The Influences of Marketing

Description:

A thin model serves as the central image and theme to the advertisement and in big bold letters “ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?” is printed on alongside her body. The advertisement is about Protein World, a company that sells weight loss supplements. The text on the advertisement and the model next to it implies that the only acceptable body to have to go to the beach is the one that the model has. The company does a better job telling women what an acceptable body is than selling their own products.

Analysis:

The goal for this ad is for Protein World to advertise their products and boost their clientele. I understand why there would be someone on their advertisement with what is undoubtedly a fit body, this marketing strategy lets the public think that by consuming their products the will obtain the model’s body. The problem with the advertisement isn’t so much the model itself but rather the text next to the model. “Are you beach body ready” refers to the fact that the model in the skimpy yellow bikini IS bikini ready thus any girl that doesn’t look like her ISN’T. This advertisement set unrealistic standards for what a woman’s body should look like, it deteriorates women, and gives tells society that a woman without this body is acceptable or beautiful. The company is promoting a specific body figure for women to have, not their products.

Conclusion:

The significance of the advertisement is the fact that it sets society with a specific perspective on what a woman should look like. A girl that has a different body type won’t be accepted by herself, men, and women. It is important to critically analyze advertisements like these because sometimes the message is much deeper than the public thinks. With this ad in particular, the message is “consume our products and get the body of the featured model” but after further analyzation it is clear than the bigger message is “the only acceptable body type is the one the model has”.

Beyond the Fortune

“THE GREATEST MISTAKE A MAN CAN MAKE IS TO BE AFRAID OF MAKING ONE.”

The success of the circus primarily relies on the risks that the performers are constantly taking to make their tricks great. Taking these constant risks requires courage and bravery, but mostly the acceptance that a trick could be successful but just as easily it could result in great failure. The advantage that the performers have above any other character, is the fact that they are protected by the fire. As long as they are within the circus, regardless of the trick, they will be safe so fear of failure isn’t a real fear.

On the other hand, characters such as Bailey, with zero magical powers or protection, can easily make mistakes. We are introduced to Bailey as an innocent farmer boy with the dream to go to Harvard but faced with the harsh reality that he might have to stay working at his family’s farm. When the circus comes to him, more specifically; when Poppet offers him the circus, he responds with “I’ll think about it, but I can’t promise anything” (359). At this point in the novel, Bailey now has three choices to make that will permanently change his future: Harvard, Farm-Boy life, or Circus. He knows that the circus is the choice with the most risk in taking, he knows nothing about the circus or what his role in it will be, yet he knows that the circus is where he belongs. He puts his fear aside and “Within moments of the though crossing his mind, Bailey is on his feet, running as fast as he can toward the depot” (409). After the circus has left, Bailey realizes that the biggest mistake he could make is not being part of the circus regardless of the outcomes. At the end of the novel, we find out that the outcomes were nothing but great things and his courage to take risks is what led him to own the circus.

Other characters such as Hector serve as perfect representation of this quote. Hector, as a magician, is constantly trying to improve his tricks. Fearlessly he risks his life to make everyone of his tricks better than the last. His fearlessness leads him to becoming invisible, an irreversible mistake that he made with the knowledge that it could result in a negative outcome. Celia also serves as an accurate representation for this quote. When she creates the Wishing Tree Marco asks “Do all of those wishes come true?” and she responds “I’m not sure” (289). Celia takes a risk and makes the Wishing Tree not knowing if it would result in failure but she knew that not making it at all would be a failure within it self. At the end we know that the tree does work when Marco says “I wished for her” (482).