Saturday, August 31, 2019

My Choices for Room 101

The first thing that I would out into room 101 is the money grabbing, cold-hearted, kill joy mugs. These people walk around, head down, scribbling away in their nasty little books, feeling proud of ruining yet another innocent person's day. If you haven't guessed yet, I am talking about the selfish traffic wardens. 99. 9% of vehicle/car owners don't even realise that they have done anything to deserve a parking ticket! How would you like it if you had paid for a 1hour pay and display ticket and you came to your care at 1 minute past and a warden was stamping the sticky yellow piece of paper on your windscreen?. For arriving at your car one minute late you have to pay a massive fine of i30. Right, imagine this. You have just had the most wonderful day out with your family, and you all had a good time, suddenly you walk over to your car to find the dreaded yellow ticket. The smiles have now hit the floor. But wait, you check your paid and displayed ticket and you are back before the expiry time†¦ so why are you getting charged? Then you read the note†¦ You put your parking ticket on the wrong side of the windscreen. How can there be a right and wrong side to put a paid and displayed ticket? As I said before, selfish, and the wardens get a little gold star off his boss!! So, I am sure that you will agree with me that the only way to avoid getting a parking ticket is to leave you windscreen wipers on full speed when you leave your car Katie Price: Speaking about brassy and common, it would be rude not to mention the queen of brassy and common; â€Å"Jordan† aka Katie Price. Without a doubt I would send this excuse of a woman to room 101. Every time I step into a newsagents or corner shop she is on the cover of â€Å"Ok! † magazine, why? Why is somebody so talent less so vulgar and so disgusting branded a â€Å"celebrity? † The lengths she will go to for money makes me want to vomit and question why she's so popular. She continuously puts her children in the spotlight and exploits them for all that there worth. She often sets the camera on them in her countless reality programmes where you can see from her vulgar language what a disgusting person she is. Constantly she moans to the media how hard it is to care for her son's illness, the same son that when she was pregnant with him spent most of her time drinking. The media being a joke it has announced this woman â€Å"Mother of the Year. Is a â€Å"Mother of the year† one who swears and makes crude comments over national television, appears in countless men's magazines, and stumbles out of nightclubs confused? I could actually not think of a worse role model for teenage girls – even younger! Than Katie Price, an anorexic glamour model that has nearly died during plastic surgery trying to perfect the â€Å"perfect† looks The first thing I have chosen to talk about as something I hate most is adverts. Whether its adverts on the television or in a magazine, they are all greatly irritating and I think many people will agree with me. I am going to talk about tele advertisements. Tele adverts are highly annoying and unwanted by everybody. For example, lets pretend you have just turned on the tele and have flicked onto an interesting movie. It's a horror film, your favourite. Your getting really into the movie and enjoying it, the suspense is building up and your dying to know what's going to happen. Your coming to the climax of the film, you cant wait to see what happens and your on the edge of your seat†¦ nd then the film stops and is replaced for 2 to 3 minutes of adverts. Your sense of excitement has disappeared immediately hasn't it? When the film eventually appears back on your screen, you have lost the desire and excitement to watch the movie that you had just 3 minutes ago. Research shows a massive 91% of people agree with us, saying adverts ruin television programs, and a huge 79% of people asked said they wished advertisements were banned! So, what I wonder is why aren't adverts getting stopped forever? Well, when asking around I've been told that some people wrongly think adverts are useful, saying they use this time either to go to the toilet or make a drink or snack. Well, when counting up the amount of advert breaks in-between an hour-long program I was watching yesterday, there was a massive 4 breaks interrupting it! No way do people need to get up and do these so-called useful things 4 times in an hour, which is every 15 minutes, which is ridiculous! Furthermore, adverts are there simply to advertise different products or services. But, who actually watches the adverts? Definitely not me, and I'm not the only one. A massive 94% of people don't pay any attention to the adverts, and 86% of these people change the channel over whilst the adverts are on. So, adverts, they do nothing but annoy people, they ruin the programs you watch and the advertisements don't get any attention by the vast majority of the population, therefore meaning they aren't doing the job they are there for. They are annoying and pointless, and I am sure everyone will agree they should definitely be put into room 101.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Getting stuff and spending money

The way we absorbed ourselves into the world, we put our powers of mind and soul In getting stuff and spending money. These powers are not satisfying – It Is just a waste. Nature is not Just a bunch of trees and water, but nature is the wilderness and the places where a human can go and replenish but we think nature Is not ours and find ourselves not in touch with It. Our hearts, the center of our emotional life, we have given away instead of holding, treasuring and being connected with nature.We should not be giving away our hearts as It Is not good Idea. The sea Is personified as a woman as she opens her chest to the moon, showing the relationship between the two of them. The winds have been gathered to somewhere and they are sleeping like flowers lay out. We are mammals the beauty of nature, the delights of the sea and the winds with Its up gathered flowers. The nature, the sea and the wind don't touch us. I'd rather be a non-charlatans and raised as a child In a religion t hat is worn out.If I were from one of those religions, I might look out and have glimpses of something that will make me less sad, that would give me some joy. I imagine that if I were born in those religions of the past, I would see the ocean as divine, a place where I might encounter God and as a piece of God. I would look out to the sea and it would not just be a bunch of water lying there, I would also see God and other gods. It is not only the ocean that would be sacred, meaningful and important but also the nature around us.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Business ethics question set 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business ethics question set 2 - Assignment Example 2. The best solution to this ethical dilemma is to continue to work and hope that is recognized. It has been clearly established that the company is paying a good salary. In today’s tough job marketplace nobody can afford to quit simply because the other workers are slacking off. The fact that they get paid the same money as me is irrelevant. It is not my job to judge the work of the other employees since I am not the manager. Eventually the company is going to realize that I am performing at a very high level and a promotion is a high probability in the future. 3. I am for the death penalty. Some crimes deserve the maximum punishment possible. A serial killer that kills 20 innocent people deserves the same predicament that his/her victims encountered. I think the application of the death penalty should be reserved to special cases in order to minimize the possibility of an innocent person been sentenced to the death penalty. The death penalty should exist in order to make cri minals think twice before committing horrible crimes. Another crime that is deserving of the death penalty is terrorism. There is no room in American society for terrorists. Osama Bin Laden recently indirectly received the death penalty when the US military penalty killed him in their attempt to capture him. 4. If the burning of coal by the United States is causing pollution and environmental damage in Canada the US government should immediately investigate the matter. The agency in the US that deals with environmental protection is EPA. EPA must immediately start an investigation to determine if the claims from Canadian authorities are true. The results from the investigation or audit should be revealed to the Canadian government. If the claims are false the investigation will resolve the matter. On the other hand if they are true then the US congress has to step in and create new legislation to protect the environment by regulating the amount of coal that is burned by US companies . 5. I think that this phrase is completely biased. All United States citizens have a right to privacy. An example of a secret a person might not want society to know is a person’s sexual orientation. A gay person might prefer to keep his sexual orientation a secret in order to avoid discrimination. A second example of a secret a person might not want others to know is the amount of wealth a person has. For instance an individual that won the lottery might prefer to keep this fact a secret to avoid being targeted by criminals. 6. The employer has the right to monitor all phone calls, emails, and other communications in the workplace. This is not a violation of privacy because during work hours the employer is paying the employee money to perform a particular duty. Any personal calls or communication should be monitored to ensure that people are not slacking off at work. From a business perspective this practice is a sound business practice because it serves as a control mecha nism to maximize the efficiency of the workers. Any employee that feels that such a practice is a violation of their rights should talk to the human resource department about the issue. The employee might have special circumstances that require constant communication with a family member such as having a child that is hospitalized due to illness. 7. In the United States 49 out of 50 states have laws that require drivers to wear seatbelts (Enotes, 2011). I believe that this law is justified since its purpose

