Introduction To The Kingdom Of Spain Politics Essay

Introduction To The Kingdom Of Spain Politics Essay Spain officially known as The Kingdom of Spain, it is an independent government and affiliate of European Union. Spain is situated in the south west of Europe on the Peninsula Iberian. Madrid, the capital, is the largest city of Spain with over three million people of the population. The official language is Spanish known as Castellan, but there are recognized regional languages as Catalan-Valencian, Basque, Galician and Occitan that belongs to autonomous comminutes. Their government is Unitary Regional State Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy, which as of today we find names like The King Juan Carlos I de Borbon, and the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. If we look back to the governance of 1978, the Spanish Constitution was the termination of the Spanish transition to democracy, moved by the democratic political reform in 1976 and 1977, the new Spains King Juan Carlos, well known and remembered for his conduct and temperament named a new prime minister and dismissed the one that was there. The new election organized the purpose of drafting and approving a new constitution in 1978. Education is free for Spain from the age of six to sixteen, and the religion is the Roman Catholicism which is considered the principal religion of Spain. Spain is also very well known for their architecture, music and dance, not even considering their cuisine and valuable representatives idols in different sports. The politics of Spain is basically established by the constitution of 1978, which says Spain as an autonomous government, where the people have to elect the Prime Minister for the power of the country. The political form of the Government of Spain is parliamentary monarchy, according to the Spanish Constitution, Tribunal Constitucional de Espana (1978), is a social representative, democratic, constitutional monarchy in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister, whose official title is President of the Government, is the head of government.(Article 98). The political system as parliamentary monarchy means a form of an existing government in the current western democracies, especially in Europe, in which the king execute the function of the head of a state under the control of the legislative power (Parliament which are elected members of the state for some period) and of the executive power (Government). The norms and decisions established of the Parliament control not only the procedure or operation of the state, but also the action and functions of their own king. It divides in three different powers of government: Legislative power devises and modifies the existing laws according to the opinion of the citizens. Another function is the approval of the laws and usually, it is on charge of the congress or a parliament, which are composed by representatives elected by the town that has been attributed the main assignment to express the determination or will of them. Executive power dependable in causing to comply the laws and that is used to exercising the government or the own leader of the State. It is responsible for the daily management of the State. The executive power consider and executes general politics according to which the laws have to be applied, represents to the Nation in its diplomatic relations, maintains close the Armed Forces and from time to time advises to the legislation. The President is the visible image and figure and the most important power. Spanish Constitution, Tribunal Constitucional de Espana (1978) The judiciary power is independent of the executive and the legislature, administering justice on behalf of the King by several judges and magistrates. It is the responsible for administering the justice in the company or state, by means of the application of the legal norms (Article 99) Political Ideology Like any other country which has their own government we will find political ideologies. According to Roskin et al.(2009) states that ideologies are often based on theories but simplified and popularized to sell to mass audiences, build political movements, and win elections. Ideologies might be called cheap theories (p.39). Spain has several multi-party systems at both regional and the national level. Nationally it covers only two that are the most popular political dominant parties, which are PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol) that is the left-leaning, and the right-wing PP (Partido Popular). On these days the political dominant party is the one that governs in the present. The regional parties can be strong in autonomous communities like Catalonia and the Basque Country due to several conflicts between these two that have been creating national government coalitions. The ideology of PSOE is social democracy and social democracy is a political ideology that considers itself to be a form of reformist democratic socialism. Social democracy rejects the either or polarization interpretation of capitalism versus socialism (Busky, 2008, p. 8; Harrington, 1989, p. 93). This means their belief it consist to be a force social democracy that supports the economy and gives benefits to the population, like unemployment, food stamps, low cost insurance and in some cases totally free. Figure .Political Parties in CongressAccording to researcher Steger (1997), Social democracy in its current form was originally developed by revisionist Marxist Eduard Bernstein who opposed orthodox Marxisms support of revolution and class conflict, claiming that socialism could be achieved through evolutionary means via representative democracy and cooperation between people regardless of class (p. 146). This means this party also means that they can improve the social conditions of the populations by reducing the benefits of the business, making the working class get all credit than the business. The ideology of PP (Partido Popular) is the conservative political party in Spain (Nordsieck, 2011, Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe). This party was a refoundation in 1989 of the Peoples Alliance (Alianza Popular) and it was combined with small Christian democratic and liberal parties. The PP was until November 2011 the largest opposition party in the Congress of Deputies, with one hundred fifty three out of three hundred and fifty deputies, and the largest party represented in the Senate, with one hundred and one out of two hundred and eight senators. Their ideology is central and right, which means that they need to promote the total liberty for business and the state, cannot be involved in the economy. Electoral System Spain uses a majority system (more than half), which in article 68 from the Constitution in the electoral law of 1977 (restructured in 1985) is based on the proportional representation system, that according to Roskin, Cord, Medeiros, and Jones, (2009) states that proportional representation system elects representative by partys percent of vote, which means each district sends several representatives to parliament, not just one (pag. 70). The minimum of deputies must be three hundred and the maximum four hundred members of the parliament that are elected by free, direct, equal, and secret vote for a four year period, it must obtain a minimum of three percent of the vote in order to qualify for parliamentary representation. The voting system used is that of proportional representation with closed party lists, that mean voters can only vote for political parties as an entire party and they have to decide who ever gets the highest positions is tend to get a sit in the parliament. Following DHondt method a mathematical formula which slightly over represents the larger parties at the expense of the smaller ones (Roskin, Cord, Medeiros, and Jones, 2009, p. 71) in every providence of Spain the electoral vote or suffrage must be assigned by a minimum of two deputies per providence, this includes the autonomous cities (out of Iberian Peninsula) of Ceuta and