EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Advertising has become a big tool for disseminating product Information. It is being done through different media – banners, radio, television & lately the internet. Advertisement in general has also drawn Public ire & government intervention time and again – either for moving away from truth and the consumers ‘right to know’ or for creating false images. This is especially true in the case of surrogate advertisements. The issue of surrogate advertisement gained publicity after the government imposed a ban on it. The purpose of this project is to highlight & discuss the same.
THE CONCEPT OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING
Even after the ban, liquor companies continued to advertise their drinks in the form of surrogate advertisements. In this type of advertisement, a product other than the banned one is promoted using an already established brand name. Such advertisements or sponsorships help in brand building and contribute to brand recall. The product shown in the advertisement is called he ‘surrogate. ’
The surrogate could either resemble the original product or could be a different product altogether, but using the established brand of the original product. The sponsoring of sports/cultural/leisure events and activities using a liquor brand name also falls in the category of surrogate advertising. Essentially it is the advertisement of the items on the negative list, such as tobacco and liquor. The masked creative’s leave it to the consumer to read between the lines.
Brand managers call it leveraging on the existing equity of the brand, agencies define it as an exercise in brand recall of products on the negative list, while the government comes down heavily on the intriguing concept of surrogate advertising. With the anti-tobacco lobby going strong worldwide, every country has a negative list of products.
HISTORY OF SURROGATE ADVERTISING
Surrogate advertisements took off not long ago in the UK, where British housewives protested strongly against liquor advertisements “luring” away their husbands. The liquor industry found a way around the ban: Surrogate advertisements for cocktail mixers, fruit juices and soda water using the brand names of the popular liquors. In India, the trend of surrogate advertisement gathered momentum with the Cable TV Network Regulation Act, which prohibits tobacco and liquor advertisements on TV channels. The liquor industry has intentionally blurred the line between products, advertising `old wine’ in a `new bottle,’ only this time with a soft-drink label.
CURRENT SCENARIO
After the ban imposed on the 12 advertisements identified as surrogates by the Government of India, and the show-cause notices issued to Star TV, Zee TV and Aaj Tak in 2002 under the provisions of the Cable Television Regulation Act of 2002, the whirlwind of surrogate ads hitting the telly has calmed down to a large extent. Advertisers have started diversifying and shifted their focus to other advertising avenues which often stretched the concept of brand extension to previously unheard-of levels.
Surrogate advertising though banned is still observed and continued on television, generally seen at places like sports stadiums, art exhibitions in the form of sponsorships of the event. Some of them under close scrutiny of the regulations are McDowell’s Mera Number One, Gilbey’s Green Label ads, Bagpiper soda water, Kingfisher mineral water, 8PM apple juice, ITC-GTD’s (greeting cards division) Expression Greeting Cards, Red ; White Bravery Awards and Wills sportswear as they are the titanic advertisers under this category.
ANALYSIS THE SUGAR COATED PILL CALLED SURROGATE ADVERTISING
Infinite numbers of debates ensued with regard to the right to intrude by the government or any public interest groups in the free choices of individuals whether to reduce or ban the consumption of foods that show their ill effects on the health of the people in due course. On one end, it is detested with remarks like the job of marketer is not to make society a better place or to save the world. He is mainly there to sell more and earn good profits for the shareholders in a legal way. There is an ethical question. The government is keen that surrogate advertising does not advertise liquor; to that extent the surrogate advertising is wrong.
But manufacturers have every right to sell the product; further the industry on its own has demonstrated the maturity and sense of responsibility to promote instruments of advocacy of restraint and moderation in consumption of alcoholic products. Society for Alcohol Related Social Policy Initiative (SASPI) is a self-evident initiative in this direction. Mc Dowell’s and Seagram’s have undertaken campaigns for responsible drinking. Some others also believe that when the license to set up the industry, manufacture and sale is given, it would be suicidal for the authorities to take a high moral ground and stop the advertisement.
The tobacco and liquor industry provide a major chunk to the exchequer in the form of the Central and State excise and under other tax heads. On the other side, there are few people concerned with the personal and societal costs of unregulated consumption. Very sensitive issues are created on certain these products and statistics are developed on the heavy health costs of various diseases caused because of failure to reduce the consumption of such kind of products. These costs affect everyone as they lead to higher medical costs and taxes.