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Entrepreneurship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Entrepreneurship - Assignment Example The literature reviewed includes the common myths regarding entrepreneurship, common characteristics associated with entrepreneurs, how entrepreneurial behaviour affects business, and Anita Roddick's (of The Body Shop) view on entrepreneurial qualities. Next, a guideline for the research process for candidate selection is presented. The findings from published literature and questionnaire are then used to analyse the entrepreneur's business and background. There is much literature and beliefs about what makes a successful entrepreneur. In order to deconstruct this process, this essay will examine the common myths regarding entrepreneurship and the common characteristics associated with entrepreneurs. In addition, a study done in Central London examining how entrepreneurial behaviour affects business cements the earlier two literature reviews. Lastly, the essay will look into the beliefs of an established entrepreneur, Anita Roddick of The Body Shop and understand what she thinks are important entrepreneurial qualities. (1) It is about starting and running a small... (3) It is an "either/or" thing: Entrepreneurship is not a fixed concept and the key is to recognize that it is a variable phenomenon. (4) It is about taking wild risks: Risks are assumed and taken, but they are calculated risks where the underlying risk factors are identified. (5) Entrepreneurs are born: Environment plays a big part in the development and realization of potential where the accumulation of activities, skills, and knowledge over time is crucial. (6) It is about greed: The real motivator behind entrepreneurial behaviour is not money, power or position but the desire to achieve and make a difference. (7) It is about individuals: The existence and quality of a team is critical as no one individual has the ability, time or talent to bring a concept to reality. (8) There is only one type of entrepreneur: Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life and represent a diverse mix of age groups, races, religions, cultures, genders, and occupational backgrounds. (9) It requires a lo t of money: Entrepreneurial individuals are opportunity, not resource driven and do not limit the scope of their vision by their resources owned but by leveraging their resources. (10) It is about luck: It is about hard work, creative insight, in-depth analysis, adaptability, and openness to an opportunity. (11) It starts with a new product or service: It is about determining whether a need exists, how extensive that need is, how satisfied customers are with their current products, what the switching costs will be, and whether there is meaningful advantages in the product or service. (12) It is unstructured and chaotic: When dealing with the unknown, it is important

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Personal tv history assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Personal tv history assignment - Essay Example Further, viewing television is not only an individual act of one’s choice, but often it is a result of adjustment, negotiation, compromises and imitation of others in the child’s environment.† Although my TV viewing was not overly restricted by other members of the family (usually they took over the TV at night until they finally broke down and bought me my own TV when I was still in grade school), the choices I made in programming and the amount of time I spent with the TV were definitely influenced by external influences. In reflecting on my own TV watching experience, I remember only turning on the set when I was bored and couldn’t find anything else to do, but I also remember being bored often, that we, as a family, never did anything interesting. My mother indicates I would have rather watched TV than do anything else, even watching TV when we went to visit friends and relatives. This is a huge difference in perspectives that still manifested in me watching TV all the time. My mother saw it as a prime source of entertainment while I perceived TV to be little more than a time-filler between one event and the next. This begins to indicate an incredible failure to communicate between myself and my mother that is further demonstrated in our difference in viewing preferences. My mother has indicated that when she did watch TV, it was usually news programs or ‘prime time’ television, typically things like the sit-coms I liked to watch. However, she also indicates that it was a very rare occasion when she’d sit down and watch a program with me. This comes closer to coinciding with my memory, in which my parents chose to purchase a small TV for me rather than attempt to negotiate television watching time or selection of programs. Because this was my television, there was no compromising with my younger

Monday, August 26, 2019

Path of Light Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Path of Light - Lab Report Example Light travels in a straight path at 300, 000km per second or at proximately 186, 000miles per second; however the velocity of light is considered slower in glass and water (Katz, Small and Silberberg, 2012). Objects and devices prevent the travel of light in a straight line causing refraction commonly referred as the bending of light (Minnaert, 2013). In the first experiment testing the movement of light in a straight line without any obstruction or not encountering any interface, the light path is considered extremely straight. Thus, it is deduced that whether light travel in water, air, glass, and diamond or any other object it moves in the straight line until it meets an object or a different medium. It is believed that it travels a constant speed c referred to as the speed of light. This c is calculated to be 300,000 kilometers per second (Katz, Small and Silberberg, 2012). It is realized that light is emitted or reflected by visible objects. It is also noted that when objects reflect light, it moves in all directions. It is believed that the reflected light forms the image in our eyes (Fleming, JÃ ¤kel, and Maloney, 2011). The path of light is regarded straight, and it is belied to travel at a constant speed in a uniform material until it encounters an object or another material. In the first experiment, it is shown that light travel straight until it meets another object where it becomes refracted making it bend (Katz, Small and Silberberg, 2012). In the second experiment, we make a pinhole viewer that is used to allow light from the source through small holes made in the aluminum foil. When viewed through it is realized that there is a bright light on the tape that creates an image (Minnaert, 2013). In conclusion, the experiment shows how light travels through objects. Besides, it shows how light travels in a straight line unless destructed by objects where it is emitted (Katz, Small and Silberberg,

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Understanding Yourself as a Facilitator of Learning Research Paper

Understanding Yourself as a Facilitator of Learning - Research Paper Example This improved their cognitive level of effectiveness (Pappamihiel, 2002). I also had to serve as a facilitator in group discussions organized within the classroom environment when we used to communicate with each other in English but formally. Learners, in such an environment had a feeling of being watched and judged, which often made them nervous as well as over conscious, hindering their level of confidence. In addition, with one learner performing outstandingly in comparison with others, the slow learners used to get demotivated at certain instances. As the process used to affect learners’ confidence level massively, especially for the slow learners, I would term this process as ineffective lacking emotional and cognitive value attribution (Koulouriotis, 2011). Suggestively, I believe that interactive informal or semi-formal teaching method will be more effective for the adult learners who tend to obtain classes on English as their second language. Techniques that allow round-the-clock learning and learning through experiences will be most helpful I believe. It will not only ignite cognitive betterment and emotional strength for the non-English speakers but will also motivate life-long learning among them that will ensure in developing their respective skills continually, even after the conclusion of their courses. If given an option, I would never use the traditional text interpreting strategy for the learners, which makes the entire learning process ethically critical as well as often discouraging being highly monotonous in nature. In addition, such methods do not provide adequate opportunity to the learners to share their views that would in turn permit effective assessment of their cognitive and emotional developments. Therefore, I wil l try to avoid the mechanism in my learning approach (Cumming,

