Descartes and Hume’s Infinity Essay

The word infinity refers to several concepts but all pertains to something that is without bound or endless. Most of the time, it is used in the field of mathematics but the concept is also used in several other fields including philosophy. This paper will try to study Rene Descartes and David Hume’s concepts and views of infinity as well as the problems regarding their concepts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For Rene Descartes, the word infinity is attributed and is referred to a perfect being, to God. On the other hand, although most of his infinity raises most paradoxes that are really challenging for his empiricism, David Hume asserts that we cannot comprehend infinity. According to Descartes, infinity is the same as God or that God is the same as infinity. He also proves the existence of God by using the concept of infinity as an illustration. Descartes also said that he is able to see infinity because he is able to think and imagine a large object and as well as a larger object but not the largest object. Descartes stated the existence of god is proven by the use of infinity because according to him, if you have the idea of infinity and yet cannot witnessed it proves the existence of God. This is because our so called finite self will not be able to generate the idea of something like infinity and therefore the idea must then came from a somewhere or someone of infinite being, from God. The ability of God is also proven by infinity because according to Descartes, the continuity of thing should be conserved and therefore needs the continuous power that is supporting it. On the other hand, according to David Hume, because it is by faith that we know that God exist and so we will know his nature in the heaven. If there is a God with infinite attributes, then he is therefore infinitely incomprehensible without proportion to us human beings. Therefore Hume objects the concept of infinity because we cannot experience infinity; therefore we have no adequate idea of what infinity really is. Because of his belief and thinking, he even proposes to replace the notion of endless or unbounded, infinity, by a time and space theory. That every idea that we have is copied from a similar impression is the fundamental of Hume’s arguments. So according to Hume, our idea of God together with his attributes such as his infinite intelligence, good being and all his infinite abilities and characteristics are just products of our own mind, increasing that idea without limit those qualities. Therefore our notion and knowledge of god is not brought by any revelations or something that god put on us but rather by of us taking our normal attributes and increasing these attributes to infinity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The major problem regarding the theory and idea of Hume is that it contradicts some principles in geometry such as the Pythagorean theorem. David Hume’s theory includes the denial of the thesis that extension infinitely divisible. Still, how Hume critiques the idea of infinity is said to be a product of Enlightenment theory of Knowledge. Also the theories of Hume disprove the existence of God in which case most people will definitely disagree and critique and would say inverse that we does not create God but rather God created us. In this case it is certain that many people will be against Hume’s principles and ideology.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The problem with Descartes ideas is that he needs the existence of a perfect being in order to be able to have a clear idea of what is infinity. Also the argument of Descartes is a circular argument because he proves the existence of God using the idea of infinity and at the same time his idea of infinity relies on the knowledge of God. The clarity of his ideas is relied on God and God on his ideas. Since Descartes infinity theory relies on the concept of having an infinite and perfect being in our mind, there surely be misconceptions and understanding on the concept since our mind is able to entertain several things that may include fiction or something that is untrue. Greek gods, goddesses as well as super heroes are some of the examples that we entertain in our minds that are far and/or not part of the real world. Also since different person have different views and as well knowledge and understanding, there could be as many interpretations of the word infinity as there are people. And how about those that did not believe in the existence of God? Does that mean that they are not capable of understanding what infinity is? Definitely not and therefore Descartes’ concept of infinity applies to limited people only. The main similarity and difference between Rene Descartes ideas of infinity to that of Hume is that both of them uses the concept of God making their argument. They both use the concept and knowledge of a so-called infinite being in their arguments. Also they are in different and in conflict because Descartes proves the existence of God by using the concept of infinity and Hume do the opposite, disproving the existence of God as disproving the concept of infinity. In Descartes statement, infinity exist although we cannot see it. The mere fact that the idea of infinity is in our minds prove that there really is an infinite being, a God that created all things and that sustains it by his infinite attributes. On the other hand, Hume believes that we cannot comprehend and understand infinity and it therefore there exist no such thing. It can be said that both Descartes and Hume have an idea of what infinity is. Their difference is the idea whether infinity is achievable or not. For Descartes, infinity or God exist although we cannot see it or even imagine it; that basically is infinity. On the other hand, Hume disapprove the concept of infinity saying that since we cannot see or visualize infinity, infinity does not exist and should be replaced by something that exist, something real like time and space. Although the two ideas are conflicting in can be said that they are truly believable and without further and close study of the matter, we may really be misguided. Still, whether we believe Descartes or Hume depends on us, no one will force us to believe someone. What is important is that we really have the basis of our beliefs. Reference Brown, R. G. (2007). God, Dog and Spark. Retrieved December 04, 2007 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Poetry/hot_tea/hot_tea/node31.html Holding, J. P. (No Date). Humaen Understanding. Retrieved December 04, 2007 from http://www.tektonics.org/gk/hume01.html Leahy, J. P. (2000). Infinity and Eternity of the Universe. Retrieved December 04, 2007 from http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~jpl/cosmo/infinity.html

Response – Life of Pi

Response The novel, â€Å"Life of Pi† by Yann Martel is about a boy who lives in Pondicherry, India with his family. It is about how he and his family decide to move to Canada with the animals they own and the tragedy on sea. The book explains how Pi survives life and it is narrated by the first character, Pi, who is older now and is looking back on his life and younger years. Pi and his family embarked on the voyage to Canada along with the animals when Pi was around 16 years old. In the midst of the journey, a storm lashed the ship and Pi’s parents, brother and most of the animals did not survive.Pi managed to escape in a life boat and initially did not realize that he had company – and who was it? Well, it was the animals and who were they? Well definitely not those Pi would have dreamt of- an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra and last, but not the least, a tiger- yes a real tiger named Richard Parker. The book tells us about Pi’s battle with survival and the dangers he faced, both with the animals and life at sea. At his age, it was almost impossible, but he survived. The character, Pi has great determination and made the best of the limited resources he had.Every day during his expedition, he was faced with a new challenge. He witnessed the killing of the animals and was helpless. Finally being left alone with the tiger and being gripped with fear- he had 2 choices – to become the tiger’s prey or friend. This was in addition to the challenges at sea, with different weather conditions and with a small supply of food and a survival kit. I admire the bravery of the character Pi towards everything and his positive attitude- He never gave up even though he was forced to live in a boat with a tiger. The principle of â€Å"survival† is applicable.Pi shows us that we must not give up when we do anything, no matter how hard it is. The theme of bravery and courage is very relevant to our world today because, we usually find ourselves not wanting to do things when we find them hard. We are always asking ourselves whether we should just take the easy way out and quit. Pi’s bravery and courage is evident in the story where it is quoted, â€Å"You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better. † Also another quote that shows this is, â€Å"I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart.The voice said â€Å"I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen. † The things that stands out to me in his quote is that he knew that God was with him and that God would keep him safe. Even when things are hard and you feel that t here is no point in continuing, you should still persevere.Only when you persevere, you will be able to achieve and will be rewarded. This will make you feel satisfied and better than before. You don’t know what life is going to be like, we cannot see the future, but it is our job as humans to take what comes at us and make the best of it. This is determination. The famous saying â€Å"When the going gets tough, the tough get going. † While adrift, Pi and Richard Parker discover an island of carnivorous algae inhabited by a bountiful population of meerkats. Pi’s sees the meerkats pulling out dead fish from the ponds.Pi and Richard Parker were delighted to find that they have found food to eat and a place to live – but no! Pi later discovers a fruit on the tree that he was sleeping on. While peeling the last few leaves around the fruit off, Pi finds that all the fruit make a perfect set of teeth. At night, Pi looks around and sees that the water colour cha nges and becomes acidic somehow and he knows this because he can see that fish are dying under the acidic water and floating to the top. He realizes that during the night the island somehow becomes carnivorous.This is a message to him that the island is inhabitable and he and Richard Parker must get out of the island. So they left the next morning filling their boats with supplies of water, and seaweed and meerkats for Richard Parker. I admired Pi’s ability and patience to make the tiger, Richard Parker his friend. We must learn to be more like Pi in the way we act by being sensitive to the needs of others. When leaving the island he made sure to take food for Parker for the journey and not only for himself. We must be willing to do anything.Pi was willing to train the tiger and he did succeed over time. This is evident in the story as in the beginning when Pi was younger, he wanted to feed the tiger not realising the dangers he was putting himself into. He only realised the danger in encountering a wild animal when his father saved him by pulling him away and bringing a goat and showing him how the tiger snatched the goat even though the tiger was in a cage. Pi wanted to feed the tiger not only because he thought Richard Parker was his friend but because he felt that all animals have souls, which is shown through their eyes.Pi himself acknowledges the tiger as his companion in the book when he says: â€Å"Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story. † Pi had a tremendous amount of patience with the tiger. Richard Parker is very cunning and so Pi had to be more careful in the way he acted with the tiger. The patience was shown when Pi was motivated to catch food for the tiger to satisfy the tiger’s hunger. By doing this the tiger would not turn to Pi as his prey. Richard Parker was a blessing for Pi as fishing for food kept Pi busy.Even though Pi was mortified by Richard Parker he developed a soft spot for him. He was willing to do anything to keep him alive. The author makes readers feel the love that Pi had for Richard Parker. In those times in the boat Pi gives the impression that to him Richard Parker is equivalent to a human. This is shown in the story when Pi said â€Å"Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. I still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once.That pain is like an axe that chops at my heart. †Ã‚   This quote is telling us that when they reach Mexico, Richard Parker just walks away. Pi feels hurt. He feels as if the tiger doesn’t care about anything that has happened in the last 227 days. This really hurts Pi because he feels betrayed and saddened that Richard Parker left him. He never imagined this to happen. This proves that earlier when his father said, â€Å"you think tiger is your friend, he is an animal, not a playmate! †, he was right because no matter what even if you think the tiger is going to be your friend he/she will not.Even though they are not together anymore the author is giving the impression that no matter, Pi will always love Richard Parker. I admire Pi’s openness. The most important reason I admire Pi is because he prayed to God. He was universal in his thinking of religion as he followed three different religions. He was Hindu by birth but chose to practice and follow Islam and Christianity as well. Even though others like Pi’s parents and religious leaders criticize him for following more than one religion Pi still continued to do so anyway not at all effected by what others had to say.Pi says that he meets Jesus Christ through Father Martin and Islam through Mr Kumar. Through living out these three religions Pi was able make connections between the religions. Conclusion: Therefore, I can apply this to our own socie ty and in the way I act. The following qualities of Pi are worth noting; his determination, bravery, courage, perseverance, patience, sensitivity, willingness to do anything, love and openness. Pi’s determination has taught me to always be confident when making decisions about anything because confidence allows you and others to know that you are sure of what you are doing.Pi’s bravery has taught me to always have a positive attitude. It has taught me when you have bravery you can convince others and that when you are brave you are determined to do what you want. Pi’s courage has taught me that when you are brave and determined you have courage to do something. I can have courage when doing extra-curricular activities. There may be no one that I know of but by doing them anyway this shows that I have courage. Pi’s perseverance has taught me to always continue what I am doing to the end. He has taught me to never leave any task undone.Pi’s patience has taught me to always be calm with others. He has taught me not to get angry when I see something annoying me or to start grumbling. In the future I must learn to be calm with everyone and not only to my friends. Pi’s sensitivity has taught me to always be sensitive and caring to the needs of others and those around me. He has taught me to care for others by helping people carry their things or just by simply brightening a person’s day. Pi’s willingness to do anything had taught me to always be ready to help others no matter what.He has taught me to always be ready to lend a helping hand at anything. I can do this by helping my school out at school working bees. Pi’s love has taught me that I must not boast about how we love people, but simply show love through our everyday actions. I can show love by praying for the needy and others who have asked for prayers or by sitting with people at lunch time that may not have a friend to sit with. Lastly, Piâ₠¬â„¢s openness has taught me to keep my mind and soul open for everyone and everything.He has taught me to start things with an open mind instead of in a bad way which may affect how I may do things. We can learn to be more like Pi we can be more loving, brave and open to those around us. From this story, I have learnt that I can do anything that I persevere. We must all be like Pi in the way we lead our lives. Pi never judged anyone. He always saw the best in everyone and everything. I have also learnt that being patient can get me somewhere in life. Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