Melilla, each of these two has to assigned only one deputy. Legislation can be opened by the Congress of Deputies and they are assigned to approve or refuse the laws adopted by the executive government. They also have the power to elect, the prime minister or the President of the Government. The prime minister can be removed from his duties due to a vote of confidence from the elected parliament, and then it needs to be substituted. Election system also helps to major political parties because not only provinces wit small populations are over-represented. Spain has two party systems that smaller and regional parties posses small representation, due to difference in population between providences, when the provinces are totally represented, the deputies is small comparing to one or two major parties, even if other smaller parties managed to obtain more than three percent of the votes. The three percent to get in the Congress is unsuccessful in many provinces, where the number of seats per constituency has a lower average that the actual deputies to be inside the Congress is effectively higher, for example, the actual number for the provinces having three seats is twenty five percent, much higher than three percent, however, in provinces such as Barcelona and Madrid, while the number of seats is much higher, the three percent to get it the Congress is still helpful to get rid of the smallest parties. Government intervention in the Economy After Dictator Francos death, Spain passed a change to democracy in the middle of 1970s, even though a quickly procedure of modernization happened, the Spanish welfare state was seen until now, that has been relative turned out week. There is a list of the main problems this consequences has left is that the attention has turned to be a governance issue, the interplay among levels of government, the welfare mix and public support for social policies. Another issue tell about the five most important challenges the Spanish faces with welfare state in the present century is the purpose to have a better life, to achieve a better work family balance, to organize migratory policies with existing social defense, to attempt the resolution of high rates of poverty, and to face intense population growing, both in terms of increasing needs for care and the modification of the pension system. Social welfare benefits little by little have grown. Spain gives generous retirement remuneration and st rong unemployment benefits; as per now it offers no welfare benefits. Political Culture The political culture is about the perception and the interpretation of the norms and values that each society implements to the people. The political system plays a role really important because of the ideas might be implementing how to work with the government and what they can do. The political culture is the symbols, values, and beliefs about the political system which is determinate by the history, economy, religion, and folkways. (Roskin et al., 2009, p. 119) It is related to the memory of what the nation have done previously, like in the last decades Spanish society and politics contributed the incapacity to maintain a firm and secure government very independent prior 1970. People believe and think the transformation of the democracy was possible by the socioeconomic modernization, the decisions, and the cultural change from political elites of democratic institutions and the conduct from some parties involved in the benefits to Spain. Unfortunately Spain does not have a good background in history, an excellent example which can be seen today with the autonomous communities, such as Catalonia and Basque country, that both are looking for independence, being away from Spain, creating regionalism and issues between all communities. Many questions fly around about the way of how the government and the politician need to act different or at least try to be similar and competitive with the neighbors governments. Perhaps the introduction of Spain to be inside the Europe Union have created in the meanwhile, that the present crisis should bring some common sense agreement to have a better workability in the political culture of Spain. Public Opinion The Spanish society is having many difficult times due to the current crisis; there is dissatisfaction with the social management carried out by the government. The rate of unemployment is one of the main reasons resulting in various popular events such as the irritated people and this is added to the labor reform that get problems to the labor rights of the Spanish workers. Another reason is cutting the health and education sectors and the raise taxes to reduce the Spanish deficit. The twenty seven thousand three hundred million of Euros in reduction in public spending joined a week later, a cut of ten thousand million in health and education. The eighty three percent of the budget reduction corresponds to the direct public spending, most in sensitive areas of social policy. These cuts will be punished more severely to the low-income women, young people, and the immigrant population. The difference between the efforts to increase the collection and the measures of mark get a tendency as regards social rights. According to the latest survey from Gaby Orà © Aguilar (2012) states that the living conditions of the year 2011, in Spain, twenty two percent of households live below the poverty line. The poverty rate rose by more than two percentage points between 2009 to 2011 (p.4). At the end of last year, five hundred thousand homes in Spain received no income for job, or unemployment benefits or social security; which means they were in extreme poverty. Religion in Spain The largest religion is known as Roman Catholicism which is led by the Pope. According to a study by the Sociological Research Spanish Center (2011) testify that about seventy percent of Spanish self-identify as Catholics, three percent as other faith, and about twenty five percent identify with no religion (p.13). Most Spanish, especially the younger generations try to avoid the religion differences compared to sexuality, morals, and politics. Spanish also consider the religion as part of the three most important values. Spain has also gone thru with the legalization of the gay marriage, actually there is a seventy percent of Spanish that support their marriage. (Study by the Centre of Sociological Research, 2004). This case was along from a split vote from the conservative liberal lines with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and the other left party supporting while Peoples Party is against it. Spain also during the immigration process and the introduce of new cultures in the population, especially during and after the 1990s, have them led to an increment number of Muslims (God as related to prophet Muhammad) and have about one million of members. Along with the introduction of new religion as part of the immigration, people from Latin America which are known as strong Catholic practitioners have helped the Catholic Church to maintain part of the assistance for those who go to church on Sundays. In the last decade, political issues and the enrollment of the Catholic Church has increased again, especially for groups such as Opus Dei, Legion of Christ (Catholic Church Institution) with the participation of important politicians in the right-wing such as Popular Party. Opus Dei is an organization that their mission is to get closer to God, to serve the most needed it and to improve society. In more recent times, some members of the Opus Dei were chosen ministers by the then leader of that party, in any case, since the institutional point of view, the Opus Dei does not have an official political position, there is few worries that many of their members are politically conservatories just like the common of the Spanish Catholics. The members of the Opus Dei remind that the institution has a spiritual principle and that each member takes their professional responsibilities in the politics or the business without doing participants of them