Hakuin's art associated with Zen's mind Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hakuin's art associated with Zen's mind - Essay Example The art surprised out from him as an over whelming response to express his vision over Zen. His painting and inscriptions had spread all over the Japan about his genius wisdom and his wily sense of hum -our. Of about a thousand or more of Hawkins paintings survive till today. Hakuin felt that word are not the only media through which Zen could be passed on to the bent genere, but there are others respects through which teachings of Zen can be visualized. His paintings were filed with novel ideas that never existed before, with liveliness and as through it is the source of Zen, they represented of new themes to a great extent. He regarded the paintings as visual sermons. Though he started painting at the age of sixty, he is considered as one of the greatest painter of Japanese tradition The Zen master started following Hakuin, taking him as example to teach through brush and ink. This tradition is being carried on till today. The main aim in making the paintings is to inspire and instruct about the Zen, that has a very exclusive set of aesthetics principles. The paintings doesn't depict the pure aesthetic phenomena of Zen and so it was reversed as "folk art" The art of Zen doesn't had any pictorial representation of mind, whether symmetrical or asymmetrical, simple of complex. It even ignores the round Zen circles. The thing that is given highest importance in Zen art is the level of "bokki" included in the work. "bokki" here is enlightment of the soul that is achieved thought continuously meditating suppleness, clarity, vigor, intensity, extension and scale through art. And hence the work of art represents the state of enlightment in the artist. The Zen masters, to bring enlightment from deep inside the mind of the people, they performed the duty of shouting as for, they realized that any pain within could be drawn out and that energy is the heat equalized with shouts. So they can cool down their pupil and then give a sharp blow of enlightment. This way he is mobilizing the eyes properly and they attain enlightment unswervingly. Some of the Hakuin's paintings depicted bodhisattva or were almost Buddha like statures. He first outlined and brushed them deeply and filled color lightly. "Daruma", a Zen patriarch was Hakuin's major subject, and the first subject he painted for. The works of Hakuin's with an impression of monumentality conveys that they are with full of sprit and are very vital but exist in an animated manner. The boudhi dharma or Daruma and its spirit work out the real Zen. Hakuin added the most vital messages to the drawings of Daruma, which directly pointed to the heart of the human and insisted the pupil to see their own nature and become Buddha. According to him a human heart has Buddha hood deep within. The Zen is depicted using very few words. Mostly, it is depicted quietly. Enlightment is not attained by the unblinking eyes or by carefully mobilized eyes but by going to a state of immobility. He also taught that students must take care in spreading their rare, innate, own penetrating old wit. They should stay firmly instead. Hakuin as said to be had given lecture fourteen

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 84

Reflection - Essay Example 2). These points are the ones that appeal to me most from Sirico’s publication. I think the new concept highlighted in the publication is the fact that entrepreneurship is similar to other professions; therefore, it is prudent to afford entrepreneurs with the same level of respect. Judging them based on stereotypes originating from biased, archaic religious perceptions does little to encourage those in the vocation to engage in ethical business practice. Positive consequences result from applauding the innovative, intuition-filled actions of entrepreneurs, as it affirms their ability to create something in spite of dire circumstances. In my opinion, if the world regarded entrepreneurship as a vocation, there would be a limited need to use regulatory policies to coerce entrepreneurs to conform to business ethics principles. Ensuring ethical practices would become second nature, as entrepreneurs would regard these practices as their inherent duty to the public. They would endeavor to ensure their practices result in positive outcomes rather than harmful

Friday, August 23, 2019

Retail Brands Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Retail Brands - Case Study Example It is a leading retailer in food, clothing and home-ware and financial services, in operation since 1884. Zara is a leading Spanish Flagship Chain Store that deals in Women and Men's clothing. It opened its first store in 1975 and since then has taken retail fashion by storm. It is one of the largest brands, by the Inditex Fashion Retail Group, that has 723 stores in 56 countries making sales of Euro 3.8 billion (India Supply Chain Council, 2006). Zara's fashion is based on imitation; it copies designs from the catwalk and other spots and brings them to their customers at low prices in as little as a couple of weeks. Marks and Spencer's average customer is mainly women aged between 35 and 54. They are wealthy and have an active lifestyle. They are also family-oriented and are open to trying new things (MMC Consultancy, 2004). Zara's average customer is aged between 15 to 30 years of age. They are fashion-focused and have a desire for high-end fashion. The average customer is an urban woman who is not necessarily exceptionally wealthy and looks for trendy clothes in reasonable prices. (Nidasio G., 2007) It was assumed that Marks and Spencer would do better with 70% of the stores being refurbished. Their strategy to increase market share for the past three years has been the same. This year, and the last, they still managed to come back at a higher position (after their big downfall till 2004). It is one of the few retail stores in the UK that managed to increase their market share in 2007, with high interest rates and low consumer confidence. Zara's position in the retail market has always been a leading one. This year was no different. It increased profits by expanding to into more territories. It hold a stronger position in the fashion retail industry than many other foreign labels. Sales, Profit and Market Share Marks and Spencer's sales turnover, for the year ended 31 March 2007, was Pound 8,588.1 million. The sales breakdown for 2006/2007 was as follows: Clothing was at Pound 3,570,900 and Home was at Pound 431,900 (with the rest accounting for Food and International slaes). The profit before tax was Pound 1,007 million, which was a 4.3% increase. According to Stuart Rose, Chief Executive of M&S, sales fell by 2.2% by the end of December, during Christmas season. The market share for women wear fell during Christmas time also. However, the sales in UK rose by 9.7%. The market share held by clothing and footwear in 2007 was at 11.1%. (TNS WorldPanel Fashion,Your M&S, 2008). Zara, on the other hand, has a very high product turnover. It makes more than 11,000 products annually. The annual report of Zara (Inditex) for the fiscal year 2006 covers all activities from February 2006 to January 2007. Zara opened 138 new stores during the past year, increasing its selling area by 15%. The sales were an increase of 21% at Euro 5,352 million. It earned net profit of Euro 1 billion (Safe G., 2007) an increase of 25%, was in contrast to last year's profit. The sales in Europe, with exception to Spain, were 40.6% of the total (Inditex Annual Report, 2007). Store Design Zara's typical store is a principally white, modern and spacious store; it is bright and has

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Binge Drinking Among College Students and Consequences Essay Example for Free