Dealing With Rejection From Your Top College Choice

Soon, high school seniors all around the country will be awaiting the arrival of college admissions decisions. While the method has changed from a paper envelope arriving in the mail to electronic delivery straight to your mobile device, one thing that hasn’t changed is the emotion of that moment. For some lucky students, an acceptance results in a wave of euphoria and sheer joy. For those less lucky, a rejection can trigger feelings of sorrow, grief, and even depression. If you have your heart set on a singular dream school that you don’t ultimately get into, these feelings can be even more intense. You might feel overwhelmed. You might be tempted to crawl into bed and stay there. You may even worry that you’ll never achieve your other dreams either. Rest assured, though, that getting rejected from your top choice isn’t the end of the world. In fact, the majority of students who apply to selective colleges don’t actually get in. In this post, we’ll discuss how you can deal with rejection from a top choice college and how to redirect your energy towards moving forward in a positive, productive way. To learn our top tips about coping with rejection from your top choice college, read on. For some students, college applications represent the culmination of many years of hard work. If you don’t get into your top school, you might feel like all of your hard work was for naught, and you may legitimately feel heartbroken. That’s okay; it’s a completely normal reaction to falling short of a goal you’ve work so hard towards. While it’s natural to feel sorrow and the need to grieve, you can’t spend the remainder of your senior year in your bed. It may be helpful to set a self-imposed time constraint on the active grieving process. Allow yourself a few days to really indulge in self-care. Watch some movies, take a hot shower, and get takeout from your favorite restaurant. When a few days has passed, though, you’ll need to resolve to move forward. You might still feel sad, but it’s time to start channeling those emotions into something productive. At the end of your self-care days, get back up and prepare to take on the world again. You might think that your college admissions decisions are a direct indicator of your worth as a person or as a student. It’s important to remember that this is definitely not the case. College admissions decisions are based on so many factors that you can’t control. If you did your best to control the ones you could, then you need to know that there were other factors at play. Maybe this was the year that the Division 1 Football team lost four starting players and one of those replacements edged you out of a seat. Perhaps 30 students from your town decided to apply to the same school and only one could be accepted. Maybe you were up against a fourth-generation legacy whose parents, grandparents, and great aunt all donate heavily each year. You never know what other factors are at play in college admissions, so taking a rejection personally is never a good idea. Estimating your chance of getting into a college is not easy in today’s competitive environment. Thankfully, with our state-of-the-art software and data, we can analyze your academic and extracurricular profile and estimate your chances. Our profile analysis tool can also help you identify the improvement you need to make to enter your dream school. While it might seem like the most perfect college you could imagine, no college that doesn’t recognize what an amazing candidate you are is going to be the best fit for you. There are hundreds of amazing colleges out there, and odds are high that you will be able to succeed elsewhere if you set yourself to attending one that’s the best fit for you personally. Start by identifying what it was about your dream school that made it so alluring. Was it the geographic locale, a specific academic program, or another aspect altogether? If you can pinpoint a few of the most desirable qualities, you can bet you’ll be able to find those same qualities at other schools that would be happy to have you as a student. Redirect your focus to the schools that you did get in to. Join social media groups for accepted students. Reach out to current students or recent graduates. Network to learn more about each school and get a better feel for it. Visit campus again if you have a chance. The more you know about it, the better prepared you’ll be to make an informed decision about where you do go. Instead of thinking of this as a door closing, think of it as one that has opened. You have an opportunity in front of you to start fresh. What are you going to do with this opportunity? Shift your thinking to view this as an amazing chance to attend a college where you’re truly valued. If a college doesn’t want you, you’re probably better off elsewhere anyway. Some day, your alma mater will not matter nearly as much as what you made of your college experience. Will you be a dedicated student and a committed member of the community or will you begrudgingly go through your years there wishing you were someplace else? Only you can make this decision. Â   Finally, remember that you aren’t required to attend any single school for four years. While you definitely shouldn’t go into a college with the attitude that you can just transfer if something doesn’t go your way, it is important to keep perspective that you aren’t stuck someplace if it ends up being a bad fit. The best you can do is give it your best shot and then, if it doesn’t work out, consider transferring someplace else that will. If you’ve been rejected from your top choice college, it’s only natural to feel a wide array of emotions that may range from grief to anger to self-doubt. There is no right way to feel when you get the news that you’ve been rejected, but there is a right way to recover. Reframing your thinking to recognize the opportunity before you and to capitalize on the chances that you do have will help you to land gracefully. To learn more about setting yourself up for success on your college applications and how to make a college list that best suits you and your goals, consider enlisting the help of ’s Applications Guidance service. Here, you’ll be paired with a personal admissions specialist who can provide step-by-step guidance through the entire application process, even if you’re on a tight timeframe.

Outline some of the difficulties for learners of english posed by the Essay

Outline some of the difficulties for learners of english posed by the english verbs system, both in form and meaning. suggest steps to a teacher on how to overcome these difficulties - Essay Example The action could have taken place in the past, in the present, or in the future. This calls for use of different tenses such as past, present or future tenses when describing the actions (Miendt 200). The learners are hence unable to correctly use them due to their inexperience in the use and meaning. The difficulty can be avoided by extensive reading in order for a learner to get used to tenses, as well as, continuous practice and use of English in everyday life. The other difficulty is poor formation of the verb string. There are some sentences that have a complicated structure. For example, a single string may comprise of auxiliaries and principles, as well as, a modal verb. The learners are unable to collect the parts of the string and put them in the correct order. This makes the learners use them incorrectly thereby distorting meaning. Multi –word verbs also pose great difficulties to the learners. These difficulties present themselves both in grammatical form and lexical meaning. Due to the fact that the verbs have more than one meaning, the learners have difficulty in interpreting the meaning where the same phrase is used in different contexts. These challenges can be overcomed by use of simple sentences that are easy to understand, as well as, making sure the learners understand the various meanings of each verb (Leech 11). The Chinese learners have difficulty in pronouncing English words correctly, as well as, reading English texts. This is because the Chinese words are not made up of letters as in the case of English where there are alphabets. The Chinese also have difficulty in stress and intonation. Since certain English phonemes do not exist in Chinese, it becomes difficult to pronounce these words properly, as difference in meaning is often distinguished by the pitch of the phoneme sound in Chinese language. It is important to note that phoneme sounds in English are