to the others member and even less to the institution. They said that the Opus Dei could have the political position they wanted, as long as they did not go in disagreement with the catholic principle. The church is not the independent and neutral institution in political affairs, and everything is related with the opinion of the Popular Party which it gain consequences that the new disapproval from important sections on the population, especially the biggest part of the left party that has the opposition against the church and the way in which it is economically sustained. Political Communication The mass media have always shown opinion in the civilization in politics. Political communication is the opening of how a government can be criticizes by public opinion like radio, newspaper, news channels, not even nationality, worldwide too. In these days, the audiovisual media market has positioned traditional print media, which means the press uses pictures and color to write or edit the news into television or journals. After Spain became democracy, the mass media practiced an increase to inform the civilization especially by newspapers. In these days most popular medias have gone online. The historic and significant newspapers in the past, such as La Vanguardia, ABC, El pais, and El mundo were part of the important media companies. According to Holtby (1990), he stated the reputation and expansion of these journalists were written by some of the most well-known writers of the Spanish language, from Spain and Latin America such as Miguel Delibes, Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez. Jose Camilo Cela, and Carlos Fuentes (p.336-338). Radio had a big impact on the Spanish communication. Taking into consideration to the Civil War, the radio was the principal tool of government propaganda, after that war the Francos forces detained republican distribution stations. During Francos period, coverage for all news national and international was official managed by Radio Nacional de Espana. The difference from the print media, radio did not apply a practice of liberalization, and after some restrictions it was finally eased. According to Gunter, Richard and Jose Ramon Montero (1999) the most important radio networks in Spain are RNE, Sociedad Espanola de Radio Difusion (SER), Cadena de Ondas Populares (COPE) and Onda Cero with a highest audience (P.176). In the same way as the other print media and televisions, radio has established a very important role in the culture and the identity of the autonomous communities like Basque Radio, Galician Radio, and Catalonia Country. It is estimated that over ninety percent of the population watches television. In terms of audience size, TVE1 and Antena 3 have the greatest numbers of viewers. Spanish television has developed from a state owned institution, which it represents the views of the government and was seriously covered up to one that tends the views of particular regions, a more European viewpoint, and the demands of the public in general. Most of the Spanish people receive the news from television and not from the print media. Online newspapers in Spain are a new experience, and they report for 17 percent of the distribution of web traffic. It started with the new technology that media in Spain has been implementing during this years as online publications. Most of newspapers started implementing their information online since 1994. Interest Groups It is related to the influence of groups against the government that might be permanent or momentary. The term of interest group covers just about any collection of people trying to influence the government, some interest groups work through the executive or administrative agencies, others through the judicial or legislative sectors (Roskin et al., 2009, p. 177). Some of them are concentrated to influence the political parties and the other on just particular changes such the private interest. In Spain most of these groups work together to persuade the government and become powerful. Sometimes interest groups participate in government; Catholic Church has participated in the Spanish Constitution which advice the liberty or freedom as well as the Church and State keeps away from each other, but also indicates that the public powers will keep in mind the religious beliefs and they will maintain the consequent relations of cooperation with the Catholic Church. (Article 16 of Spanish Constitution, 1978). The Catholic Church is excused to pay income taxes like the nonprofit companies and they were not able to pay taxes on some religious cultures or objects. Same thing happens for the conservation of the building that are considered cultural patrimony, which it is financed by the State and foe other public funds too. It is mandatory that primary and secondary schools offer in their academic program the class of religion, even though the students can choose to study a different alternative class. Chambers of commerce is a form of business network that their activity is to get together group of business people to recognize, create, or to prepare business opportunities. They are also considered as a interest groups due to their activity could create a public model to the sectors of the government because it is common in the European Union countries such as Germany, Italy, France, and also in Japan. The principal assignment of the chambers is trade promotion, vocational training, regional economic development, and general services to their members. It shows the possibility of a business individual to make innovative business associations and produce business opportunities at the same time. In Spain, the government could give the chance to some chambers to take responsibilities of public administrations in many fields, they also have a consultative or counseling occupation; this mean any chamber selected can ask for consulting ideas whenever a new law is related to the industry o r commerce. (Markus Pilgrim, Ralf Meier, 2011). ETA, a short form  for  Euskadi Ta Askatasuna,  which means Basque Homeland and Freedom is an armed organizations that looks Euskadis independency. The general idea they have with the government is that they achieve attacks like murders, abductions, car bombs, and more to all politicians or public images in the media. Once they create a terrorist environment it starts a high to the fire which means they need to stop using the violence and it will create a negotiation between them and the Spanish government to accomplish their objectives. Elections The electoral elections are carry out every 4 years, but sometimes it could be an agreement that some elections would be anticipated, this mean when the 4 year period it is not finalized. The requirement to vote is to have the Spanish nationality and to be legal age that is more than eighteen years old. The citizens must register in the electoral census to justify the people who vote is legally to do it. Votes are not mandatory for everybody, if you need to suffrage will be voluntary option. Electoral System TOTAL Distribution by sex and age Mujeres Varones Total 18,425,558 17,353,650 18 y 19 415507 438199 20 a 24 1081611 1138787 25 a 29 1246020 1300810 30 a 34 1585694 1641364 35 a 39 1751932 1797645 40 a 44 1712713 1738868 45 a 49 1686745 1687206 50 a 54 1553738 1532467 55 a 59 1335212 1299323 60 a 64 1246803 1181847 65 a 69 1140308 1035747 70 a 74 940110 794987 75 a 79 1035415 792292 80 a 84 843411 558985 85 y mà ¡s 850339 415123 Figure 2. Electoral System (Statistic National Institute) In the last elections, citizens have voted the sixty nine percent of total population, which means it has descended a seven percent with respect to the past general elections. From the total of twenty four million six hundred sixty six thousand and thirty ninety two votes, it has been that make it count. Political Party System Political parties connect the people thru the government. In these days Spain has several multi-party systems at both regional and the national level. Nationally it covers only two that are