Binge Drinking Among College Students and Consequences Essay Binge drinking is a problem that has continued to have a toll on the lives of college students despite efforts by the government and school administrators to curb the trend. Many studies have been conducted to reveal the facts behind binge drinking in colleges and campuses. It is clear that for the problem of binge drinking in colleges to be resolved, it must all start by understanding the factors that influence college students to engage in this behaviour and the impacts that binge drinking have had on the lives of college students. This is because students who do engage in binge drinking have their reasons to justify their behaviour but often have failed to recognize the magnitude of risks that they are exposed to by binge drinking. Among the government initiatives to reduce this problem has been to increase the national drinking age though this has not had much impact on the level of binge drinking among college students according to several studies. It is worth noting that many students have been indulging in binge drinking with the excuse that it is normal as per the culture in their colleges. There are other factors that influence college students to binge drink including environmental, social, developmental, and cognitive factors. Though most students who binge drink defend their behaviour by citing the positive side of binge drinking such as curbing stress and elevating self-confidence, the consequences are often costly and regrettable. This essay provides an argument on the factors that influence college students to indulge in binge drinking, including the various false beliefs about alcohol consumption. In addition, the essay will shed light on the consequences of binge drinking and show that contrary to the tendency of college students to glamorize binge drinking, it is a risky and costly endeavour. Binge drinking has been defined as heavy episodic alcohol consumption in which men end up taking five or more drinks in a si tting while women take four or more drinks in a sitting (Nelson and Wechsler 287). The prevalence of binge drinking on college campuses has remained high, posing serious health, academic, social, and legal implications. In order to understand binge drinking, it is worth mentioning that drinking is measured in terms of frequency or quantity. While quantity refers to how much, frequency is concerned with measuring how often consumption takes place. A drinking behaviour qualifies as binge drinking if large quantities of alcohol are consumed within a short time frame (Binge Drinking). By looking at the history and prevalence of binge drinking among college students, it leaves no doubt that changing drinking age over time has had little impact on the prevalence of drinking on college campuses. Beer drinking among college students is not a new phenomenon as tales dating back to 19th century are told of college students engaging in drinking. A survey conducted by Yale University researchers in 1949 gave an idea of the prevalence of drinking on college campuses. The survey found that 6% of women and 17% of men engaged in drinking more than once per week. In the 1960s and 70s the minimum drinking age in many states was set at 18 to agree with the requirement that those joining the military ought to be old enough to drink (Dietz 88). However, this action only paved way for increased drinking on college campuses given that now drinking was legal. The government had to act swiftly to arrest this trend and in 1984, the minimum drinking age was set at 21. Even then, the level of drinking remained almost the same as most college students had attained this age and thus regarded themselves as being entitled to drink (Krock). Drinking rates over the past 20 years have remained relatively at the same level and now it is estimated that 80-90% of college students are into drinking. Heavy drinkers constitute 15-25% of college students and 44% of college students report frequent or occasional binge drinking (Dietz 88). These statistics are indicative of the fact that binge drinking is a problem that is deep rooted in other factors such as the kind of cultures in colleges, environmental, cognitive, and developmental factors. Therefore, altering the national drinking age while it has shown positive impacts in the general population in terms of decreasing the prevalence of binge drinking, cannot offer a comprehensive solution to the same problem in colleges (Krock). The culture of drinking on campus has contributed a great deal to the high prevalence of binge drinking. While acknowledging the fact that unique cultures exist among individual colleges, these individual cultures harbour certain sub-cultures that encourage excessive consumption of alcohol. Within these sub-cultures, a common message is perpetuated that drinking is a normal and essential component of social interaction. Therefore, many college students conduct themselves in a manner that agrees with what the prevailing culture dictates (Ho pe and Ham 727). The culture of drinking on college campuses is composed of a number of elements. The first element is drinking events which encourage students to indulge in drinking to mark certain events (Dietz 89). In the same way that universities and colleges have a strong sense of tradition, the drinking culture has deep roots in most colleges. Therefore, many students engage in binge drinking in the process of honouring certain events that to them require people to drink in order for the commemoration to have real meaning (Dietz 89). In as much as the culture of drinking in many colleges and universities is difficult to do away with, it has only served to make students make the wrong decision of involving themselves in heavy episodic drinking characteristic of binge drinking. The bottom line is that in the disguise of marking particular events, many college students involve themselves in binge drinking thus exposing themselves to detrimental consequences. Drinking games is an element of drinking culture in colleges that have contributed to the high prevalence of binge drinking. In some colleges, students have tended to glamorize the aspect of drinking alcohol to the extent that drinking gam es are held in which students compete in drinking alcohol. Some drinking games are highly competitive while others just dictate rules regarding how much participants are expected to drink (Dietz 89). Nevertheless, the fact is that whether a drinking is highly competitive or not, by the virtue of portraying drinking as totally harmless, such games have encouraged binge drinking to the detriment of many students. It is true to say that in order to create opportunities for excessive drinking, students in many colleges have perpetuated drinking games entrenched in the culture of drinking. A good example of a drinking game in colleges is Beer Pong in which 6-16 cups partially filled with alcohol are taken by each team. The person playing the game is expected to throw a ping-pong ball aiming at the opponent’s cup across the table. If the ball lands into the partially filled cup, the opponent has to drink the content. The team that runs out of cups first is considered the loser (Dietz 89). By considering the nature of such a game, it is prudent to note that its objective is to encourage excessive drinking judging by the number of cups involved. Therefore, students who get involved in such games more often than not end up binge drinking in the name of having fun but in reality exposes themselves to negative consequences. Another important factor which makes college students to indulge in binge drinking is the kind of choices they make in terms of the groups they want to identify themselves with given that college students are eager to have a sense of belonging. One study targeting to investigate how college students seek to have a sense of belonging revealed that those students who joined Greek organizations drank consistently and more heavily than those who did not join Greek societies (Hensley). Greek societies are known to be prevalent in colleges and often entice students to join them in order to gain a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood. However, many students who agree to join these organizations are exposed to a life of excessive drinking in the disguise of obeying induction rituals. Eventually, the life of excessive drinking becomes part and parcel of these students (Dietz 90). While it is understandable that many students joining college are eager to identify themselves with particular groups or organizations, it is expected of them to make prudent decisions which would not compromise their studies and their lives in college. Unfortunately, many students have ended up in binge drinking through making inappropriate decisions only to realize when things go terribly wrong. Athletics is also another element of college culture whereby, students take the moment as an excuse for drinking but then end up binge drinking. When students drink excessively during sporting events, they often cause incidences and fall in trouble with authorities. Drunken fans are known for causing chaos during and after games irrespective of the game outcome. Consequently, property may be damaged and both bystanders and the rioters suffer serious injuries (Dietz 91). For students who binge drink because of sporting events, it is just a flimsy excuse and the consequences are often regrett able. Therefore, drinking games, sporting events, traditional drinking events, and Greek organizations are the elements of the culture of drinking on college campuses which make many students involve themselves in binge drinking. Unfortunately, the notion that alcohol is essential for complete