Dubai ECONOMIC SECURITY Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Dubai ECONOMIC SECURITY - Research Paper Example Over the last three years, Dubai has shown an upward growth in the economy owing to the increase in the international oil prices and the growth of the tourism industry. However, the government still wails in debt and there are signs that the city has not yet achieved economic independence. This is a big threat and promises an economic crisis in future unless the government takes control of its spending and focuses on economic generation rather than spending, which will pose danger on its economic security. Dubai experiences one of the most tremendous population expansions in the world. Between 2005 and 2013, the population of the Dubai Emirate grew from 1.2 million to 2.1 million, which is close to double within a period of only 8 years. The population density of the emirate is about 409 per square kilometer, which is more than 8 times that of the entire country. Just like many other countries in the world, the population of females in Dubai is slightly higher than that of the males. Dubai has a poverty rate of about 10% which is much lower than 19.5% poverty rate in the United Arab Emirates. The crude death rate in Dubai is at 1.4 while the infant mortality rate ranges at about 7 deaths per one thousand infants (Middle East Monitor, 2014). These low figures indicate that Dubai is one of the rapidly developing economies in the world, and much better than other countries in the United Arab Emirates. Economic indicators are important points of evaluating the economic development within a region. The low poverty level in Dubai is another indicator of the fact that the city’s population majorly lies within the middle class (Alajoutsijà ¤rvi, Juusola, & Lamberg, 2014). On this note, Dubai enjoys a good economic status and has a challenge to maintain this by finding ways which they can guarantee economic wellbeing in the long term. The Dubai’s economy is dependent majorly on the oil industry. Economic

The Patriot Act, Tittle II, Section 203 Term Paper

The Patriot Act, Tittle II, Section 203 - Term Paper Example These improvements on the Title II of the Patriot Act turned out to be key elements of national security investigations. Therefore, this paper mainly focuses on the positive impacts of the Patriot Act in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking. The Patriot Act, Title II, Section 203 Introduction Before the Patriot Act came into place, the U.S. intelligence authorities had some restrictions while conducting their investigations. Since its inception, the US has managed to prevent serious attacks such as the 9/11 attack on the American homeland. It is worth mentioning that the Patriot Act has had a lot of benefits that enhance the ability of US authorities to investigate, prevent, and prosecute terrorists. The Act came in place barely 43 days after the 9/11 attack so as to introduce policies that will help in fighting terrorism. After the attacks, the US citizens felt that they were vulnerable for more attacks, thus the need by the government to undertake quick measures (Scheppler, 2005 ). On the other hand, the US government felt that it was necessary to have detailed information on its own citizens and foreign visitors. Indeed, many were of the opinion that if the government had taken stringent measures, the 9/11 attacks would have been prevented. This resulted to the passage of the Patriot Act (Scheppler, 2005). The U.S.A. ... Provisions within the Patriot Act streamlined the way to conduct investigations on various crimes differently from the traditional way (Painter, 2011). The patriot Act introduced a number of measures that would help in fighting terrorism, as well as other forms of crimes. Some of the prescribed measures expired and were never renewed, but a majority of the prescribed measures became permanent. To date, serious crimes in the US are handled using guidelines provided in the Patriot Act. Furthermore, some provisions have been amended to strengthen them further. Since the passage of the Act, there have been remarkable improvements in dealing with serious crimes (Painter, 2011). Measures within the patriot Act The patriot Act enables the US intelligence authorities to apply surveillance tools to investigate on terrorism and drug trafficking. Before the Act came into place, intelligence authorities required court permits in order to use electronic surveillance tools for investigations. In a ddition, intelligence authorities could not use wiretaps fully in conducting certain investigations without court permits. Enactment of the patriot Act enabled intelligence authorities to acquire information on a wide range of acts of terror such as chemical weapons, financing terrorism, and presence of weapons of mass destruction (Doyle, 2002). The passage of the patriot Act allowed federal agents to make follow ups on highly organized terrorists who evade detection. For a long period, federal agents have applied the use of roving wiretaps in conducting investigations on ordinary crimes. The use of wiretaps requires authorization from federal judges in order to apply them in investigations.

Executive Summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Executive Summary - Assignment Example This is because some of the companies opted for hiring many receptionists to handle the high job demands, but they could not manage to professionally assist guests. Organizations should hire our services because we will implement technological approaches in our operations that comprise of surveillance cameras and ipads. The cameras shall help in monitoring the performance and interaction of our staffs with the prospective customers at the work stations. The cameras will also guarantee customer safety and reduce the risk prevalence in the offices. One of the advantages of working with GCS is that it boasts of professional personnel who are competent in their duties. The company also offers other fringe services such as telephone operators, messengers and personal assistance to clients. As a result, it would be essential to hire the services of GCS in order to save time and enable the office workers concentrate on other productive tasks. Although GCS is a new establishment in the regio n, it shall ensure that clients receive professionalized concierge services that save time and

Analysis of Sprint PCS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis of Sprint PCS - Essay Example While in services main costs are connected to equipment maintaining those services and have little impact on prices (which are mainly formed by customer's demands), mobile phones have a lot of issues on manufacturing and especially testing product costs. "One hundred percent of mobile phones are tested to ensure regulatory and standard compliance, where many other consumer electronic products are merely sample tested." (Strickler, 2004). Additionally, mobile phones have ultra-short life cycles comparing to other consumer electronics, which is followed with more funds spent on designing new models. As most of the manufacturing of Sprint is outsourced to China manufacturing labor costs are considered to be low. Still in the context of aggressive competition in the wireless industry they must be taken into account. Recent years have been regarded as productivity increasing due to technological innovations in manufacturing. Raw materials needed for production of cellular phones are the industry without a clear cut leader, which along with decreasing overall waging costs and at the same time slight increase in average wages had a positive influence on productivity and average total costs of cellular phones: as labor productivity growth settles in near its longer-run trend of 2 to 2-1/2 percent, increases in unit labor costs may begin to put some upward pressure on prices, offsetting possible moderation in nonwage costs (Bernanke 2005). As iMarket Structure As it was stated earlier cellular phone industry is very dense leaving no free space to possible new contenders. Market structure in mobile services is an oligopoly, when power is concentrated in the hands of several key players, that is: Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon etc. Position of Sprint in mobile phones industry is comparatively weaker, major players are: Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, Alcatel and Sony Ericsson. Such heavy competition along with the wide choice of vendors available to customers creates implications on pricing. Simply there is very little space for adjusting prices because a company has to stay close to its main pricing curve. Cellular phones have evolved from a hi-tech gadget to an everyday life commodity negatively affecting prices, which continue to decrease. On the other side extremely wide audience of consumers and further shortening life-cycle increases amounts of cell phones sold. Recent performance of Sprint shows that while the customer base of the company continues to increase its revenues are the same as two years ago. "Sprint's subscriber base grew 110% but its market share has barely changed since June 2002. Price erosion and competition has reduced Services revenue by 19%" (Alexander Resources, 2005) Moreover the company experiences low customer satisfaction recently found by Strategy Analytics: "Sprint PCS posts below average ratings on many measures, though the carrier does redeem itself somewhat with a well-received product and service range" (Wi-fitechnology.com 2004). Therefore Sprint PCS needs changes in its strategy for further development. First of all, if bigger is not better Sprint needs to reduce the distance between the company and a certain customers group. Secondly it should pay more attention to the quality of its products to increase customer satisfaction with more added value. Economic Forecast Basing on the macroeconomic forecast presented by the learning team (Hahn et al 2005) I have selected the following factors that will affect the demand of

Indian and Southeast Asian art Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Indian and Southeast Asian art - Research Paper Example Indian art is not to be studied from the time-based evolution perspective but rather from the region and period of its evolution perspective. (Mitter, 2001) Indian art has continuously evolved through time and is still evolving. It begun with rock painting, moving onto rock cut caves and temple architecture and then paintings and sculptures. Alongside these forms, India also showed progress in the tribal form of art as there were various cultural and social groups in India. However, it is worth mentioning that almost all art forms were inspired by the innumerous Gods and Goddesses that people believed in, who were transformed into contemporary forms and familiar images. Indian society has been very secular ever since ancient times and has encouraged different practices all along. This rich philosophy, both spiritual and rational, made its impact on Indian art and architecture. Temples and stupas were seen to incorporate symbolic languages based on important philosophical concepts. (M itter, 2001). These included the Chakra or wheel of time, Padma or lotus, the symbol of creation, Swastika representing aspects of creation and motion, Mriga or deer the symbol of erotic desire and beauty and many such symbols. After the Mughals came to India, monumental architecture was introduced by them. The change in the architecture was reflected in most prominent landmarks like the city gateways and the designs of royal tombs and mosques. However, traditional Indian tastes did continue to influence the Islamic architecture. Throughout its history, religion has played an important role in shaping the country’s culture and beliefs. The major religions practiced in India are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam and Sikhism. Of these, Hinduism has been the foremost and most commonly... Dance forms, puppetry and shadow plays were introduced to these countries by Indians in the early 7th century.   Later though Chinese influence was observed along with Islamic influence. Indonesia, a very strong Islamic country, still retained forms of Hindu art and culture like Shadow Puppet and literature like the Ramayana. That is common for most Mainland SEA except Vietnam where Hindu gods and arts were infused into Thai, Khmer, Burmese and Lao cultures.   Many SEA languages like Maley and Javanese contain words of Sanskrit of Dravidian origin and some languages like Thai are still written in some form of Indian derived scripts. Their concepts of kingship and social hierarchy were all adapted from ancient Hindu political theories. The Thai monarchy though follows Buddhism, requires the presence of Gour Brahmans for performing certain ceremonies. The images of Vishnu, lingas, Buddha and other Hindu cults are evidence of influence of Indian culture. Almost everywhere in SEA is a Buddha image showing influence of Guptas or Amravati’s.  The cult of Devaraja or God King, a derivate from Indian terminology, of cosmological and political ideas which was evident in the temple of Angkor Thom. The concept of worshipping a god and making a place of worship was implemented first ever in this temple. With time, the interaction between India and regional evolution started producing many distinctive styles of Indianised SEA art and architecture.The other common factor between India and SEA was the worship of Lord Shiva.