the most popular political dominant parties, which are Spanish Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol) is the left-leaning, and Popular Party which leads the right-wing that describes as conservative on social questions and free market. The Popular Party is the current dominant party that represents Spain. The Spanish Socialist Party was created for the intention to represent and to protect the benefits and interests of the hard-working class of the industrial revolution in the nineteen century in the beginning of the democracy. In the other hand the Popular Party is the conservative political party of Spain founded in 1989, it is known as central reformist, they need to promote the total liberty for business and the state, cannot be involved in the economy. The Popular Party, recent winner of the past elections in November 2011, has plain majority in the Congress of the Representatives and Senate and governs in eleven autonomous regions (Paddy Woodworth, 2011). As all political parties it uses a imputing devices that allows citizens to get their needs by the government. If society votes it gives the chance to participate in political decisions. Popular Party and Spanish Socialist Party signed in 2000 the called agreement by the liberties against the terrorism, which voided the relationships related to the terrorism of the political debate among both parties by interest aggregation. Spain currently is a country decentralized that has recognized the territorial order of the power around the state has been called autonomous; this means the government offer total liberty to the autonomous communities to government by their own. After Francos death and with the intervention of the King Juan Carlos I in the beginning of the Headquarters, a new political period was opened that was consolidated with the victory of the Law for the Political Reform. During the campaign all parties coordinated the elaboration of the new constitution and the establishment for the autonomy for each region. The coherence of all parties involved in the democracies will execute as they agreed, if they become elected. The Popular Party is financially support by three different aspects; first they get money from subsidies institutions for political parties, quotes and anonymous donations of participants or followers supporters, and bank credits. According to the report of the Court of Accounts of the 2003, the Popular Party had a debt of 8 million euros, being the political party with group in the Congress in owing less money (Pedro Ramirez, 2007). Now most the money they received are constituted in donations from anonymous contributions. Spains Party System is majority (more than half), which in article 68 from the Constitution in the electoral law of 1977 is based on the proportional representation system, which means each district sends several representatives to parliament, not just one. Government and the Economy In other terms each country has relationships between the government and the economy, in this particularly case political economy study the distribution to sell and buy goods, the production that declares thru customs of what is coming in and out. To see how the production of Spain is we must identify their GDP which is a equivalent of the production of goods and services in a country over a year. Below I will show you the record of Spains GDP over last twelve years: Years 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 GDP 5.0 3.7 2.7 3.1 3.3 3.6 4.1 3.5 0.9 -3.7 -0.1 0.7 -1.0* Figure 3. Real GDP growth rate volume We can see how the GDP was maintained firm from the two thousand to the two thousand and seven, with the higher point in two thousand year with almost five percent. After that GDP falls to one percent of the total value produced in two thousand eight to two thousand nine passing from one percent to three percent negative due to the crisis and that it is called recession. The following years it still being negative with a little improvement in two thousand and eleven but went down this year as today. As we saw in two thousand and eleven the development of GDP was superior, this happened due to the value of that year has been so low because the families consume less as a result of the few incomes that they have, in addition businesses invest little regarding the low financial procedure. As of today the internal demand do not let them increase as some families do not spend or buy goods, this lead the business are not producing as before for the recent crisis Spain has been going thru, and it is hard to obtain a loan to be able to carry the production. Banks are not giving credit loans and the labor class has been inactive as construction stop while ago when it was the well maintain before. Inflation is the increment on prices of goods and services with related to the money maintained in a specific time period. Figure 3. Real GDP growth rate volume Principally inflation happens because there has been little incomes, and the tax has been lower without excluding the expenses up to now that there are many ways to help to keep the situation stable by the crisis. A good example is government rise the taxes to collect more money, increasing taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Political Violence Political violence means groups of people trying to intimidate the government to achieve political goals. These groups of violence people will try to get the government attention if they will not respond to their political demands. Violence could be considered as violation of human rights, war, police brutality, kidnapping, torture, terrorism, revolution, dictatorship, etc. Spain has many horror stories in their history; the most catastrophic attacked was in Madrid in two thousand and four. They were victims of terrorist attached produced by Al-qaeda with the explosion of bombs inside the trains. One hundred ninety one people passed away and one thousand eight hundred fifty eight got injured. At the beginning of the seventys, Spain had a modern economy but a political system based on the dictatorship which was not democracy as well all the European countries. Franco named General Carrero Blanco to stay in command of the government but after six months he was murdered by ETA. In November of nineteen seventy five, the General Franco died and the constitution was changed when King Juan Carlos Borbon was named king of Spain. Just then he began the transition of the dictatorship to the democracy.

Affect of Women in Advertisement Essay

Abstract Due to advertisement clutter in the 21st century customers are exposed to a variety of advertising appeals that aims to influence their attitudes towards a wide range of products and services. Many companies worldwide are using women as an object to attract and influence consumers’ attitudes towa rds the products they sell. Women appear in huge number of advertisement as a sexual object or as attractive decorative model standing nearby a product, even when the sexual image has little relevance to the advertised product. This article looks at Jordan ian male consumers’ attitude towards using women in advertisement. Results reveals four factors tend to influence consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement. Culture, control, and emotion were found to have a significant influence on consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement, while there was no significant influence for women appearance on consumer attitude towards using women in advertisement. In general Jordanian male consumers’ were opposed to exposing, exploiting and objectifying the woman and her body in advertisement. Introduction Research on advertisement featuring sex role focused on how content and imagery affect cognitive responses and attitude toward the advertisement, which in turn affect attitude toward the brand and purchase intention (Jaffe, 1994; Leigh and Whitney, 1987). Attitude toward advertising can be defined in general as learned tendencies to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner to advertising in general (Lutz, 1985; Mackenzie and Lutz, 1989). The link between attitudes, intentions and behavior has been explained primarily by Ajzen (1985, 1988), Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). This theory is based on the assumption that human beings usually behave in a sensible manners where they will take into account information available to them and consider the consequences of their actions. Thus people are expected to act in accordance with their intentions. The personal factor is the attitude toward the behavior, which is the individual‟s positive or negat ive evaluation of performing the behavior of interest. Whereas the social determinant of intention is the person‟s perception of social pressure to perform the behavior under consideration. People generally intend to perform a behavior when they evaluate it positively and belief that important others think they should perform it. Advertisements perceived as contentious will not be effective in capturing the attention of people or changing their attitudes towards the advertised products (Michell and Al-Mossawi, 1995). Based on that, it‟s very essential to choose the appropriate advertisement strategies employed in advertising which range from informational to emotional. Among those designed to stir emotions or rouse particular feelings, we can find fear, humor, warmth, novelty, contrast, animation, music, and sexual arousal. According to Reichert et. al. (2001) sex appeal advertising invokes any message, which, whether as brand information in advertising contexts or as persuasive appeals in marketing contexts, is associated with sexual information. It has long been an accepted belief that this form of advertising is very effective at attention-grabbing, considered by some commentators as a powerful step in reaching one‟s target market, especially in the current clutter of 21st century marketing and communications (Reichert & Lambiase, 2003). Sexual economics theory (SET) is a stimulating theory about sexuality that combines the idea of gender differences in sexual attitudes with social exchange theory, which S precher, (1989) conceptualize as two or more parties that each give up something with the aim of getting back something of greater value. Much research suggests that sex as an end in itself is less valued by women than men (Baummeister et al., 2001). Ther efore, sexual economics theory posits that women possess substantially greater negotiating power than do men in the context of a sexual exchange. Based on this theory, the current study will focus on men and the way women are used to persuade them in adver tisement to influence their attitudes. Using women in advertisement as a sexual appeal has transferred women to a marketing instrument by many firms. Women are used as a material mostly in advertisements (Bayraktar, 2011). In many advertisements, the ideal woman is an object that exists to satisfy men‟s sexual desires. Many researchers have shown that women in advertisements are portrayed as sex objects (Baker, 2005). Advertisers feature provocative images of sexually attractive women in ads (Reichert, 2 002). Sexual appeals in advertisements consist of a variety of elements models. Courtney and Whipple (1983) describes sexuality in advertisements as sexuality in the form of nudity, sexual imagery, innuendo, and double entendre used as an ad object for dif ferent kinds of products. Reichert (2002) reveals that common forms of sexuality in ads includes nudity (dress), physical attractiveness, seductive behavior and interaction, innuendo, and other factors such as setting, context and camera effects. While Lambiase and Reichert (2003) propose that there are five types of sexual content in ads: Nudity, sexual behavior, physical attractiveness, sexual referents, and sexual embeds. Ramirez and Reichert (2000) propose that viewers consider physical characteristics the most sexual in ads and the sub-categories of these characteristics are clothing, attractiveness and body. Table 1 shows the categories of women appearance in advertisements and their meanings in USA. It‟s noteworthy to say that women misrepresentation in advertisement is a world wide phenomenon. In India, for example, Bag and Roy (2010) bring up various reasons behind unaccept ed representation of women in advertisement, such as poverty where still a number of women, particularly young girls with intolerable economic misery compelled to represent themselves in different forms of uncultured version for survival. To the contrary some rich women’s do it as a hobby, just to get mental or psychological satisfaction through modeling, front page sensational attraction in different popular magazines. Globalization is another factor responsible for misrepresentation of women in advertisement. Being attracted to western culture, teenager girls have been adopting western style in their garments and manners and hence, they have been losing their own culture and tradition, social values and moral character. Consumerism, which tries hard to inc rease the consumption of people, is another cause of such unaccepted representation. Much consumption means much economic profit which a group of people highly want. Profit maximization has escalated the introduction of women in a number of advertisements of different companies in television, magazine, T.V., Cinema, Newspaper, Cartoons, painting and even in the Internet to attract customers from different age groups. The different types of women representation in advertisement are presented below. Representation through Television- There is a lot of representation of women in advertisement through T.V. which affect common people and children adversely. It is obvious that visual indecent representation of them has been perverting psychologically all youth. Representation through Newspaper- Newspaper is another source of representation in indecent manner. Readers from almost all age group are intensely influenced while observing and reading those undesirable advertisements. Representation through Magazine- Similar examples will be cited in several advertisements in several reputed magazines where the honor of women have not only been despoiled simultaneously people are being psychologically endangered. But interestingly, by virtue of human instinct, neither presenter nor consumer is realizing its adverse impact. Other forms of Representation- There are other forms of uncultured representation which we can find rarely but have both internal and external effects on common people. Despite fewer in number, such representations are noticed in different sorts of paintings, hoarding hanging or fixed in cities and towns, and even displayed in Internet. Painting of undesirable quality is often displayed in cinema hall for greater publicity. Similarly, a lot of painters draw naked or half naked figures, which may have inner good meaning, but it is a matter of question how many people are finding that inner good meaning and how many are taking those adversely. Research Problem and Significance Very few studies tries to explain the influence of using women in advertisement based on cultural factors. Researchers have either concentrated on or compared dissimilar cultures, such as the U.S and Japan or they have focused on similarities or differences on similar cultur es, such as Great Britain and Australia (Al-Olayan and Karande, 2000). Many researches explain ads by using Hofstede‟s cultural dimensions or Hall‟s high and low typology and other country specific variables. Culture dominates communications, such as langu age, traditions, beliefs and music (Al-Olayan, & Karande, 2000). Therefore, the main motivation behind this article is to identify the influence of using women in advertisement on male consumers‟ attitude in Jordan. This study is conducted in a Muslim country where Shariah (Islamic Law) prohibit the use of sexual appearance or body in a way to attract or convince consumers with company products, brands or services. This study is significant for the reason that there is