social life on campus is a misconception whose consequences are harmful. Apart from the culture of drinking, college students are influenced into binge drinking by environmental, developmental, and cognitive factors. Regarding the environment, logic dictates that the way someone behaves is more often than not influenced by what is going on in the surrounding. Therefore, when students drink in environments where people have carried alcohol to drink, drinking games are being played, hard alcohol is available in plenty, and the people around are intoxicated; binge drinking can always be predicted. On the other hand a drinking environment where drinking is taking place in a family setting, in the context of dating or where food is available, studies have shown that in such environments, binge drinking is very unlikely (Dietz 92). Though this suggestion carries weight, it is paramount to reckon that studies that have been done on such environmental implications on the likelihood of binge drinking have been largely correlational. What this means is that though the first kind of environment may contribute to the occurrence of binge drinking, it is also a possibility that those students who indulge in binge drinking are already present in such an environment. Therefore, it would be difficult to determine for instance whether playing of drinking games in such an environment resulted from the presence of binge drinkers or whether students ended up binge drinking because of being in an environment where people played drinking games (Dietz 92). Nevertheless, it leaves no doubt that depending on the kind of environment that students expose themselves to, the likelihood of binge drinking either increases or decreases. Cognitive factors constitute another influential force which has led many college students to develop binge drinking behaviour. The cognitive influences are deeply rooted in misleading beliefs about alcohol, the notion that binge drinking is something that is acceptable, and misinformation about the effects of excessive alcohol consumption. Regarding the false beliefs or myths that some college students confidently hold on to, there are those who believe that everybody is engaging in binge drinking and thus experiences similar negative consequences (Binge Drinking). This is a misguided thought because a significant percentage of college students do not engage in binge drinking. At the same time, the negative consequences experienced by those who indulge in binge drinking vary and cannot be the same. For instance, according to the direct effects model, binge drinking consequences are determined by both the drinking beliefs and the binge drinking tendencies. Going by this model, students who hold more risky myths such as â€Å"everybody is doing it† is more likely to experience harsher consequences. This is because; such students are often lured into thinking that binge drinking cannot make them suffer physical harm. Consequently, they are more likely to involve themselves in highly risky behaviours after binge drinking and hence experience more severe consequences compared to those who do not hold such a myth (Turrisi, Wiersma and Hughes 343). Another myth among binge drinkers is that binge drinking enhances sexual performance and sex appeal. The fact is that binge drinking predisposes students to risky sexual behavior in which some students may engage in unprotected sex which can lead to the contraction of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (DeSimone 2). In fact binge drinking causes disorientation and those who engage in it are incapacitated from making rational decisions when they are drunk. The belief that their sex appeal is enhanced is misguided. There is also the belief among those who attempt to justify binge drinking that binge drinking is a remedy for stress and that it can enhance social interaction. On the contrary, binge drinking has been associated with hangovers and even suicidal thoughts. Binge drinking does not enhance social interactions but instead it triggers quarrels, arguments, fights, and incidences of blacking out and vomiting (Wechsler). Others believe that alcohol is not harmful to the body. Again, such a belief is the total opposite of the fact since alcohol consumption has been associated with serious health consequences including alcohol poisoning. The other aspect of cognitive influences is that some students will engage in binge drinking because they perceive the behavior as acceptable in the eyes of their parents and friends. In other words, they find consolation in the idea that binge drink is not bad after all since their parents and friends do not show any disapproval of the behavior (Dietz 94). Developmental factors also help to explain why college students engage in binge drinking. It is worth noting that once students reach this level of maturity, they naturally develop the desire to be regarded as mature adults who can make independent decisions and be responsible for the consequences of their actions. Therefore, binge drinking behaviour among many college students emanate from this desire to assert their adulthood. Moreover, college students are usually at their prime physically and thus they feel much confident in terms of being able to withstand the impacts of drinking alcohol which may also lead them into drinking excessively (Dietz 91). Though regarded as normal development, the fact that college students are likely to regard as adult hypocrisy anti-drinking messages from people, only puts them at more a vulnerable position. It is also noteworthy that college students are at a stage of critical social and emotional development. For instance, this is a time that they experience a higher level of autonomy since their parents are not around to monitor them. This increased freedom makes many students to make autonomous decisions and often experiment with behaviours that their parents had forbidden them. Moreover, many college students are still continuing with the process of devel oping their identity and in the process, often indulge in behaviours such as binge drinking in search of more sensational experiences (Hope and Ham 727). Peer influence is usually at the centre of identity development as students try to fit in new environments with a sense of belonging. Therefore, given that in many colleges students are confronted with a drinking culture, it is not a wonder that some result to binge drinking. However, many students fail to realize that with more freedom comes the need to be more responsible. This is because too much freedom without a sense of self-control or restraint is harmful. In this regard, in as much as certain developmental factors are normal, it cannot be justified as the excuse for engaging in heavy drinking. Binge drinking has a wide range of negative consequences which many college students fail to foresee before plunging themselves into the risky behaviour of binge drinking. Some students do not think that binge drinking can lead to any immediate negative consequence while others lean on the belief that alcohol does not pose harm to the body at all. Such notions are null and void given th at bingers are often caught in a wide range of crises such as engaging in unplanned or unprotected sex and getting into trouble with the authorities. In addition, bingers are more likely to engage in dangerous acts such as driving while drunk than nonbinging drinkers. Drunk driving is a major cause of car accidents and many young people have lost their lives because of it (Nelson and Wechsler 290). Some of the beliefs about the benefits of binge drinking among college students include the idea that by binge drinking, one can get more sexual opportunities. On the contrary, binge drinking only serves to make bingers behave irresponsibly and engage in risky sexual behaviours such as unplanned or unprotected sex. Consequently, some may contract STIs and HIV/AIDS which is a very high price to pay for being irresponsible. Unwanted pregnancy is another possible outcome of binge drinking which adds to the social burden and compromises the studies of the affected student. Contrary to the notion that binge drinking helps to relieve stress, one of its notable consequences has been the increased risk of committing suicide among college studen ts. Given that 67% of suicide incidences in colleges result from alcohol abuse, the idea that binge drinking causes relaxation is a nonstarter (Wechsler). The health consequences associated with binge drinking are severe. For instance, liver cancer is a fatal illness which can lead to death if not treated early. Another terrible consequence of binge drinking is alcohol poisoning which is a health condition that is not reversible once it occurs. This is a fact which is contrary to what people believe that alcohol poisoning can be reversed by drinking black coffee, walking, sleeping, or taking a cold bath. Time is the only factor that can determine whether the condition will get better or worse. However, due to the high level of alcohol in the blood, there may be no time for the alcohol level to decrease. Instead, the increase in blood alcohol level may continue even after quitting drinking. Consequently, death can result from interruption of breathing functions or the patient may choke on his/her vomit while unconscious (Do You Understand Binge Drinking?). Binge drinking causes students to be left behind in school work and academic performance of binge drinkers is rendered poor. For instance, due to hangovers and disorientation that comes with excessive drinking, students often fail to complete their assignments or to attend lectures. Consequently, their grades continue to deteriorate and their academic life may become a nightmare (Hensley). Such