Antibiotic Sensitivity Essay Example for Free

Antibiotic Sensitivity Essay Microbial growth is a normal essential part of the healthy human, animal, and plant environment. When introduction to a microorganism causes harmful bacterial growth, using antimicrobial therapy can eradicate or reduce the unwanted pathogen. Antimicrobials are used to stop the growth of a pathogen by the use of a selectively toxic, identified inhibitor. Not all microbes are harmful so it is important to uncover the the vulnerable mechanism of growth in harmful microbes and produce a toxin that is lethal to its lifecycle and not toxic to the other microbial environment nor tissue. Some selective targets include bacterial wall composition, ribosomal synthesis, and DNA transcription. Antibiotics are used to either inhibit or kill harmful bacterial growth. Selecting which antibiotic to use is aided by identifying which harmful bacteria are gram-positive or gram-negative. When the target bacteria is not known, a broad spectrum antibiotic may be given as it can attack both gram-positive and gram negative bacteria. A narrow spectrum antibiotic is chosen when the bacterial pathogen has been identified by gram-stain testing or symptomatic expression. A narrow-spectrum antibiotic will be used to kill the specific identified gram-negative or gram-positive bacteria. The advantage to using a broad spectrum antibiotic is that it may be given early on, before the lengthy lab examination process so that attempts to control of growth may begin promptly. If the broad spectrum is given to a gram specific organism however, the strength of antibiotic may be insufficient to kill or control harmful growth. Furthermore, exposing a microbial environment to unnecessary types or strengths of antibiotics can lead to tolerance or super-infections. A narrow spectrum antibiotic is an absolute advantage when the gram stain specificity is known as it will then target only the offending bacteria. Alternatively, if a narrow spectrum drug is used on an incorrectly identified microbe, then there will be no antibacterial coverage and the harmful bacteria may flourish. Unfortunately, the use of antibiotics in antimicrobial control has consequences. Microbes have been adapting to overcome harmful environments since the beginning of life. Exposure of microbes to antibiotics is yet another environment and as a result, antimicrobial resistance has surfaced. Some common resistant mechanisms include the production of inactivating enzymes that leave the antimicrobial ineffective. Interruption of cell membrane transport of antimicrobial agents is another development of resistance. Mutations are a common mechanism of antimicrobial resistance. Penicillin can be rendered ineffective by an alteration mutation that disrupts the target protein. The Kirby-Bauer test is an agar diffusion test used to identify bacterial susceptibilities. When S. epidermidis is exposed to antibiotic disc materials of Novobiocin, Penicillin and Gentamicin, the most resistance observed was by the Penicillin.