Thus, even those who don’t consume such products are harmed because of unenlightened behavior of others. No one is fooled by advertisements for soda water, mineral water, glasses or casks that are patently too rich in visual and detail for the humble products they claim to advertise. “Surrogate advertising works because society–you and I—is prepared to accept lies and it will continue to work as long as you tell me that provided I wink conspiratorially, you are prepared to accept that it’s okay for me to lie” is what some say.
THE NEED OF THE HOUR
What legislations have to be brought out by the regulatory authority that would create a check on the marketers while promoting and selling of their products? What ethical practices does the marketer need to carry out in order to create a good image among his customers and also to develop a healthy society? Let us look at this issue from both the perspective. The following measure will go a long way in easing the deadlock seen here: The ASCI should have an unambiguous guideline for differentiating acceptable and unacceptable forms of advertising with respect to surrogate products.
Also the ASCI should be empowered to implement the guidelines and issue penalties for non-conformance. The government needs to take a stand on the issue. It must look beyond having the cake (the advertising ban) and eating (tax revenues). Advertising companies must take pains to understand the nature of the products and market that they are dealing with and must refrain from designing and propagating surrogate brands.
AS STUDENTS STUDYING ETHICS AND INDIAN VALUES
After applying the various schools of thought and the theories we have opine like many others that the greater good is what should prevail. Money may drive many a campaign but ultimately what matters is how this means to an end deteriorates societal values as a whole. Alcohol and Tobacco fill kitties of many like the companies, the government, advertising agencies that are paid to cleverly throw mud in the eyes of regulating bodies; but we must remember that all efforts prove to be in vain unless the evil is nipped in the bud. These undesirable products have become such an integral part of the lifestyle of people today that eliminating them completely seems herculean.
Never the less the focus should not be on whether we can do away ith surrogate advertising or not but on how to empower people to display enlightened behavior when under the influence of Alcohol or Tobacco. This would mitigate the damage done by the rampant surrogate advertising done by companies. There is no point in turning them against you, rather involve them in doing the same.
Further we also believe that all this needs to be accomplished without the violation of the personal freedom of any individual. Greatest lessons are taught by examples and the government needs to lead these initiatives. It needs to show a no nonsense attitude rather than tolerability in this regard.
Why Christianity Is The Most Widely Distributed Religion
Christianity, the most widely distributed of the universe faiths, holding significant representation in all the populated continents of the Earth. Its entire rank may transcend 1.7 billion people.
The cardinal component of Christianity is the individual of Jesus Christ. Although Christians do non all agree on a definition of what makes Christ typical or alone, they agree that his life and illustration should be followed and that his instructions about love and family should be the footing of human dealingss. In Christian instruction, Jesus is the supreme sermonizer and example of the moral life, but for most Christians that, by itself, does non make full justness to the significance of his life and work. What is known of Jesus, historically, is told in the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. Other parts of the New Testament sum up the beliefs of the early Christian church. Christians teach that God is almighty in rule over all that is in Eden and on Earth, righteous in judgement over good and evil, beyond clip and infinite and alteration; but above all they teach that “God is love.” Early Christianity found in the words of Jesus grounds both of the particular standing work forces and adult females have as kids of such a heavenly Father and of the even more particular place occupied by Christ.
Baptism has been from the get downing the agencies of induction into Christianity. The other universally accepted ritual among Christians is the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper, in which Christians portion in staff of life and vino and, through them, express and admit the world of the presence of Christ in Communion with one another. Another cardinal constituent of Christian religion and pattern is the Christian community itself? the church. The community of religion in the church is the primary scene for Christian worship, although Christians of all traditions have placed a strong accent on private devotedness and single supplication.
About all the information about Jesus himself and approximately early Christianity comes from those who claimed to be his followings. This information frequently raises more inquiries than it answers. What is known is that the individual and message of Jesus of Nazareth, a Judaic rabbi, or teacher, attracted a followers of those who believed him to be a new prophesier. Their remembrances of his words and workss recall Jesus’yearss on Earth and the miracle of his Resurrection from the dead on the first Easter. These Judaic Christians became the first church, in Jerusalem. From this centre Christianity radiated to other metropoliss and towns in Palestine and beyond. An of import beginning of the disaffection of Christianity from its Judaic roots was the alteration in the rank of the church that took topographic point by the terminal of the second century. At some point, Christians with Gentile backgrounds began to outnumber Judaic Christians. The work of the apostle Paul was influential in this alteration.