no any study has been done in this field regarding this issue. Another reason for doing this study is to increase our understanding of the Arab societies, and in this case Jordan. Research Objectives The objectives of this research are: 1) To identify the factors that may affect male Jordanian consumers‟ attitude towards using women in advertisement 2) To examine consumers overall attitude towards using sexy women in advertisement Theoretical Background Culture and Advertisement Marketers need to observe the cultural traits, environments, norms, beliefs, and values of a particular country or region to obtain an understanding of whether their future behaviors will be perceived as ethical (Haque et al., 2010). For example, companies advertising their products or services in different countries should be aware of a country‟s existing norms concerning role portrayals and the way these organizations affect these norms (Gilly, 1988). Clow and Baack (2009) maintained that culture, religion and value system determine the levels of nudity, sexual references, and gender specific issues that are permitted in a country. Several differences have also been recognized across countries for men and women appear in different settings and for different products. Women are more likely to be portrayed in domestic environment as sex objects, while men are more likely to be portrayed being occupied. In Sweden, for example advertisers show men and women in greater variety of nonworking roles than in the U.S.A and Germany and women in Asian countries are less likely to be shown as sex objects (Das, 2000). Since in many Middle Eastern countries, sex and gender issues are taboo subjects, sexual appeals are not used in advertising and even sexually related products are difficult to advertise (Bryant, 1998). Muslim nations tend to reject any kind of nudity and any reference to sexuality and other gender -related issues. Any hint of sexuality or display of the female body is strictly forbidden. In Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, women must be shown in family settings. They cannot be depicted as being carefree or desirable to the opposite sex. Marlin (2008) conduct a study on how culture affects advertisement, he used an advertisement showing a sexy picture for Paris Hilton, the famous model wearing a bikini and asked respondents to writ e their reactions. About 27% had positive reactions, 45% had negative reactions and 28% were indifferent. For this advertisement some respondents were confused whether it is an advertisement for a burger or for a car. The results show that different cultures imply different reactions, some of the comments the respondents wrote were: †¢ Unrealistic, bizarre (German respondent) †¢ It is not about the product, they are selling a lifestyle (Iranian respondent) †¢ Nice, interesting (French respondent) †¢ Too much naked skin (1 Ethiopian and 1 Swedish respondent) †¢ I am discussed, angry and feel fat (Swedish respondent) †¢ Too naked, too unrealistic (Moroccan respondent) †¢ Sexistic (Swedish respondent) †¢ Inappropriate, bad taste (French respondent) †¢ It is totally unnecessary for the object of advertising (Swedish respondent) Muslim countries are not the only ones with restrictive advertising for sex appeals. Many Christian countries such as Ireland, Spain, South Africa, Mexico and the Philippines have similar standards. 184 While in Canada, France, and Sweden, sexism should be avoided in any advertising directed toward children (Boddewyn, 1991). Based on that, understanding how religious beliefs influence the attitude towards the advertising is of great importance to international advertisers and advertising agency managers in their efforts to improve advertising effectiveness without offending or alienating their target audience. It‟s important to comprehend that Islamic social philosophy is based on the belief that all spheres of life: spiritual, social, political, and economic form an indivisible unity that must be thoroughly imbued with Islamic values. Advertisement and Women in the Muslim world The aim of this section is to give an in-depth understanding on the nature and position of women and advertisement in the Muslim world to help and benefit marketers and the advertising producers in the Muslim world to gain a profound understanding of Muslim values. As a starting point, it‟s important to note that the Holy Quran does not prohibit advertising (Al-Makaty et al., 1996). Some advertisements use religious terminology to reassure consumers of the Islamic integrity of products and services. For example, in a television advertisement, a Saudi Investment ba nk in Egypt had used religious terms to show that it had no unlawful transactions and that all of its financial products Shariah compliant. The use of selected Quranic injunctions and words can enhance the mood of the advertising communication to make it more appealing to Muslim consumers. Luqmani et al. (1989) provide an example of a manufactured water pump that uses a verse from the Quran in advertising. Although it is obviously welcome to keep in mind that the Islamic regulations related to business and marketing, appropriate implementation of precise Islamic terms is crucial. Contrary to this, a business may face unexpected troubles in gaining markets in Muslim populous areas if some how its advertisements create feelings that are inconsistent with religious sensitivities. In such a context, the most potential and contemporary issues in Islamic markets should be carefully introduced, developed, and offered through appropriate advertising and communication messages which meet the commitment of ethics as gu ided in the Islamic Shariah. For example, the Islamic system encourages moderation in living, while prodigality and waste are denounced. Costly promotional efforts and massive commercial advertisements by businesses are considered unnecessary. Producers of advertisements must make sure that their advertising campaign does not overstep any social or legal norms. Little attention has been paid on the exposure of advertisement in the Arab societies. Except from investigations in Saudi Arabian ads, there is only one study that has examined the cross-cultural differences in advertising content in other countries in the Middle East and only one study of the portrayal of Egyptian women in television commercials. Luqmani et al., (1987) study focused only on the influence of Islam on advertising content and regulation in Saudi Arabia while Michell and Al-Mossawi, (1999) study focused on message contentiousness among Gulf Co-operative Council countries, and showed that religious Muslims scored lower in terms of recall and were unfavorable towards contentious advertisements relative to lenient Muslims. The findings suggest that there is a difference in perceived controversial elements in advertisements between a devout and a lenient Muslim. These findings also highlight the importance of matching creative execution and message content to a society‟s socio-cultural environment. Michell and Al-Mossawi claim an offensive advertisement will not be effective in capturing an audience‟s attention or changing his/her attitudes. Both of these studies revealed the importance of understanding the Islamic religion in relation to effective advertising. In particular, Luqmani et al., assert that unconventional advertisements must obtain prior approval from religious authorities. While in Malaysia, Unilever‟s used an ad for Pond‟s skin lightening moisturizer showing a Malay college student using the product for a fairer complexion to attract a boy‟s attention. The ad is deemed offensive to the Muslim ethnic culture (Haque et al., 2010). In addition to the above mentioned facts, the women‟s status is debated among traditional Islamists, reformist Islamists and feminists, secular or Islamic. The traditional Islamists are clear about the male-female differences and insist on the distinct sex roles. They view women as emotional, sentimental and weak humans whose duty is in the household. The traditional Islamists take every verse in the Qur‟an as a source of protection of women and see women as minors that need to be protected by superior men. In return the woman will nurture the family and try to please her father, brother or son, or whoever may be the head of the household. The woman has a responsibility to maintain the honor, reputation and status of the family. Traditionally, a man‟s hon or depends on the extent on the virginity of his sisters, wife and daughters, and widows divorcees‟ sexual continent. 