Brand Placement in the Indian Film Industry

Brand Placement in the Indian Film Industry Churning out nearly 1,000 films a year, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world. Now, aided by technological advancements, the industry is set to take a further leap across production, exhibition and marketing. In such a scenario, product placement in mainstream films deserves a renewed focus because as a marketing communication tool, it is fast emerging as the medium with maximum potential to capture and covert audiences to potential consumers. This is especially relevant in a world where traditional media vehicles are increasingly failing to reach the consumers for various reasons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand/product placement is a promotional tactic used by marketers in which a real commercial product is used in fictional media, and the presence of the product is the result of an economic exchange, it is an advertising technique in which the companies pay a fee or provide service in exchange for a prominent display of their product. Product placement occurs in plays, films, television series, music videos, video-games and books. The objective of such brand communication is to expose the audience to a brand, whereby the effect can be maximized in terms of increased awareness and higher recall, so that the customer will buy the brand which has maximum recall; and to satisfy the customer to optimum level.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This research paper looks at the rationality of brand placement, the possible congruity that can be built in the story, as indicators of success of effective brand placement in films and if so, as variables in bringing desired change in consumers attitude. The paper highlights the basic reasons for placing products and brands in Mainstream Hindi films and the effectiveness of these placements as a tool for enhancing the recall value of brands in long run brands in the films. This paper also gives insight as to how audiences react to product placement, do they think it as an effective alternative media, if it has any impact on them and if they find it ethical.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research incorporated case studies of four mainstream Hindi films, selected on basis of their box office fate and the amount of brand placement. These films are then anaysed in terms of effectiveness of the variety of placements in bringing the desired recall and recognition values. The four films selected include Om Shanti Om, Goal, Chak De! India, and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The research concludes with suggestions regarding areas for future research.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Product placement has come as a blessing in disguise for both, the brand and the filmmaker. Through it, the brand managers get the clutter breaking opportunity to look beyond the 30 sec TV commercial and the filmmaker gets to earn huge revenues by just showing the brand being used by protagonist or let it exist in the background. The deal is just perfect for both of them. But the most important person in the deal is the consumer who is vigilant and smart enough to notice whats served to him and has reservations against in your face placements. Surely he does not want more intrusion in his life. Hence, product placement has arrived and here to stay. But a word of caution is to be always kept in mind, by both the brand and the filmmaker- if as communication purveyors they are looking for better and innovative means of reaching the consumer, the consumer himself is already bombarded with marketing tactics from all over and in the three hours of movie, he would want to forget about all these intrusions, including advertising. Thus overdose of brand placement will only drive away the consumers from the cinema halls, resulting in a flop film and a failed marketing endeavor. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND The Concept of Product Placement Product Placement in Movies Types of Product Placement Brand Placement is Different from Celebrity Endorsement The Opportunity of Brand placement, Consumer Information processing and Issue of Brand Congruity WHAT IS PRODUCT PLACEMENT? A product placement is the inclusion of a product, package, signage, a brand name or the name of the firm in a movie or in a television programme for increasing memorability of the brand and instant recognition at the point of purchase. Placements can be in form of verbal mentions in dialogue, actual use by character, visual displays such as corporate logo on a vehicle or billboard, brands used as set decorations, or even snatches of actual radio or television commercials. The objective of this communication strategy is to expose audience to a brand, whereby the effect can be maximized in terms of increased brand awareness and higher recall, so that the customer will buy the brand which has the highest recall; and to satisfy the customer to optimal level. Because of proliferation of advertisements and the consequent difficulty in getting commercial messages to reach and influence potential customers, product placement appears as an interesting alternative to traditional marketing communication tools. Basically, there are three ways product placement can occur: It simply happens. Its arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation. Its arranged, and there is financial compensation. Sometimes product placement just happens. A set dresser, producer, director, or even an actor might come across something he thinks will enhance the project. Usually this has to do with boosting the level of credibility or realism of the story being told. Example can be use of Tata Indigo car in movie Aaja Nachle. The car has been used to as mode of transport for the lead actress both when she arrives from abroad and when she goes back. Interestingly the vehicle is widely used as commercial luxury vehicle in many Indian towns. So use of this car added a touch of realism in the movie. However, when contacted, the representatives of the car company denied being approached about the use of their product. Arranged product placement deals fall into two categories: Trade-off of integration or placement for a supply of product Financial compensation for placement or integration The most common type of deal is a simple exchange of the product for the placement. Example, lets say the production team wants lead actor to display a quirky affinity for a particular type of beverage. This will come across rather strongly over the course of the program which means the chosen product could get a lot of air time. It turns out that someone on the crew knows someone who works for that beverage. The production people approach the beverage company folks with a proposal and a deal is made; in exchange for the airtime, the cast and crew are provided with an ample supply of the beverage at work. Example: the movie Krish where the lead actor drinks a lot of Bournvita. Sometimes, a gift of the product isnt an appropriate form of compensation, so money powers the deal. Imagine that the marketing team at Tag Heuer has heard about this project and feels that, given the star power of the actor playing lead, this project would be a great vehicle for showcasing its product. Someone from Tag Heuer approaches the set dresser with a financially lucrative proposal. Eventually, they come to an agreement and the wristwatch casually appears in several scenes. Before product placement really saw a surge in the mid 1990s, it was pretty much a do it yourself effort. Now there are specific corporate positions and entire agencies that can handle the job. Some larger corporations will dedicate personnel to scout out opportunities for product integration or placement within films, television shows and even games and music. Good example would be Madisons specialized division for in-film branding, MATES. PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN MOVIES Every frame in a movie has an opportunity for branding. With that intent, a number of marketers are now using movies to project the core values of their brands. In-film advertising, in its most effective form, is about a brand being a part of cinemas content. Many global brands are now turning to this medium for the sheer impact that a movie can make on its audiences. Product placement in movies has gained momentum all over the world. The practice of using branded products in Hollywood movies started as casual process since 1940s. The earliest example would be 1945 movie Mildred Pierce with film star Joan Crawford drinking Jack Daniels bourbon whiskey. The current Hollywood movies feature a plethora of products ranging from telecommunications (Motorola, Nokia), automobile (Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Jeep, Lada and Mercedes) to other products like FMCG goods, Tobacco etc. Good examples are James Bond movies. Indian mainstream Hindi films, popularly known as Bollywood the world over, caught up with the trend in 1970s with Rajkapoor using Rajdoot in his movie Bobby. Popularity of movies as medium for product placement grew because of the increasing difficulty of using television as an effective medium to target audiences. The film medium provides an excellent message reach and message life and an effective method of popularizing and immortalizing brands. One of the key drivers for movies becoming a popular medium for product placement has been the increasing difficulty of using television as an effective medium to target audiences. The advent of cable and satellite television has meant that audiences have become more fragmented and tend to demonstrate a greater level of ad avoidance. By contrast, the film medium provides an excellent message reach and message life and an effective method of popularizing and immortalizing brands. The movie-goers vicariously experience the brand as they make a connection between the film, the actor, the product and its consumption, and argue that product placement acts as a perceptual clue which directs behavior to purchase a product to satisfy a need or reinforce a social status. Movie product placement is viewed as a cheaper and more effective alternative to traditional marketing communications, despite its inflexibility, but as a result of the establishment of specialist placement agencies, and thro ugh increased brand exposure through cable, satellite, video and DVD, a typical movie with international distribution can reach over one hundred million consumers from box office to TV. There seem to be three reasons why marketers consider product placement in movies as interesting communication strategy. First watching a movie is high attention and involving activity. The particular exposure context associated with movies in theatres (lights off, minimal noise and distraction possibilities, large screen, difficulty in moving around, no zapping) is bound to lead to a high level of consumer attention as opposed to, say, listening to television. In addition, movie goers expend some significant effort (choosing a movie, driving to the theatre, finding a parking space, staying in line, finding a seat) and money (transportation, parking, tickets) in order to go to a movie and therefore quite involved during the show. Second, successful movie attract large audiences. A blockbuster movie like Om Shanti Om for instance has been seen by millions of people, and this does not include video purchases and rentals, and eventual television broadcast. Therefore from a strict cost per viewer point of view, a product placement in a movie is a real bargain. Finally product placement represents a natural, non aggressive, non persuasive way of promoting brand or a firm. Hence it may lead to less counter arguing and internal zapping from consumers. Such success stories firmly establish the importance of product placement. The use of feature films as a strategy for introducing new products has grown increasingly sophisticated. Savvy marketers now build elaborate marketing communication plans cross-promoting films and brands. For example, Audi used 2004s Babul, a film by Ravi Chopra, as an integrated element for introducing a new model, the Audi A6. It was judged the most successful promotion of 2004. Subhash Ghai was one of the early filmmakers to do product placement on a real large scale. Bollywood insiders say Ghai recovered production cost from Coke and other products even before the release of films like Yaadein and Taal. In future 40% of a films revenue will accrue from streams like TV, online rights, product placements and digital downloads. Video-on-demand, IPTV and DTH are already fetching handsome returns. Then, of course, there is the overseas market, which is expanding fast. In 2007 alone, at least a dozen Hindi Mainstream films have crossed a US $ 1 million mark in the UK an US. As successful marketing efforts incorporating motion pictures continue to mount, the casual use of brands as props will diminish. While current practice does not require filmmakers to identify brands placed in films, viewers can reasonably assume that prominently featured brands have offered some compensation or other consideration in exchange for the appearance. TYPES OF PRDUCT PLACEMENT In films, product placement can be divided into three broad categories: Implicit Mode: in this the star appears in a situation and is seen openly stating that he is using the product/brand. For example, in the movie Chalte Chalte, Shahrukh Khan is seen asking his worker to fill Castrol in his truck. Imperative Mode: In this the star would ask his friend/co-worker/peer to use the product. For example, in the movie Koi Mil Gaya, Hritik Roshan is seen recommending Bournvita to Priety Zinta and her mother in the film. Co-present Mode: in this, the star appears in some kind of setting with the product or he or she could be seen consuming or using the product. In the movie Diljale, love is the ulterior theme, and Sonali Bendre, the lead actress is shown expressing her love through Archies cards, thus revolving around the social expression feel of the Card makers. BRAND PLACEMENT IS DIFFERENT FROM CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT The celebrities endorse product and brands with commercial reasons, which normally come in the breaks in television programmes or in cinema halls. The phenomenon of zipping and change in television usage behavior due to surfing during the commercial breaks has reduced effectiveness of television commercials. Similarly commercials of cinema hall are found to be of low involvement as audience takes them as blocks between the reasons of visiting the cinema hall and the time available to them for entertainment. So the brand communication and the entertainment product are viewed differently from the audience of both media. Brand placement provides an opportunity where the involved audience gets exposure to the brands and products during the natural process of narration of movie or television commercial. THE OPPORTUNITY OF BRAND PLACEMENT, CONSUMER INFORMATION PROCESSING AND ISSUE OF BRAND CONGRUITY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of late there have been attempts by Indian producers and brand managers to come together and place the brand in a situation where the audience is captive and more prone to show high level of retention. Many consumers and researchers are of the view that this method is excessive commercialization of media and intrusion in life of viewer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The viewer does not necessarily go there to see the brands; rather he is going to the cinema hall to escape from the realities of life. Brand managers are using different type of placements to make the brand look obvious at the point of emergence. They are also integrating the brand presence with the plot of the cinema, so that the audience does not feel the brand to be out of context. The brand should also be reflective of the class of user of character in the film. If the plot connection is missing and the brand is not reflective of the characters class of usage, then probably the whole brand placement exercise will be futile. The success of Indian movies is not based on sound fundamentals which is evident from the number of feature films flopping every year. So if the vehicle in which the brand is placed does not have the required viewership, then the tariff charged to bring brand at some point of the story will also go in drain .