He formulated many of the thoughts and footings that were to represent the nucleus of Christian belief. The early folds were based on an orderly transmittal of leading from the first apostles to subsequent” bishops.” When differing readings of the Christian message arose, official church councils during the 300s and 400s produced unequivocal preparations of basic philosophies, which are still accepted by most Christians. Christianity besides had to settle its relation to the political order. Some of the Roman emperors persecuted the Christians, whom they saw as a menace to integrity and reform. Despite the persecutions, Christianity had grown well by the 300s. Emperor Constantine the Great decided to accept the new faith. The transition of Constantine assured the church a privileged topographic point in society. Some Christians began to experience that criterions of Christian behavior were being lowered and that the lone manner to obey the moral jussive moods of Christ was to fly the universe. Christian monasticism began in the Egyptian desert and spread to many parts of the Christian imperium during the 300s and 400s. In 330 Constantine moved the capital of the imperium from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. While Western Christianity became progressively centralized under the Catholic Pope of Rome, the chief centres of the East developed autonomously. The emperor at Constantinople held a particular topographic point in the life of the church. It was he, for illustration, who preside
d over the general councils of the church. A major crisis emerged in the 700s over the use of images, or icons, in Christian churches. The intense conflict threatened the Eastern church at its most vital point?its liturgy. Eastern Christianity was, and still is, a way of worship and on that basis a way of life and a way of belief. Eventually the icons were restored. During the 600s and 700s Eastern centers were captured by the dynamic new faith of Islam, with only Constantinople remaining unconquered. Distinctive features of the Christian East contributed to its increasing alienation from the West, which finally produced the Great Schism, traditionally dated from 1054, when Rome and Constantinople exchanged excommunications. The separation of East and West has continued into modern times, despite repeated attempts at reconciliation. Some of the most dynamic development took place in the western part of the Roman Empire, which witnessed the growth of the papacy and the migration of the Germanic peoples. The most powerful force remaining in Rome was its bishop, who became the leader of the Western church as waves of invading tribes swept into Europe and as the political power of Constantinople in the west declined. Finally in 800 an independent Western empire was born when Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III. Medieval Christianity in the West, unlike its Eastern counterpart, developed into a single entity. Church and state clashed repeatedly over the delineation of their respective spheres of authority. Church and state did cooperate by closing ranks in organizing Crusades against the Muslim conquerors of Jerusalem.
However, the Crusades did not permanently restore Christian rule to the Holy Land, and they did not unify the West either ecclesiastically or politically. A more impressive achievement of the medieval church during this period was the development of Scholastic philosophy and theology, particularly the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who wove the disparate parts of the tradition into a unified whole. In 1309 the papacy fled from Rome to Avignon, where it remained until 1377. This was followed by a period during which there were several claimants to the papal throne. The schism was resolved in 1417, but the papacy never recovered its former authority. Religious reformers denounced the moral laxity and corruption that they perceived in the church, and they called for radical change. Profound social and political changes were also taking place in the West, with increased national consciousness, the rising strength of cities, and the emergence of a merchant class. The 16th-century Protestant Reformation may be seen as the convergence of such forces in calls for reform in the church. German religious reformer Martin Luther was the catalyst that precipitated the new movement. His personal struggle for religious certainty led him to question the medieval system of salvation and the very authority of the church. His excommunication by Pope Leo X proved to be an irreversible step toward the division of Western Christendom.
The Reformation succeeded where it gained the support of the new national states. In response both to the Protestant challenge and to its own needs, the church summoned the Council of Trent (1545-1563), which formulated doctrines and legislated practical reforms. However, new divisions continued to appear. Historically, the most noteworthy were probably the ones that arose in the Church of England. In the 1600s and 1700s it became evident that Christianity would be obliged to define and to defend itself in response to the rise of modern science and philosophy. The increasing secularization of society removed the control of the church from areas of life, especially education, over which it had once been dominant. The gradual separation of church and state represented a departure from a system that had held sway since the conversion of Constantine the Great. The 1800s were preeminently the time of historical research into the development of Christian ideas and institutions. This research indicated to many that no particular form of doctrine or church structure could claim to be absolute and final, but it also provided other theologians with new resources for reinterpreting the Christian message. By the last quarter of the 20th century, the missionary movements of the church had carried the Christian faith throughout the world.
Analysis Of Different Aspects Of Company Culture
How do firms and individuals determine if it’s worth it to (a) invest in capital improvements, (b) hire additional workers, or (c) decide where to work? Briefly explain. Answer – Firms and individuals determine if it’s worth it to invest in capital improvements when the marginal product of capital is more than the interest paid on each unit of capital. Similarly, when the marginal product of labor is more than the wage rate of each unit of labor, until then the firms and individuals will keep on hiring additional workers.
