Ethical Implications Children advertising have attracted legal, scholars and parental attention. Proponents of the children targeted marketing and advertising argue that the financial backing that children programs are getting derive from sponsors who make programs on television possible. Advertising to children are therefore motivated by profitability. Furthermore they also argue that these sponsors target a separate niche market of children of age group 12 and 14. Advertising provides them with product information and does not really provide stimulus as children in this age group are more like adults with their specific ideologies, attitudes and behaviours where preferences of products and services are concerned. They have been exposed to persuasive messages for a long time and can distinguish persuasive messages from empowering ones. Thus they are product and advertising savvy. On the other hand opponents such as parents and consumer protection groups argue that advertising directed at children are not only unethical but they are also manipulative stimulants that promote consumerism in children from a very young age. Advertisements create wants and poor nutritional habits that induce children to pester parents for products that are harmful for them (Berger 1999). Their opinions have been affirmed by Cuff and Rehire (1997) who suggest that preschool children at two and three years old tend to identify with frequently seen images and therefore would be attracted towards spokes-character in advertising and marketing. The desire to see these characters and related products they see on television, packaging and promotions induce demand for the same among children. According to DelVecchio (1998, p. 225), The objective is to select an effective piece of advertising that will break through clutter, communicate the name of the brand, its key feature and benefit, and do so in a cool way that will elicit a childs request. Those advertisers are successful who successfully use innovation, meticulous marketing, planning and massive exposures in their key characters according to Schneider (1989). The ethical dilemma enters the scenario when one refers to the degree and extent of the use of stimuli. Research indicates that spokes-characters use role play and features that would relate animated with human characters and thereby influence childrens attitudes(Cheat et al 1992). The issues surrounding the use of advertising characters to children stem from the fact that the characters are commoditized without consideration for its impact on the children. Without regulations, advertisers tend to deviate from the conventional use of these characters. They treat children and adult related products alike. That is perhaps the reason why Cross (2002) indicates that there has been a rise in restrictions on tobacco advertising during the 1990sto curb tobacco companies from targeting children by the use of spokes-characters in their advertising and marketing campaigns. In this context advertisements have a deep ethical impact on the cognitive and development of growing children and the authority needs to recognize this fact. According to Redder (1981) children are vulnerable and fail to utilize cognitive plans for storing and retrieving information. The categorization of processing deficiencies stem from the childs inability to use the actual strategies and aids for storing information in the memory. Limited processing capabilities in young age group especially induce children to learn through memorization and are not capable of using tools for separating, segregating and processing information according to utility. Instead they use information incidentally. Television uses fast pace visual graphics and audio-visual medium to influence pre-schoolers and around that age group. The effects become consistent when children are regularly exposed to these audio-visual images so that they become imprinted on the minds of the young children (Alit et al 1980).Animation and other stimulus have double impact on the information processors of children. As children become receptive to advertisements or images that are regularly shown they come to recognize it in their daily experiences. Once the images are imprinted in the targeted group’s mind it is easy to generate brand recognition through triggering keys which may be in the form of visual or audio effects. Spokes-characters such cartoon characters have this essential effects on the children. Studies have found that young children often discriminate between products on simple heuristic of whether one particular quality (which may include brand name or character) is present or not (Rust and Hyatt 1991 qt.Neeley and Schumann 2004). Another aspect of advertisements is that children tend to associate with the characters and brand that they prefer. Instilling a brand in children’s minds is easy when spokes-characters are used to define the qualities of the products. For example in Ban’s (1996) study four and five year olds proved to be receptive to product characteristics by inferring spokes-characters. Bah gives the example of cereal boxes. Boxes with cartoons are associated with sugary and sweet cereal meant â€Å"for kids while those that do not have cartoons are bland and not sweet, and are meant for adults. This logic for cereal preferences and choices indicate that advertisements with their logos, characters and cartoons all have a great impact on the minds of young children in this age group. While Ban’s example seem harmless whereby advertisers are merely using the characteristics and qualities of products to appeal to the young consumers, Fischer et all’s (1991) example raises ethical dilemma. In their study the researchers asked children ages three to six to identify logo brands with the appropriate product. They observe that children tend to associate the Old Joe character with cigarettes. This association has been developed through the inference of the Camel advertisements that uses Old Joe a cartoon character for brand personalization. Hence, the researchers conclude that regardless of the intentions of advertisers and marketers, the effects of advertising on children are inevitable. Yet there are arguments against this view by psychologists such sapient (1929). This group of individuals are of the view that preoperational children between ages two and seven do not really process information logically or abstractly. They rely on processing strategies such as â€Å"transductive† to connect between thoughts and reasoning and therefore not susceptible to the underlying qualities. They may understand simple expressions of but have difficulty in associating it with product differentiation. Consequently Neely and Schumann (2004) write: While research findings show that young childr