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Films are selected as context of research for various reasons as explained below.   Compared to television, movie viewing has higher involvement. While watching a television programme, the viewer can do multifarious work at home setting, which may affect the attention degree span of the audience and hence, reduce the overall effectiveness of the medium for enhancing brand retention. In opposition to this argument, is the movie going behavior where the viewer makes a voluntary choice for viewing (exposure) a specific film (product) at a cost (time, financial, opportunity cost) for the purpose of wholesome entertainment. So he is more receptive to brand communication provided to him in the movie hall while watching the movie of his choice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It has been observed from research that brand recall for commercials shown during the television programmes with higher level of TRPs are very poor due to the channel switching behavior. High level of media clutter, similarity of programming across channels, channel switching behavior are the factors responsible to generate sufficient level of research interest in researchers at the practice of brand placement in movies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand placements are used to increase the level of brand knowledge among consumers as in every advertising medium. The uniqueness of the medium is found in the process of exposure and congruity of brand in the story. There is no competitive exposure in the same medium at the same time, unlike television of newspapers. This is significant as it may increase the level of brand knowledge. Brand knowledge is conceptualized as brand node in memory to which a variety of associations are linked. So it is important to identify the properties of the brand node and brand association.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The factors important for product placement include the level of abstraction and qualitative nature of the brand memory effect and the congruity among brand associations affects the favorability, strength and uniqueness of the brand associations. The factors being: Brand awareness: It is the strength of brand node or trace in the memory as reflected by consumers ability to identify the brand under different conditions. Brand image: It is the set of perceptions, held in the consumers memory, as reflected by brand associations. Are the other informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for the consumers? Brand Attitudes: they are the overall evaluation of the brand by the consumers. They often form the basis of consumers choice. Other variables affecting Brand placement are- Favorability of Brand Associations: Associations differ according to how favorably they are evaluated. The success of a marketing program largely depends on the ability of the marketing program in creating the trust among consumers that the attributes and associations benefits are there in the brand talked about in communications. The Strength of Brand Association: It depends on how the information enters consumers memory (encoding) and how it is retained as part of brand image (storage). Strength is a function of both the amount or quality of processing information received at encoding (how much the person thinks about the information) and the nature or quality of the information at the encoding end (the manner in which the person thinks about the information). Congruence of a Brand: the congruence of the brand with the story of the film and presentation in the film is another measure. Congruence is defined as the extent to which the brand association shares the content and meaning with other brand associations. This explains how easily one existing brand association can be recalled and how additional associations can be linked to the brand node in memory. Brand Leverage: Compares the characteristics of the secondary associations with those of primary brand associations. The secondary associations are derived out of the usage of the brand by the character in the film. Example in the film Taal, the hero uses the bottle of Coke as a symbol of exchange of love and this contextual placement increases the strength of association of the brand. Earlier researches have shown the importance of a strong link between the brand and the film. The stronger the link, the greater is the impact between the brands image and the attitude towards the brand sponsor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Increase in product placements and institutionalization of the industry indicate that advertisers are using the technique to sway consumers brand attitudes. The type of placements should look natural to the narration, as consumption symbols are often used to enrich the plot, theme and characters of popular culture texts. Some consumers may feel that the use of brand names in popular culture simply reflects the increased commercial content of a culture or the producers efforts to enhance the realism of their film. However, in case where the brand takes a major role in the story of the film as in the movie Friends, or where its presence in the movie might look suspect as in the movie Yaadein, the audience may realize that it was placed there to affect their judgments and they may counter argue them just as they do to the traditional advertising messages. Advertising gurus claim that in-film advertising is a very shaky business and most marketers have a tendency and temptation to go overboard with the result that the film would end up becoming a long advertising commercial. Others say that since marketers always tried to stretch their advertising rupee in order to obtain the maximum bang for their buck with the result that brand suffered. However, most advertising professionals vouch for the fact that films, by virtue of being quite engaging, are one of the cost-effective and effective mediums for advertising. If a consumer watches a particular scene and the advertisement is well embedded into that, it will remain, they say. This can be referred to the fact that the girls beating the boys fighting sequence in Chak De has been referred to as the McDonalds fight scene merely because it takes place in one of the outlets. Again, there is no mention of McDonalds in the entire film as it has been seamlessly embedded. Film content of any kind can be used to build brands. The last one year has been rather active in terms of in-film placements and branding through films. However, the placement of brands such as Ultra Tech poses a big challenge especially considering that there is no obvious benefit in sticking to stereo-types and force-fitting the Brand in films theme or storyline, he said Literature survey in the Indian context was more disheartening despite the fact that brand placement is used more and more in Indian films these days. There are hardly any evidences of work carried out on brand placement in Indian Movies.   The Indian Hindi film industry id the largest in the world in terms of number of movie produced. Yet the success rate of the movies in Indian film industry is very less. If a proper research on brand placement can be done, it can guide the producers, brand managers and academicians to develop and effective brand placement strategy in which the risk of the film making and failure will come down substantially in the Indian market. The producers can charge a price for the brand placement and cover a production cost; the brand managers will find a platform to communicate with the audience about their brands in more effective manner than conventional television advertising. PROMINNENT EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN SOME MAINSTREAM FILMS (In Recent Times) SOME FAILURES TOO SUCCESSES Bollywood has finally discovered branding. In 2007, according to industry estimates, brand cameos earned around Rs 200 crore, and as a result, even small-and medium-budget movies as well as animated films are hoping to cash in on this new and lucrative revenue stream. Indeed, media analysts and industry watchers expect that figure to climb to Rs 800 crore by 2010. Some of the select successful instances of brand placement in recent times are cited below: Rang De Basanti: Rakyesh Omprakash Mehras Rang De Basanti was probably the most successful Bollywood branding in 2006 with its limited edition RDB Coca-Cola bottle, and cameos of Airtel, LG, Berger and Provogue in the film. Coke, in a first of its kind attempt, launched Coca-Cola bottles branded with the RDB title and Amirs picture and produced a movie trailer that was a montage of shots from the film and Cokes Piyo Sar Uthake campaign. Just the right kind of media partners, the films marketing ensured good and effective publicity and both the brands and the movie generated a lot of mileage from each other. Krrish: Rakesh Roshans Krrish, now a case study of Indian Institute of Management, Indore, prominently featured Singapore Tourism Board, Sony, John Players, Bournvita, Tide, Hero Honda, Boro Plus, Lifebuoy, HP Power, Acron Rangeela, Hansaplast and Lays chips, followed by merchandising of Krrish masks, lunch boxes, water bottles. Its merchandising sold like hot cakes among children. Krrish made 12 crores out of product placement. Don: Farhan Akhtars Don promoted Tag Heuer watches, Motorola, Garnier, Citibank and, of course, Oakley sunglasses as well as Louis Philippe outfits. The placement ensured that the viewer noticed dons phone, his laptop, his watch, hia sunglasses and the brand names were the focus of the camera work. But it was still done in a subtle way and did not come across as being imposed on viewer. Dhoom 2: Sanjay Gandavis Dhoom 2 promoted Coke, Pennzoil, Pepe, Sony, Disney channel, Sugar Free, McDonalds, Speed, and Suzuki Zeus. The movie was quite an opportunity for Coke, for both the brand ambassadors of Coke were starring in the movie together for the first time. The cool couple drinking the always coolest drink, perfect for Coke! The cola company had a special campaign for Dhoom 2 where Hrithik Roshan encouraged youngsters to take a swig and go dhoom. Main Hoon Naa: Farah Khans first movie Main Hoon Naa featured the following brands- Reebok, Cafà © coffee day, Frito Lays, Levis, LML. MHN was an example of optimum utilization of branding in a film. The story of the film revolved around youth hence it gave us the scope of using lifestyle and youth centric brands. The brands that were involved were the ones keeping the modern day college goers in mind, for which using brands is just a way of life. The brands were woven into the screenplay in a manner where it looked like a modern day college going youth was using the product natural yet conspicuous. Baghban: One of the clear cases of effective placement in recent times was BR films family drama Baghban. The movie creatively integrated five brands in it. The brands included were ICICI Bank, Tata Tea, Archies, Ford and Tide. Baghban truly depicted the craft of product placement. And these are not mere stating of the brands featured. These placements result in stupendous impact in consumers as delineated by the sales figures of the featured brands, before and after product placement. After Bournvita featured in Krrish, it reported a increase in sales by 15% and intention to use brand by 9%*. Domios registered greater footfall in its outlets after its placement in Phir Hera Pheri. Garnier recorded a product recall of 46% after it got featured in the movie Chup Chup Ke. Lays got an additional endorsement from Priyanka Chopra after she was shown munching on the snack in Krrish, thus re-establishing Lays as cool snack.   After Reebok featured in key scenes in Viruddh, the brand boasted of having got verbal endorsement of Amitabh Bacchan, and extensive reach through multiple showcasing of the film on multiple vehicles. Tanishq recorded a average minimum revenue of 1.45 crore from its Paheli collection. And as if that was not all, they recorded a increase in purchase intent by 13% and favorability of the brand by 10%!!! That says a lot about the success of brand placements. FAILURES There is always the other side of the coin! Academicians from Universities say that currently, embedded advertising still needs to grow in India. It is like a deranged marriage, the brand most often does not fit into the film the way in which it should. The reason is that most filmmakers still do not think of it as a revenue stream, they say. So apart from the huge successes, there were some bad failures as well. Few of them are: Ta Ra Rum Pum: After you see drivers and cars layered by brands of their sponsors, Ta Ra Rum Pum a film on racing cars would seem like the perfect avenue to showcase such similar branding. After all seeing these brands is what weve come to expect, but corporate honchos didnt seem happy just with being there. So they mustve insisted on special close-ups and zooms for their brands. As a result we get a good dose of Castrol, Goodyear and Chevrolet periodically through this film. Salaam E Ishq: Salaam E Ishq was another product-friendly movie. With such an extensive star cast and lavish set designs the director mustve felt the need for corporations to cover up costs. Of the many placements there was one that stood there screaming for attention. John Abraham and Vidya Balan play a couple in love so on the day of their anniversary John decides to gift his lady love with a diamond set. For those curious about the brand, it was Ira Jewellery and the makers give more than a glimmer to those who wonder. To make things worse, the camera decides to zoom more on the brand than the jewels. Victoria 203:   If youre one of the few people that watched the remake of Victoria 203, youd probably be gripped by the urge to buy diamonds, more specifically Gitanjali Diamonds. Thats because Gitanjali has been constantly mentioned throughout the first half an hour. The makers go to the extent of giving the viewers an unwanted history lesson about the Choksi family that owns the company and their legacy. VirruddhFamily Comes First: In terms of product placements, Viruddh went to the extent of shoving their branded products down audiences throats. What made this blatant promotion unbearable was that Virruddh was made as a serious film about a grieving family and their dead son. Obvious instances were where Sanjay Dutt posed with a can of Elf Oil in his garage and John Abraham praised how great the services of Western Union Brand Placement in the Indian Film Industry Brand Placement in the Indian Film Industry Churning out nearly 1,000 films a year, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world. Now, aided by technological advancements, the industry is set to take a further leap across production, exhibition and marketing. In such a scenario, product placement in mainstream films deserves a renewed focus because as a marketing communication tool, it is fast emerging as the medium with maximum potential to capture and covert audiences to potential consumers. This is especially relevant in a world where traditional media vehicles are increasingly failing to reach the consumers for various reasons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand/product placement is a promotional tactic used by marketers in which a real commercial product is used in fictional media, and the presence of the product is the result of an economic exchange, it is an advertising technique in which the companies pay a fee or provide service in exchange for a prominent display of their product. Product placement occurs in plays, films, television series, music videos, video-games and books. The objective of such brand communication is to expose the audience to a brand, whereby the effect can be maximized in terms of increased awareness and higher recall, so that the customer will buy the brand which has maximum recall; and to satisfy the customer to optimum level.