outcomes are contrary to the notion among young binge drinkers that they have the ability to control the effects of excessive drinking. The fact is that the consequences of binge drinking are stronger than one may try to imagine and many students only regret later when it is too late. The second hand effects of binge drinking are also real and come in the form of insults, sleepless nights, unwanted sex advance, arguments, and a ssaults (Wechsler). From this discussion, it leaves no doubt that binge drinking is highly prevalent on college campuses, something that has been contributed by different factors. This is supported by the evidence of many studies showing that despite the national drinking age being increased to 21, binge drinking especially among female students has increased. The consequences of binge drinking are detrimental. This has been witnessed in the form of the escalating cases of road accidents which has cost many lives of college students. Despite the belief among many college students that alcohol consumption enhances social interaction and sex appeal, binge drinking results in quarrels, arguments, and risky sexual behavior. In addition, students who binge drink have often found themselves in trouble with authorities. Poor academic performance due to inability to focus is a big problem among binge drinkers. Contrary to the belief that alcohol releases stress, statistics have proved otherwise. In fact, incidences of suicide have been on the rise among binge drinkers. The notion among binge drinkers that they are able to control the impacts of alcohol is a nonstarter given the high incidences of rape, assault, and vandalism among college students who binge drink. Regarding the culture of drinking in most colleges, this is something that bingers lean on as an excuse for their behavior. Issues of autonomy and the urge to identify with particular groups though real only imply that individual students must make prudent choices amidst the pressure. It all has to start by correcting the misconceptions and wrong attitudes among college students. Nevertheless, binge drinking remains a nagging issue whose consequences are a threat to many generations. Annotated Bibliography 1. Binge Drinking. n.d. Web 25 Nov 2011 . This article presents an argument regarding the way binge drinking has been defined by researchers and helps the reader to understand the controversy surrounding what actually amounts to binge drinking. It acknowledges that binge drinking is characterized by repeated intoxication with alcohol which makes a person become careless and abandon his/her responsibilities. In this case, it is useful in this research paper in terms of shedding light on what amounts to binge drinking and the possible consequences. It also alludes to the fact that binge drinking is still prevalent on college campuses. However, it points out that most of the research results about binge drinking on colleges have not reflected the real picture of the situation. 2. DeSimone, Jeff. Binge Drinking and Risky Sex among College Students. 2010. Web 25 Nov 2011 . This article is useful in this research to the extent of addressing one of the main consequences of binge drinking; risky sexual behaviour. The information in the article is presented in form of a report based on research aimed at finding out the relationship between binge drinking and risky sexual behaviour among college students aged between 18 and 24 years. Its findings that binge drinking increases promiscuity and inability to opt for safer sex such as condom use help to build on the paper’s argument. However, it fails to recognize other numerous negative consequences of binge drinking besides risky sexual behaviour. 3. Dietz, Christine M. Development of Binge Drinking Behavior in College Students: A Developmental Analysis. Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology (2008): 1(1), pp. 86-96. The journal presents valuable information on the factors that influence college students to engage in binge drinking. It extensively addresses the culture of drinking in most colleges which many students lean on as an excuse for intoxicating themselves with alcohol. In addition, the journal discusses the developmental, cognitive, and environmental factors that play a big influential role in binge drinking. The information in the journal is quite useful in this research paper as it presents a broad picture of what has led to the high prevalence of binge drinking on college campuses. However, it falls short of addressing the details of the consequences of binge drinking. 4. Do You Understand Binge Drinking? 2011. Web 25 Nov 2011 . This is an article that explores in a brief but precise manner, what binge drinking is, the myth surrounding binge drinking, and the main health consequences of binge drinking. It helps to build the argument that contrary to what many college students perceive as being invincible to harm, binge drinking is a monster that induces slow death regardless of age. 5. Hensley, Laura G. College Student Binge Drinking: Implications for a Constructivist Approach to College Counseling. Journal of College Counseling (2001): Vol 4. T he journal covers the most fundamental elements presented in this research paper in the form of an argument. It begins by explaining the prevalence of binge drinking and the factors causing this trend such as students joining Greek societies and succumbing to peer pressure. It then highlights the behavioural, health, and academic negative consequences that result from binge drinking. Though the information is useful in building an argument, the journal presents it in form of a report or literature review. 6. Hope, Debra A and Lindsay S Ham. College students and problematic drinking: A review of the literature. Clinical Psychology Review (2003): Vol 23, pp. 719-759. This journal review explores the problem of excessive drinking among college students by citing the findings of a number of studies that have been conducted in the past. It acknowledges the importance of considering frequency and quantity when defining binge drinking. Besides highlighting the consequences of binge drinking, it also explores other aspects such as gender difference in the likelihood of excessive drinking. Nevertheless, it contributes to the research paper since it also addresses factors such as sensation seeking, personality and environmental factors, and cognitive processes as influencing college students to engage in binge drinking. 7. Krock, Becca. Higher drinking age lowers binge drinking for all except college students. 2009. Web 25 Nov 2011 . The article presents important findings from a recent study which revealed that though the national drinking age was set at 21 and has remained so since 1984, the effects on the level of binge drinking among college students have not been significant. However, the article points out that a major decline in the prevalence of binge drinking among teenagers has been noted. The article is relevant to the research paper since it helps the reader to see that altering the drinking age is not enough to curb the issue at hand. The main idea in the article is that since most college students are already 21 years and above, it’s legal for them to drink and the situation is exacerbated by other factors. 8. Nelson, Toben F and Henry Wechsler. Binge Drinking and the American College Student: Whats Five Drink? Psychology of Addictive Behaviours (2001): 15(4), pp. 287-291. The journal article discusses the importance of the clinical five/four measure of binge drinking in evaluating its various consequences. By citing findings about the consequences of binge drinking among college students, the article helps to build the argument presented in this paper. The article notes that there is a huge difference in the severity of binge-drinking consequences between bingers and non-bingers. However, the article does not address the fundamental factors that influence students to engage in binge drinking. 9. Turrisi, Rob, Kimberly A Wiersma and Kelli K Hughes. Binge-Drinking-Related Consequences in College Students: Role of Drinking Beliefs and Mother-Teen Communications. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (2000): 14(4), 342-355. The information presented in this journal article is highly relevant to the argument since it not only focuses on the false beliefs about alcohol among college students but also the relationship between these beliefs and the consequences. For instance, the article asserts the findings that a direct relationship exists between drinking beliefs and binge-drinking consequences. However, there is no direct relationship between drinking beliefs and consequences when it comes to health matters and physical risk. Overall, the article helps the reader to understand the phenomenon of binge drinking in terms of why students engage in it and the difference in the nature of consequences expected by bingers and the actual consequences. 10. Wechsler, Henry. Binge Drinking on Americas College Campuses. 2009. Web 25 Nov 2011 . In this article, the question of binge drinking is discussed in light of its prevalence which according to the article has remained relatively steady. At the same time, the article notes that more dangerous forms of binge drinking have been on the rise. The far-reaching consequences of binge drinking including alcohol poisoning, poor academic performance, vandalism of property, and physical harm have been highlighted. It helps to underscore the fact that by believing that they are able to control the effects of alcohol, many college students have only predisposed themselves to harm.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Relationship Between Customer Perception and Branding