The individual will decide to work till the point where his age rate received is more than the tax rate paid. 2. (Shifts of Resource Demand) A local pizzeria hires college students to make pizza, wait on tables, take phone orders, and deliver pizzas. For each situation described, determine whether the demand for student employees by the restaurant would increase, decrease, or remain unchanged. Briefly explain each answer. A. The demand for pizza increases.
Answer – when the demand for pizza increases, then the demand for student employees by the restraint would increase as it would need more people to work to meet the increased demand for pizza. B. Another pizzeria opens up next door. Answer – Since, there is introduction of substitute goods which increases the competition in the pizza market. Our restaurant will reduce the price of its pizza, therefore this cost-cutting will be adjusted by reducing the number of student employees hired for pizza delivery. C.
An increase in the minimum wage raises the cost of hiring student employees. Answer – When the minimum wage rises, it will lead to increase in the cost of hiring student employees, therefore the demand for student employees will reduce. D. The restaurant buys a computer system for taking phone orders. Answer – Increase in technology level will lead to reduction in the number of employees hired. 3. (Selling Output as a Price Taker) If a competitive firm hires another full-time worker, total output increases from 100 units to 110 units per week.
Suppose the market price of output is $25 per unit. What is the maximum weekly wage at which the firm would hire that additional worker? Answer – Marginal product of labor per week= $250 Therefore, maximum weekly wage at which the firm would hire that additional worker would be $250. 4. The Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) is a U. S. Department of Labor publication that projects employment trends. Go to http://www. Bless. Gob/co /cocoa’s. HTML and answer the following question: What are the tomorrows jobs? What role does derived demand play?
How about technological change? I AM NOT ABLE TO OPEN THE GIVEN URL 5. In the news… Please click on the following and answer the question below Question: Much has been written about the impact of rising jet fuel prices on the operation of airlines. What impact do you think this would have on the demand for labor by American Airlines? Answer – Rising jet fuel prices would impact the operation of airlines by making it more expensive now. American Airlines would start cutting the demand for labor because it would start cutting the cost of operation of airlines. 6. Substitution and Income Effects) Suppose that the cost of living increases, thereby reducing the purchasing power of your income. If your money wage doesn’t increase, you may work more hours because of this cost-of-living increase. Is this response predominantly an income effect or a substitution effect? Briefly explain. Answer – Reduction in purchasing power of income due to increase in cost of living is the income effect as there is fall in the real income of the individuals. Now, when the individual substitute its leisure with the working hours, then there arises a substitution effect. . (Nonage Determinants of Labor Supply) Suppose that two jobs are exactly the same except that one is performed in an air-conditioned workplace. How could you measure the value workers attach to such a job amenity? Answer – The workers would like to work in a conducive environment where they have ample amount of amenities available. The supply of labor for such workplace would increase at a given wage rate. 8. (Craft Unions) Both industrial unions and craft unions attempt to raise their embers’ wages, but each goes about it differently.
Explain the difference in approaches and describe the impact these differences have on excess quantity of labor supplied. Answer – Craft unions have frequently forced employers to agree to hire only union members, thereby gaining virtually complete control of the labor supply. Then, by following restrictive membership policies such as limiting the number of new members getting admitted, they artificially restrict labor supply. Therefore, by excluding workers from union and therefore from the labor supply, crafts union succeed in elevating wage rates.
An industrial union that includes virtually all available workers in its membership can put firms under great pressure to agree to its wage demands. Because of its legal right to strike, such a union can threaten to deprive firms of their entire labor supply, and an actual strike can do just that. 9. Why do you think the role of the unions in the US has declined over the years? Briefly discuss. Answer The role of labor unions in the U. S has declined over the years because of strong government policies, unfavorable working and law environment for labors, increased labor hostility, and high levels of unfair labor practices.
The Taft- Hartley Act of 1947 placed draconian restrictions on union activities, including picketing and strikes, and gave the green light to state right-to-work laws that barred union shops. 10. What is the difference between mediation and binding arbitration? What is the role of a strike in the bargaining process? Briefly discuss. Answer – Mediation is the voluntary dispute resolution process. Binding arbitration means settling down of dispute between the parties by another neutral party. The decision is confirmed by the court and carries the same significance as a court judgment.