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This research paper looks at the rationality of brand placement, the possible congruity that can be built in the story, as indicators of success of effective brand placement in films and if so, as variables in bringing desired change in consumers attitude. The paper highlights the basic reasons for placing products and brands in Mainstream Hindi films and the effectiveness of these placements as a tool for enhancing the recall value of brands in long run brands in the films. This paper also gives insight as to how audiences react to product placement, do they think it as an effective alternative media, if it has any impact on them and if they find it ethical.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The research incorporated case studies of four mainstream Hindi films, selected on basis of their box office fate and the amount of brand placement. These films are then anaysed in terms of effectiveness of the variety of placements in bringing the desired recall and recognition values. The four films selected include Om Shanti Om, Goal, Chak De! India, and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The research concludes with suggestions regarding areas for future research.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Product placement has come as a blessing in disguise for both, the brand and the filmmaker. Through it, the brand managers get the clutter breaking opportunity to look beyond the 30 sec TV commercial and the filmmaker gets to earn huge revenues by just showing the brand being used by protagonist or let it exist in the background. The deal is just perfect for both of them. But the most important person in the deal is the consumer who is vigilant and smart enough to notice whats served to him and has reservations against in your face placements. Surely he does not want more intrusion in his life. Hence, product placement has arrived and here to stay. But a word of caution is to be always kept in mind, by both the brand and the filmmaker- if as communication purveyors they are looking for better and innovative means of reaching the consumer, the consumer himself is already bombarded with marketing tactics from all over and in the three hours of movie, he would want to forget about all these intrusions, including advertising. Thus overdose of brand placement will only drive away the consumers from the cinema halls, resulting in a flop film and a failed marketing endeavor. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND The Concept of Product Placement Product Placement in Movies Types of Product Placement Brand Placement is Different from Celebrity Endorsement The Opportunity of Brand placement, Consumer Information processing and Issue of Brand Congruity WHAT IS PRODUCT PLACEMENT? A product placement is the inclusion of a product, package, signage, a brand name or the name of the firm in a movie or in a television programme for increasing memorability of the brand and instant recognition at the point of purchase. Placements can be in form of verbal mentions in dialogue, actual use by character, visual displays such as corporate logo on a vehicle or billboard, brands used as set decorations, or even snatches of actual radio or television commercials. The objective of this communication strategy is to expose audience to a brand, whereby the effect can be maximized in terms of increased brand awareness and higher recall, so that the customer will buy the brand which has the highest recall; and to satisfy the customer to optimal level. Because of proliferation of advertisements and the consequent difficulty in getting commercial messages to reach and influence potential customers, product placement appears as an interesting alternative to traditional marketing communication tools. Basically, there are three ways product placement can occur: It simply happens. Its arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation. Its arranged, and there is financial compensation. Sometimes product placement just happens. A set dresser, producer, director, or even an actor might come across something he thinks will enhance the project. Usually this has to do with boosting the level of credibility or realism of the story being told. Example can be use of Tata Indigo car in movie Aaja Nachle. The car has been used to as mode of transport for the lead actress both when she arrives from abroad and when she goes back. Interestingly the vehicle is widely used as commercial luxury vehicle in many Indian towns. So use of this car added a touch of realism in the movie. However, when contacted, the representatives of the car company denied being approached about the use of their product. Arranged product placement deals fall into two categories: Trade-off of integration or placement for a supply of product Financial compensation for placement or integration The most common type of deal is a simple exchange of the product for the placement. Example, lets say the production team wants lead actor to display a quirky affinity for a particular type of beverage. This will come across rather strongly over the course of the program which means the chosen product could get a lot of air time. It turns out that someone on the crew knows someone who works for that beverage. The production people approach the beverage company folks with a proposal and a deal is made; in exchange for the airtime, the cast and crew are provided with an ample supply of the beverage at work. Example: the movie Krish where the lead actor drinks a lot of Bournvita. Sometimes, a gift of the product isnt an appropriate form of compensation, so money powers the deal. Imagine that the marketing team at Tag Heuer has heard about this project and feels that, given the star power of the actor playing lead, this project would be a great vehicle for showcasing its product. Someone from Tag Heuer approaches the set dresser with a financially lucrative proposal. Eventually, they come to an agreement and the wristwatch casually appears in several scenes. Before product placement really saw a surge in the mid 1990s, it was pretty much a do it yourself effort. Now there are specific corporate positions and entire agencies that can handle the job. Some larger corporations will dedicate personnel to scout out opportunities for product integration or placement within films, television shows and even games and music. Good example would be Madisons specialized division for in-film branding, MATES. PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN MOVIES Every frame in a movie has an opportunity for branding. With that intent, a number of marketers are now using movies to project the core values of their brands. In-film advertising, in its most effective form, is about a brand being a part of cinemas content. Many global brands are now turning to this medium for the sheer impact that a movie can make on its audiences. Product placement in movies has gained momentum all over the world. The practice of using branded products in Hollywood movies started as casual process since 1940s. The earliest example would be 1945 movie Mildred Pierce with film star Joan Crawford drinking Jack Daniels bourbon whiskey. The current Hollywood movies feature a plethora of products ranging from telecommunications (Motorola, Nokia), automobile (Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Jeep, Lada and Mercedes) to other products like FMCG goods, Tobacco etc. Good examples are James Bond movies. Indian mainstream Hindi films, popularly known as Bollywood the world over, caught up with the trend in 1970s with Rajkapoor using Rajdoot in his movie Bobby. Popularity of movies as medium for product placement grew because of the increasing difficulty of using television as an effective medium to target audiences. The film medium provides an excellent message reach and message life and an effective method of popularizing and immortalizing brands. One of the key drivers for movies becoming a popular medium for product placement has been the increasing difficulty of using television as an effective medium to target audiences. The advent of cable and satellite television has meant that audiences have become more fragmented and tend to demonstrate a greater level of ad avoidance. By contrast, the film medium provides an excellent message reach and message life and an effective method of popularizing and immortalizing brands. The movie-goers vicariously experience the brand as they make a connection between the film, the actor, the product and its consumption, and argue that product placement acts as a perceptual clue which directs behavior to purchase a product to satisfy a need or reinforce a social status. Movie product placement is viewed as a cheaper and more effective alternative to traditional marketing communications, despite its inflexibility, but as a result of the establishment of specialist placement agencies, and thro ugh increased brand exposure through cable, satellite, video and DVD, a typical movie with international distribution can reach over one hundred million consumers from box office to TV. There seem to be three reasons why marketers consider product placement in movies as interesting communication strategy. First watching a movie is high attention and involving activity. The particular exposure context associated with movies in theatres (lights off, minimal noise and distraction possibilities, large screen, difficulty in moving around, no zapping) is bound to lead to a high level of consumer attention as opposed to, say, listening to television. In addition, movie goers expend some significant effort (choosing a movie, driving to the theatre, finding a parking space, staying in line, finding a seat) and money (transportation, parking, tickets) in order to go to a movie and therefore quite involved during the show. Second, successful movie attract large audiences. A blockbuster movie like Om Shanti Om for instance has been seen by millions of people, and this does not include video purchases and rentals, and eventual television broadcast. Therefore from a strict cost per viewer point of view, a product placement in a movie is a real bargain. Finally product placement represents a natural, non aggressive, non persuasive way of promoting brand or a firm. Hence it may lead to less counter arguing and internal zapping from consumers. Such success stories firmly establish the importance of product placement. The use of feature films as a strategy for introducing new products has grown increasingly sophisticated. Savvy marketers now build elaborate marketing communication plans cross-promoting films and brands. For example, Audi used 2004s Babul, a film by Ravi Chopra, as an integrated element for introducing a new model, the Audi A6. It was judged the most successful promotion of 2004. Subhash Ghai was one of the early filmmakers to do product placement on a real large scale. Bollywood insiders say Ghai recovered production cost from Coke and other products even before the release of films like Yaadein and Taal. In future 40% of a films revenue will accrue from streams like TV, online rights, product placements and digital downloads. Video-on-demand, IPTV and DTH are already fetching handsome returns. Then, of course, there is the overseas market, which is expanding fast. In 2007 alone, at least a dozen Hindi Mainstream films have crossed a US $ 1 million mark in the UK an US. As successful marketing efforts incorporating motion pictures continue to mount, the casual use of brands as props will diminish. While current practice does not require filmmakers to identify brands placed in films, viewers can reasonably assume that prominently featured brands have offered some compensation or other consideration in exchange for the appearance. TYPES OF PRDUCT PLACEMENT In films, product placement can be divided into three broad categories: Implicit Mode: in this the star appears in a situation and is seen openly stating that he is using the product/brand. For example, in the movie Chalte Chalte, Shahrukh Khan is seen asking his worker to fill Castrol in his truck. Imperative Mode: In this the star would ask his friend/co-worker/peer to use the product. For example, in the movie Koi Mil Gaya, Hritik Roshan is seen recommending Bournvita to Priety Zinta and her mother in the film. Co-present Mode: in this, the star appears in some kind of setting with the product or he or she could be seen consuming or using the product. In the movie Diljale, love is the ulterior theme, and Sonali Bendre, the lead actress is shown expressing her love through Archies cards, thus revolving around the social expression feel of the Card makers. BRAND PLACEMENT IS DIFFERENT FROM CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT The celebrities endorse product and brands with commercial reasons, which normally come in the breaks in television programmes or in cinema halls. The phenomenon of zipping and change in television usage behavior due to surfing during the commercial breaks has reduced effectiveness of television commercials. Similarly commercials of cinema hall are found to be of low involvement as audience takes them as blocks between the reasons of visiting the cinema hall and the time available to them for entertainment. So the brand communication and the entertainment product are viewed differently from the audience of both media. Brand placement provides an opportunity where the involved audience gets exposure to the brands and products during the natural process of narration of movie or television commercial. THE OPPORTUNITY OF BRAND PLACEMENT, CONSUMER INFORMATION PROCESSING AND ISSUE OF BRAND CONGRUITY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Of late there have been attempts by Indian producers and brand managers to come together and place the brand in a situation where the audience is captive and more prone to show high level of retention. Many consumers and researchers are of the view that this method is excessive commercialization of media and intrusion in life of viewer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The viewer does not necessarily go there to see the brands; rather he is going to the cinema hall to escape from the realities of life. Brand managers are using different type of placements to make the brand look obvious at the point of emergence. They are also integrating the brand presence with the plot of the cinema, so that the audience does not feel the brand to be out of context. The brand should also be reflective of the class of user of character in the film. If the plot connection is missing and the brand is not reflective of the characters class of usage, then probably the whole brand placement exercise will be futile. The success of Indian movies is not based on sound fundamentals which is evident from the number of feature films flopping every year. So if the vehicle in which the brand is placed does not have the required viewership, then the tariff charged to bring brand at some point of the story will also go in drain .