Relationship Between Customer Perception and Branding ABSTRACT: Purpose: This paper will try to establish a relationship between the perception build within the users through the process of the branding irrespective of the core use ability, and thus trying to prove the importance of branding which has become the modern tool for doing the business METHODOLOGY The basic questionnaire was designed and were distributed to the users who spend atleast the minimum amount on the above three product, the target of 70 was set order to get rid of the errors like miscommunication, unfilled sets etc and thus of 70, 38 did answer the questionnaire properly which were further tabulated and concluded FINDINGS What I was expecting that Neurofen would appear as a most effective in its class of product but, rather Anadin leads in term of effectiveness but still the sales figure shows that Neurofen is market leader. So this might be the sheer effect of the branding which Neurofen has adopted, thus despite a little bit weak in its performance as per the survey its branding is excellent far better than other two products. LIMITATION Due to the limitation of the time the primary research was conducted on time scale of around 17 days, so I was able to cover 38 users which is more than half as compared to the 70 which were targeted. Executive summary: Well the basic aim of the dissertation is to show how the perception is built among the users for a particular brand irrespective of the effectiveness. Thus also I will try to explain the UK market for the over the counter products and try to analyze the top three brands, where I will be dealing with process of branding in respect to these three brand The dissertation initially will deal with general introduction where we will be able to understand the what is the over the counter products are, who are brands that leads the market, then I will be dealing with each brand with brief description of their portfolio, this will certainly give the clearer picture of the brands in whole. Followed by this I will give the brief description of the primary research where in I will investigate the effectiveness of the brand irrespective of the brand position and we expect Neurofen to be the most effective as per the market position, and thus relating the findings to the process of the branding and ultimately to the sales figure In order to make the data understanding more easy there has been use of graphs and the few of the pie chart which gives the more precise picture of the situation. Thus dissertation will end up with few of the interesting figures their analysis vs. the actual scenario GENERAL INTRODUCTION: Until 1960s and 1970s, painkillers were kept in a glass bottle in the bathroom medicine cabinet. When you had a headache, you would wait until you got home and then open the dusty bottle and shake out two pills: round, powdery discs with bevelled edges and a bisect line a groove cut into the pill so that you could snap it in half for a reduced dose. Youd swallow the pills, either aspirin or Paracetamol, with a glass of water. They felt uncomfortably large in the throat and had a bitter taste. The bottle, which contained 50 pills, hung around for months, even years. Now, when we feel a headache coming on, we pat our pockets to see if we have any painkillers with us. The time between pain and treatment has shrunk to almost nothing. These days, the pills do not come in bottles, but in blister-packs in bright, shiny boxes. When I leave the house, I sometimes run through a checklist keys, wallet, phone painkillers. The packets, some of which are plastic and shaped like mobile phones, are cheerful and glossy; elegant enough to put on a table in a restaurant, they look like lifestyle accessories. You take them with you when you leave the house, partly for convenience and partly because you know that, if you leave them lying around, someone else will pocket them. Painkillers are no longer hard to swallow; the pills have smooth edges, and some have a glossy coating of hard sugar, like Smarties or MMs. Some of them are mint- or lemon-flavored. If your throat objects to tablets, you can take caplets, which are longer and thinner, or â€Å"liquid capsules†, which are soft and gelatinous, like vitamin pills, or powder, which is poured from a sachet into a glass of water. You could conceivably take a painkiller while you were out jogging, or running for the bus. Painkillers are also more widely available than they used to be. We have been able to buy aspirin and paracetamol over the counter for some time now, but in 1996 restrictions on the sale of ibuprofen the newest, raciest painkiller were relaxed, making it available in supermarkets, newsagents and corner shops, as well as from the pharmacist. This was part of an NHS drive to save money by taking pressure off doctors and pharmacists; during my stay in London, we have been taught to be self-medicating when it comes to pain. The change came about after Galpharm, a British pharmaceutical company, made a successful application to the Medicines Control Agency for a license to have ibuprofen moved from the pharmacy to the â€Å"general sales list†. After that, painkiller advertising, marketing and packaging moved into a different league. Inevitably, we are also spending more on painkillers than ever. Id buy them as a matter of course, with my groceries. We now a days found wanting to buy smart painkillers, in the same way that I might buy smart jeans or decent coffee. For me, and for many people I spoke to(co-employee), the temptation is to catch headaches early, nip them in the bud. We have become enthusiastic self-medicators. In 1997, according to the market research firm Euro monitor, the British painkiller market was worth  £309m. In 2001, it was worth  £398m. In other words, it grew by almost 30% in just four years, probably the biggest hike since the German company Bayer opened the first US aspirin factory in 1903. Euro monitor predicts more growth: by 2006, it estimates that the market will be worth  £483m, and by now it has already crossed  £600 figure. Recently, I found myself in someones (college friend) house with a slight headache. No problem, he said. He had stocked up on painkillers he thought he had four packets, a total of 48 pills. But he couldnt find them; the packets had all gone. Three people (room mates working in Mac Donald) were living in the house. â€Å"I just bought them a couple of days ago,† he said. This is what makes me more querious that how this tiny stuff has entrenched in our lives. As per my finding from the local corner shops An ordinary shop, you can buy three basic types of painkiller The one which contains aspirin, which has been around for a century; or either has paracetamol, which emerged as a popular alternative after the war; and from past couple of decades they contain basically ibuprofen, which was invented in the early 1960s and has been a pharmacy medicine since 1983. Ibuprofen is slightly gentler on our stomach than aspirin, but it does not thin our blood to the same extent. Aspirin and ibuprofen reduce pain, fever and inflammation, while paracetamol reduces only pain and fever. Paracetamol is gentle on the stomach, but can damage the liver if you take too many. Paracetamol is also the suicide drug; you can die a painful death by knocking back as few as 25. (For this reason, the government has taken steps to reduce packet sizes; since 1998, you have been able to buy packets of no more than 16 in supermarkets, or 32 in pharmacies though there is nothing to stop you from going to more than one shop. The multibillion-dollar paracetamol industry in the US has thus far resisted all attempts by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce packet size.) Aspirin and ibuprofen are potentially less harmful: most people would survive a cry-for-help dose of around 50 aspirins, or even 100 ibuprofen tablets. When it comes to headaches, ibuprofen is my drug of choice. (Im not alone: according to Euromonitor, ibuprofen now has 31% of the market, and is growing exponentially. Aspirin has a 7% share, and paracetamol 13%; the rest of the market is made up of combination painkillers.) I also, I have noticed, have strong brand loyalty. When I go to the supermarket, my eye is drawn to the row of shiny silver packs with a chevron and a target design Nurofen. Nurofen claims to be â€Å"targeted pain relief†. I am highly influenced by the advert of the car racing and the way the tablet they have shown as bullet acting on the pain. Targeting a headache costs me around 20p a shot. On one level, I am aware that the active ingredient in a single Nurofen tablet, 200mg of ibuprofen, is exactly the same as that in a single Anadin ibuprofen tablet, or an Anadin Ultra, a Hedex ibuprofen, a Cuprofen or, for that matter, a generic own-brand ibuprofen tablet from Safeway, Sainsburys or Tesco. On another level, Nurofens targeting promise appeals to me. It feels hi-tech(Remember about car advert), almost environmentally sound. It makes me think of stealth bombers dropping smart bombs down the chimney of the building they want to destroy, with minimum collateral damage. Are our headaches getting worse, or do we just think they are? I went to see DrVajpayee My GP, a consultant in pain management, in his office at Brigstock medical service in Thornton heath, to find out what he thought. Dr Vajpayee offers his service through NHS Dr Vajpayee believes that our society tolerates less pain than ever before. Modern life requires you to be pain-free; there just isnt time to lie around waiting for a headache to go. Young people are more impatient than older people; when they feel pain, they want something done about it, immediately. Generally speaking, the younger the consumer, the stronger the painkiller they are marketed: Anadin Original is pitched at people over 45, Anadin Extra at people between 25 and 55, and Anadin Ultra at people between 19 and 32. Of course, there is a limit to this sliding scale: Nurofen for Children (six months and over) contains 100mg of Nurofen, half the adult dose. Is any of this surprising? We live in an age of quick fixes. These days, we expect everything to get faster cars, lifts, food. When we suffer psychological distress, we take Prozac and Seroxat. More people are having their wisdom teeth extracted under general anesthetic. Caesarean section is on the increase. Half a