185 The Islamic reformists believe that the inferiority is only in relation to the woman‟s physical strength and weaker autonomy, thus she is capable of participating in all spheres or public and social life. Modern and liberal reformists are trying to accommodate the Islamic rules with the realities of modern times. The feminist view is a secular movement whose aim is to achieve equality for women. The roots of this movement consider the woman as totally subordinated to the man and that the veil is a symbol of this. Advertising in Jordan Jordan‟s media sector has seen significant privatization and liberalization efforts in recent years. Based on official rack rates, research firm Ipsos estimated that the advertisement sector spent some $303m towards publicity in Jordan‟s media, 80% of which was spent on newspapers, followed by TV, radio and magazines. In recent years, Jordan has also seen a spectacular rise in the number of blogs, websites and news portals as sources of news information. The increasing diversification of Jordan‟s media boosted advertising revenues and private initiatives. Recording growth of 30%, 2007 turned out to be yet another outstanding year for Jordan‟s advertising industry. Following nearly a decade of double-digit growth, the Jordanian advertising had some catching up to do with the rest of the region in terms of average expenditure per capita. Since 2000 total ad spend increased from $77m to $303m in 2008, an increase of 260%. The Jordanian telecoms sector was the biggest ad spender in 2008, accounting for around 20% of the market, followed by banking and finance sector (12%), services industry (11%), real estate (8%) and the automotive sector (5%). Research Design In order to measure Jordanian male consumers‟ attitude towards using women in advertisement , male respondents between 18-55 years were selected. The survey instrument included a list of 22 statements from which respondents were asked to indicate their level of personal acceptance on a five-point scale, where 1 means â€Å"Strongly Disagree† and 5 means â€Å"Strongly Agree†. Statements from 1 -17 was designed to measure factors affecting consumers attitude towards using women in advertisement. Most of the statements were adapted from earlier studies, for example (Al Makaty et al. 1996; Nordà ©n 2006; and Baker, C.N. 2005). While statement 18-22 were designed to measure consumers overall attitude towards advertisements. The statements were adapted from earlier studies as well such as (Usman, 2010; and Ashill, 2005). Respondents belonging to different demographic groups in terms of education level, marital status and profession were considered in the study. The sampling frame for the study was male consumers living in west of Amman. For respondents‟ selection, simple random sampling procedure was adopted. Questionnaires were filled by the respondents. The total number of respondents was 450. The responses received were 353 (80.5 per cent). Cronbach alpha reliability analysis was conducted for the items included in the study. The internal consistency – Cronbach alpha value for reliability of the questionnaire was found to be 0.74. All items were well above the 0.70, which was the commonly accepted threshold (Nunnally 1978). Respondent Profile Respondents from different parts of west Amman were asked to fill in the questionnaire. Table 2 depicts a summation of the study‟s respondents‟ demographic information. As per research objectives all the respondents are male consumers. Of the 353 respondents, 79.0 per cent were less than 25 years of age. A larger number of respondents were unmarried (74.4 per cent) the maximum respondents fell into this age group, since youth is the target market and they are the ones who pay maximum attention to the advertisements. Out of the remaining sample, only 2.3 per cent were above 55 years of age. The remaining 29.5 per cent belonged to the age group of 26–55 years of age. The larger number of r espondents was unmarried (74.4 per cent), and this could be attributed to the young age of the respondent. In addition most of them 78.5 percent were with undergraduate education. The maximum respondents in the category „profession‟ belonged to the student group with a major share of 68.2 per cent and the remaining 31.8 per cent included businessmen, executives and others. The overall composition of respondents included in the study was young, unmarried and students.

How Does the Role of Women Affect the Novel? Essay

In this essay I will be discussing and analysing how the role, or roles, of women affect the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’. The novel is set in the 1930’s during ‘The Great Depression’ and features three women: Curley’s wife, who lives on the ranch and is representative of the stereotypical suppressed wife, Susy the brothel owner who represents the role of women as solely sexual objects and whores, and lastly, Aunt Clara – a mother figure to Lennie. These are the three archetypal women in the novel and in this essay I will be evaluating their influence on the novel. It is not immediately apparent that women are not vital to the novel. However, the three women help the reader understand how life was for them. Curley’s wife confuses and plays with Lennie’s immature and insane mind with her flirtatious comments, and seductive body language. ‘She moved closer to him’ suggests their actions became out of control. Curley’s wife could have lived her dream as an actress but instead she stood by Curley, ‘I coulda went with the shows’ Her actions demonstrate her love for Curley at the time and how she gave up her dream for him. Curley’s wife allows us to appreciate the role of women in the novel and women at that time that had to suffer from great loneliness in the ranch, outnumbered by a large number of men. ‘Think I like to stay in that 6 by 4 house listening to Curley?’ Her pitiful relationship with Curley or even the agony of her loneliness results in her playful, engaging behaviour. Curley’s wife 1 resembles the stereotypical wife on a ranch in the 1930’s. Deciding on whether his wife is a tart or victim is significant to understanding the real message behind the novel and enables the reader to understand the role of women on such ranches. Susy is immensely different in contrast to Curley’s wife as she is a working woman, owner of a brothel so she is surrounded by friends of both sexes constantly ‘Old Susy’s a laugh’ Unlike Curley’s wife, Susy isn’t as pivotal to the plot but through her we can see and grasp the typical working woman in the 1930’s furthermore the sexual discrimination suffered where women were valued as mere sexual objects. Aunt Clara presents a completely contrasting character to Curley’s wife and Susy. Firstly she presents herself as maternal character ‘her hands on her hips, and she frowned disapprovingly at him.’ this suggests, Aunt Clara must have looked after Lennie like a mother figure when he was younger. ‘I told you’ This is a demonstration of her guiding influence over Lennie and how she was an important character in his life. Aunt Clara is a typical mother and helps the reader value the role of a mother and how it influences the novel. All three women are crucial in the development of the plot and have a great impact on the reader. Their roles help to raise awareness of the women during the ‘Great Depression.’ Women can be seen in a triad of roles; wife, mother and whore. The novel exposes sexual discrimination, sexism and the hierarchy of male over female on the social ladder.