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Films are selected as context of research for various reasons as explained below.   Compared to television, movie viewing has higher involvement. While watching a television programme, the viewer can do multifarious work at home setting, which may affect the attention degree span of the audience and hence, reduce the overall effectiveness of the medium for enhancing brand retention. In opposition to this argument, is the movie going behavior where the viewer makes a voluntary choice for viewing (exposure) a specific film (product) at a cost (time, financial, opportunity cost) for the purpose of wholesome entertainment. So he is more receptive to brand communication provided to him in the movie hall while watching the movie of his choice.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It has been observed from research that brand recall for commercials shown during the television programmes with higher level of TRPs are very poor due to the channel switching behavior. High level of media clutter, similarity of programming across channels, channel switching behavior are the factors responsible to generate sufficient level of research interest in researchers at the practice of brand placement in movies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand placements are used to increase the level of brand knowledge among consumers as in every advertising medium. The uniqueness of the medium is found in the process of exposure and congruity of brand in the story. There is no competitive exposure in the same medium at the same time, unlike television of newspapers. This is significant as it may increase the level of brand knowledge. Brand knowledge is conceptualized as brand node in memory to which a variety of associations are linked. So it is important to identify the properties of the brand node and brand association.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The factors important for product placement include the level of abstraction and qualitative nature of the brand memory effect and the congruity among brand associations affects the favorability, strength and uniqueness of the brand associations. The factors being: Brand awareness: It is the strength of brand node or trace in the memory as reflected by consumers ability to identify the brand under different conditions. Brand image: It is the set of perceptions, held in the consumers memory, as reflected by brand associations. Are the other informational nodes linked to the brand node in memory and contain the meaning of the brand for the consumers? Brand Attitudes: they are the overall evaluation of the brand by the consumers. They often form the basis of consumers choice. Other variables affecting Brand placement are- Favorability of Brand Associations: Associations differ according to how favorably they are evaluated. The success of a marketing program largely depends on the ability of the marketing program in creating the trust among consumers that the attributes and associations benefits are there in the brand talked about in communications. The Strength of Brand Association: It depends on how the information enters consumers memory (encoding) and how it is retained as part of brand image (storage). Strength is a function of both the amount or quality of processing information received at encoding (how much the person thinks about the information) and the nature or quality of the information at the encoding end (the manner in which the person thinks about the information). Congruence of a Brand: the congruence of the brand with the story of the film and presentation in the film is another measure. Congruence is defined as the extent to which the brand association shares the content and meaning with other brand associations. This explains how easily one existing brand association can be recalled and how additional associations can be linked to the brand node in memory. Brand Leverage: Compares the characteristics of the secondary associations with those of primary brand associations. The secondary associations are derived out of the usage of the brand by the character in the film. Example in the film Taal, the hero uses the bottle of Coke as a symbol of exchange of love and this contextual placement increases the strength of association of the brand. Earlier researches have shown the importance of a strong link between the brand and the film. The stronger the link, the greater is the impact between the brands image and the attitude towards the brand sponsor.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Increase in product placements and institutionalization of the industry indicate that advertisers are using the technique to sway consumers brand attitudes. The type of placements should look natural to the narration, as consumption symbols are often used to enrich the plot, theme and characters of popular culture texts. Some consumers may feel that the use of brand names in popular culture simply reflects the increased commercial content of a culture or the producers efforts to enhance the realism of their film. However, in case where the brand takes a major role in the story of the film as in the movie Friends, or where its presence in the movie might look suspect as in the movie Yaadein, the audience may realize that it was placed there to affect their judgments and they may counter argue them just as they do to the traditional advertising messages. Advertising gurus claim that in-film advertising is a very shaky business and most marketers have a tendency and temptation to go overboard with the result that the film would end up becoming a long advertising commercial. Others say that since marketers always tried to stretch their advertising rupee in order to obtain the maximum bang for their buck with the result that brand suffered. However, most advertising professionals vouch for the fact that films, by virtue of being quite engaging, are one of the cost-effective and effective mediums for advertising. If a consumer watches a particular scene and the advertisement is well embedded into that, it will remain, they say. This can be referred to the fact that the girls beating the boys fighting sequence in Chak De has been referred to as the McDonalds fight scene merely because it takes place in one of the outlets. Again, there is no mention of McDonalds in the entire film as it has been seamlessly embedded. Film content of any kind can be used to build brands. The last one year has been rather active in terms of in-film placements and branding through films. However, the placement of brands such as Ultra Tech poses a big challenge especially considering that there is no obvious benefit in sticking to stereo-types and force-fitting the Brand in films theme or storyline, he said Literature survey in the Indian context was more disheartening despite the fact that brand placement is used more and more in Indian films these days. There are hardly any evidences of work carried out on brand placement in Indian Movies.   The Indian Hindi film industry id the largest in the world in terms of number of movie produced. Yet the success rate of the movies in Indian film industry is very less. If a proper research on brand placement can be done, it can guide the producers, brand managers and academicians to develop and effective brand placement strategy in which the risk of the film making and failure will come down substantially in the Indian market. The producers can charge a price for the brand placement and cover a production cost; the brand managers will find a platform to communicate with the audience about their brands in more effective manner than conventional television advertising. PROMINNENT EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT PLACEMENTS IN SOME MAINSTREAM FILMS (In Recent Times) SOME FAILURES TOO SUCCESSES Bollywood has finally discovered branding. In 2007, according to industry estimates, brand cameos earned around Rs 200 crore, and as a result, even small-and medium-budget movies as well as animated films are hoping to cash in on this new and lucrative revenue stream. Indeed, media analysts and industry watchers expect that figure to climb to Rs 800 crore by 2010. Some of the select successful instances of brand placement in recent times are cited below: Rang De Basanti: Rakyesh Omprakash Mehras Rang De Basanti was probably the most successful Bollywood branding in 2006 with its limited edition RDB Coca-Cola bottle, and cameos of Airtel, LG, Berger and Provogue in the film. Coke, in a first of its kind attempt, launched Coca-Cola bottles branded with the RDB title and Amirs picture and produced a movie trailer that was a montage of shots from the film and Cokes Piyo Sar Uthake campaign. Just the right kind of media partners, the films marketing ensured good and effective publicity and both the brands and the movie generated a lot of mileage from each other. Krrish: Rakesh Roshans Krrish, now a case study of Indian Institute of Management, Indore, prominently featured Singapore Tourism Board, Sony, John Players, Bournvita, Tide, Hero Honda, Boro Plus, Lifebuoy, HP Power, Acron Rangeela, Hansaplast and Lays chips, followed by merchandising of Krrish masks, lunch boxes, water bottles. Its merchandising sold like hot cakes among children. Krrish made 12 crores out of product placement. Don: Farhan Akhtars Don promoted Tag Heuer watches, Motorola, Garnier, Citibank and, of course, Oakley sunglasses as well as Louis Philippe outfits. The placement ensured that the viewer noticed dons phone, his laptop, his watch, hia sunglasses and the brand names were the focus of the camera work. But it was still done in a subtle way and did not come across as being imposed on viewer. Dhoom 2: Sanjay Gandavis Dhoom 2 promoted Coke, Pennzoil, Pepe, Sony, Disney channel, Sugar Free, McDonalds, Speed, and Suzuki Zeus. The movie was quite an opportunity for Coke, for both the brand ambassadors of Coke were starring in the movie together for the first time. The cool couple drinking the always coolest drink, perfect for Coke! The cola company had a special campaign for Dhoom 2 where Hrithik Roshan encouraged youngsters to take a swig and go dhoom. Main Hoon Naa: Farah Khans first movie Main Hoon Naa featured the following brands- Reebok, Cafà © coffee day, Frito Lays, Levis, LML. MHN was an example of optimum utilization of branding in a film. The story of the film revolved around youth hence it gave us the scope of using lifestyle and youth centric brands. The brands that were involved were the ones keeping the modern day college goers in mind, for which using brands is just a way of life. The brands were woven into the screenplay in a manner where it looked like a modern day college going youth was using the product natural yet conspicuous. Baghban: One of the clear cases of effective placement in recent times was BR films family drama Baghban. The movie creatively integrated five brands in it. The brands included were ICICI Bank, Tata Tea, Archies, Ford and Tide. Baghban truly depicted the craft of product placement. And these are not mere stating of the brands featured. These placements result in stupendous impact in consumers as delineated by the sales figures of the featured brands, before and after product placement. After Bournvita featured in Krrish, it reported a increase in sales by 15% and intention to use brand by 9%*. Domios registered greater footfall in its outlets after its placement in Phir Hera Pheri. Garnier recorded a product recall of 46% after it got featured in the movie Chup Chup Ke. Lays got an additional endorsement from Priyanka Chopra after she was shown munching on the snack in Krrish, thus re-establishing Lays as cool snack.   After Reebok featured in key scenes in Viruddh, the brand boasted of having got verbal endorsement of Amitabh Bacchan, and extensive reach through multiple showcasing of the film on multiple vehicles. Tanishq recorded a average minimum revenue of 1.45 crore from its Paheli collection. And as if that was not all, they recorded a increase in purchase intent by 13% and favorability of the brand by 10%!!! That says a lot about the success of brand placements. FAILURES There is always the other side of the coin! Academicians from Universities say that currently, embedded advertising still needs to grow in India. It is like a deranged marriage, the brand most often does not fit into the film the way in which it should. The reason is that most filmmakers still do not think of it as a revenue stream, they say. So apart from the huge successes, there were some bad failures as well. Few of them are: Ta Ra Rum Pum: After you see drivers and cars layered by brands of their sponsors, Ta Ra Rum Pum a film on racing cars would seem like the perfect avenue to showcase such similar branding. After all seeing these brands is what weve come to expect, but corporate honchos didnt seem happy just with being there. So they mustve insisted on special close-ups and zooms for their brands. As a result we get a good dose of Castrol, Goodyear and Chevrolet periodically through this film. Salaam E Ishq: Salaam E Ishq was another product-friendly movie. With such an extensive star cast and lavish set designs the director mustve felt the need for corporations to cover up costs. Of the many placements there was one that stood there screaming for attention. John Abraham and Vidya Balan play a couple in love so on the day of their anniversary John decides to gift his lady love with a diamond set. For those curious about the brand, it was Ira Jewellery and the makers give more than a glimmer to those who wonder. To make things worse, the camera decides to zoom more on the brand than the jewels. Victoria 203:   If youre one of the few people that watched the remake of Victoria 203, youd probably be gripped by the urge to buy diamonds, more specifically Gitanjali Diamonds. Thats because Gitanjali has been constantly mentioned throughout the first half an hour. The makers go to the extent of giving the viewers an unwanted history lesson about the Choksi family that owns the company and their legacy. VirruddhFamily Comes First: In terms of product placements, Viruddh went to the extent of shoving their branded products down audiences throats. What made this blatant promotion unbearable was that Virruddh was made as a serious film about a grieving family and their dead son. Obvious instances were where Sanjay Dutt posed with a can of Elf Oil in his garage and John Abraham praised how great the services of Western Union