Relationship of Jim and Huck - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1146 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/18 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Huckleberry Finn Essay Mark Twain Essay Did you like this example? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, composed by Mark Twain, is an anecdote about a young man named Huck attempting to get himself and is torn between what he ought to do by law and what he ought to do by instinct. For Huck and his companion Jim, an outlaw slave, the Mississippi River is a definitive image of flexibility. Hucks dad Pap, while he was as yet alive, had beaten Huck over and over, captured and terrified his child to the degree, that Huck, out of dread, pretends his own particular demise to get away from Paps grip. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Relationship of Jim and Huck" essay for you Create order While Huck and Jim travel down the stream it ends up obvious that Jim is to a greater degree a dad figure to Huck than his organic dad. Pap educates the temperances of an existence not worth living, while Jim gives Huck the correct caring help, sympathy, and learning for Huck to wind up a man. In spite of the fact that Huck and Jim originate from discrete racial foundations their opportunity together enables them to outperform their ethnic isolation and turn out to be genuine companions, and family. All through the novel, Mark Twain shows the bond shaped between Huck, the youthful white hero, and Jim, Hucks dark sidekick. A dads ascribes are intended to be cases for which his posterity can base their own lives. Pap achieves non-of these traits. Pap is an oblivious alcoholic who endeavors to cheat and trick any conceivable individual. He goes so far as to try and filch from his-own particular child. Pap sees Huck as somebody upon whom he can stand up for himself. He endeavors to deplete Huck of all qualities that would make Huck better than himself. Youre instructed, as well, they say; can read and compose. You believe youre bettern your dad, now, dont you, since he cant? Ill remove it from you Aint you a sweet-scented dandy, however? A bed; and bed-garments whats more, your own dad got the opportunity to lay down with the swines I wager Ill take some o these ornamentations out o you before Im finished with you.(Twain 21-23) In the story, everything that is remotely associated with arrive radiates peril and shrouded traps that could be turned on Huck and Jim at any minute. All that they go over including land, regardless of whether it is creatures, individuals, water crafts, undermine the security of Jim and Hucks wonderful life on the stream. There is likewise dependably the peril that they will be gotten. Huckleberry Finn and Jim are no ifs ands or buts the most joyful and most a peace when gliding down the waterway on their pontoon. In any case, in spite of their flexibility, they before long find that they are not totally free from the indecencies and impacts of the towns on the streams banks. As the story advances and additionally Huck and Jims adventure, what was once appeared a heaven and a wellspring of flexibility, turns out to be just a transient ways to get out that in any case pushes Huck and Jim ever promote toward threat and pulverization. Huckleberry Finn ends up confronting the void of a futile life. He attempts to make a move and pick his own predetermination, however he is rather controlled by the activities of others and, frequently, left feeble to make himself. The stream, at that point, does not speak to genuine flexibility; for, there are times on the waterway when Huck isnt really allowed to pick his own behavior. Toward the start of the novel, Huck, caught in the Widows hold, states: I felt so solitary I most wished I was dead. Huck feels limited by the social desires for progress and needs to come back to his basic, lighthearted life. He detests the social and social trappings of clean garments, Bible investigations, spelling exercises, and conduct that he is compelled to take after. Hucks battle for normal opportunity, that is flexibility from society mirrors the more essential battle for Jim, who battles with the opportunity inside the general public. For sure, all through the novel, Huck frequently wishes for death. Hucks yearning for death is normally the aftereffect of society attacking his inner voice, as when he reevaluates helping Jim to get away: I got to feeling so mean and hopeless I most wished I was dead(Twain ). Hucks faked passing is progressively his very own declaration want for death than of any genuine dread of being trailed by Pap or the dowager. As Huck and Jim move down the stream, they understand how solid their kinship has moved toward becoming, regardless of their disparities in skin shading. One of Hucks real problem is whether to hand Jim over or not on account of he is an outlaw slave. In the event that Jim is turned in, Huck loses a closest companion and creating father figure. Opportunity, the one thing that both Huck and Jim are scanning for, is just found on the stream. Twain is demonstrating the peruser that occasionally one must split far from society and what the world perspectives as right and just. We have the quality inside to remain without anyone else and settle on choices for ourselves. The topic of death and fierceness, at that point, is available in all features of society. This is a period when the United States was engaged with the Civil War and the tranquility of the waterway is never more obvious to Huck and Jim and this is the defining moment where Huckleberry grows up. At the point when Huck comes back to his pontoon, he discovers Jim. Huckleberry has discovered that Jim resembles a dad figure. He has no compunctions about showing fondness for his embraced tyke, embracing him, kissing him, and giving him unlimited love. He is far from home and he composes a letter to Miss Watson specifying where Jim is and signs it Huck Finn. After he completes the letter, he feels passing alleviation and is certain that he has spared himself from going to hellfire for helping a slave. The impetus for Hucks activity is the offer of Jim once more into bondage. Huck trusts that the network will disregard him and hell be destined himself to exacting hellfire on the off chance t hat he helps Jim. In spite of this acknowledgment, Hucks decree OK, at that point, Ill go to hellfire, closes his battle in a brief and intense minute. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn doesnt end in a traditional sense that the peruser finds his shrouded honorability, since he is as yet the child of an alcoholic. It was through Jim that frees Huck and gives him the truth of Hucks dads passing that frees him from the tyrannical patriarch. Huck will proceed to attempt and evade the trappings of human progress and look for his own particular opportunity.