century of the NHS has softened us up, and the sheer success of modern medicine has made pain something of an anomaly. We work out, we take vitamins: we cant really be doing with headaches. We see pain not as a symptom an alarm system to warn us of illness but more as an illness in itself. When the alarm comes on, we just want it turned off. Look at the ads on TV, and on buses and trains in any major city: painkillers will get you back to work, help you keep your job, deal with the kids; with painkillers, you can cope. I had a slight hangover the day I visited Vajpayee, which seemed to be getting worse. Id nearly missed my train, and found myself repeatedly clenching my jaw in the taxi. Id planned to buy some Nurofen before I got on the train, but had run out of time. Dr Vajpayee explained the anatomy of my headache. The alcohol We drink does dehydrates the inside of our skull. Consequently, the Dura, the Cellophane-like membrane that encases our brain, has no longer fully supported. Cells inside our skull were gets traumatized, and had responds by releasing tiny amounts of Arachidonic acid; this acid, having seeped out by our cell after we drink ,later this acid turns into a set of chemical compounds called prostaglandins. And these prostaglandins hurt us; they tell nerve endings in our head to tell our brain that my cells were traumatized. Our brain, in turn, does try to get our attention, and succeeds. And this process of our brain to communicate that there is some defect in our system the process is called pain. It felt as if something inside my head was being gently pulled away from my skull, which it was. When you take aspirin, or paracetamol, or ibuprofen, the drug works by deactivating a chemical called prostaglandin H synthetase, the catalyst that turns Arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. So even though your cells are still traumatized, your brain is no longer aware of the trauma. Your brain is being fooled. This process was discovered in aspirin in the 1970s by John Vane, a scientist working at the Welcome Foundation, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1982. (Aspirin was first synthesized in Germany in 1899, and so had been on the market for more than 70 years before anybody knew how it worked.) â€Å"Pain,† said Vajpayee, â€Å"is what the patient says it is.† All sorts of things can make you feel headachey, including muscle contractions on the scalp or the back of the neck, dehydration from drinking too much alcohol or caffeine, staring at your computer screen for too long, looking at bright lights, colds and flu, grinding your teeth, anxiety at the prospect of getting a headache. Sometimes, prostaglandins are produced when there is no apparent trauma. You might feel pain because something has subtly altered the balance of your brain chemistry, or simply because your mood has changed; you might be producing an uneven amount of serotonin or dopamine. You might, most worryingly, have a headache because you take too many painkillers, a condition known as â€Å"medication overuse headache†. A study published in the British Medical Journal last October found that â€Å"daily or near-daily headache is at epidemic levels, affecting up to 5% of some populations, and chronic overuse of headache drugs may account for half of this phenomenon†. Low doses daily appeared to carry greater risks than larger doses weekly. Of course, most pharmaceutical research is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, which are understandably reluctant to explore the negatives. But what research there is suggests that analgesics, when used frequently, chronically reduce levels of serotonin, and increase levels of pain-signalling molecules. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that a German study had found that even a two-week course of Tylenol (an American brand of paracetamol) â€Å"causes a drop in serotonin-receptor density in rat brains†, an effect that is reversed when the rats are taken off the painkillers. If you keep fooling your brain into not feeling pain, your body will eventually fight back and make you feel more pain. And then youll want more painkillers; its a vicious circle. Imagine this as a business proposition. You buy a cardboard tub of fluffy white powder for around  £100. Then you turn the powder into a quarter of a million pills, which you sell at 10p per pill. Every cardboard tub you buy makes you a profit of  £24,900. The powder is pure ibuprofen. The pills are painkillers. The company is Boots, which owns a subsidiary called Crookes Healthcare, which manufactures Nurofen. Sounds good, doesnt it? Of course, there are overheads you have to invent the drug, spend years on expensive clinical trials, build a factory, and hire people to make the pills, tell the public about the pills, and design the packs so they look attractive on the shelves. From the store manager of East Croydon boots pharmacy and article from Google, Boots corporate responsibility. â€Å"It takes 10 years and  £200m to get a new drug accepted,† said Dr Jagdish Acharya, a senior medical adviser to Boots(From the store manager of East Croydon.) Boots head office, and the factory that makes many of its painkillers, are on a campus that lies a few miles outside Nottingham. Every day, trucks full of raw ingredients arrive at one end of the factory, and trucks leave the other end with the finished product tens of thousands of cardboard packs, destined for 90 countries. This is D-95, one of the biggest painkiller factories in Britain, working 24 hours a day. If youve ever popped a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen Plus, or a Nurofen liquid capsule, or a Boots own-brand generic ibuprofen tablet (the active ingredient is the same), or a Boots own-brand aspirin or Paracetamol tablet, the pill you swallowed will have been made here. â€Å"Six hundred people work here,† as per Catherine McGrath, who is working there as â€Å"shift manager, analgesics†. She explained that the factory works seasonally, making cold remedies in the autumn to meet winter demand, and hay fever remedies in the spring. Headaches are a year-round phenomenon. â€Å"Theres a constant demand for painkillers,† McGrath Before the fluffy white powder becomes a hard, glossy pill, it must go through many different stages. First, it is mixed with â€Å"excipients†, ingredients that have no painkilling role. Each Nurofen pill, for instance, contains 200mg of ibuprofen, but also maize starch, sucrose, calcium Sulphate, Stearic acid and shellac. These things hold it together, bulk it out, make it taste nice and help it disintegrate when it reaches the stomach. The factory is large and sterile, like a setting in a JG Ballard novel big, barn-like spaces, dull, neutral colours, large rooms full of vats. The thing that gets you is the scale. This is about making millions and millions of pills to cure tension headaches in France, migraines in Germany, hangovers in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Naturally, after a few hours in this environment, a headache started creeping up on me. Stewart Adams, the inventor of ibuprofen, lives modestly in a compact modern house on the outskirts of Nottingham. On the sideboard in his living room there is a silver Nurofen pack, cast in metal, with the names of the first Nurofen advertisers on the back. He won an OBE for services to science in 1987, and his name is on the ibuprofen patent. But Adams has derived no great material reward from his invention no house in the country, not even a lifetime supply of painkillers. When he gets a headache, he goes to the corner shop just like the rest of us. From the article the guardian 2001 A sprightly, talkative 79, Adams came upon ibuprofen when he was working as a research scientist for Boots in the late 1950s, looking for a drug to reduce inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Looking back on his career, he says he was â€Å"very disappointed†. He had found a headache remedy that was more potent than aspirin, with fewer side-effects but he hadnt found a cure for rheumatoid arthritis. His operation was very small â€Å"a man and a boy†. Typically, his research budget was between  £4,000 and  £5,000 a year. Adams discovered that aspirin reduced the swelling caused by ultraviolet light on the skin. Working with an organic chemist called John Nicholson, he began looking for aspirin-like compounds that might have fewer side-effects on arthritic patients. â€Å"It was a bit hit and miss,† he told me. (This was long before John Vane had discovered how aspirin worked.) â€Å"We werent as clearcut in our thinking as we might have been,† said Adams. He and Nicholson looked at hundreds of chemical compounds. They put several drugs through clinical trials, testing them on arthritic patients. One drug produced a nasty rash in a large percentage of the patients; another produced a rash in a smaller, but still significant, percentage. A third, ibufenac, an acetic acid, caused jaundice. â€Å"We had to sit back and have another rethink,† said Adams. During this long process of trial and error, Adams synthesized a version of ibufenac that was not an acetic acid but a proprionic acid ie, related to propane rather than vinegar. He assumed it would be toxic but, surprisingly, it wasnt: it had a short half-life in the tissues. It was like aspirin, only you could take more of it. Adams and his colleagues began taking the compound, ibuprofen, when they got headaches. â€Å"We knew it was analgesic, because we were taking it well before it got on the market,† he says. He remembers making a speech at a conference after a few drinks the night before, having dealt with his hangover by taking 600mg of this new drug he had invented. When Boots patented ibuprofen in 1962, Adams could have had little idea what he had invented an analgesic that would compete with aspirin; a drug that, once its control had passed into the hands of the marketing men, would change the way we consume painkillers for ever. For the rest of his career, Adams continued with his efforts to find a cure for rheumatoid arthritis, without success (although ibuprofen has important uses in its treatment). Holding the original patent in his hands, Adams said, laughing, â€Å"We didnt get anything. I think, in fact, we were supposed to be given a pound for signing away our signatures, but we didnt even get that.† Now that painkillers exist in a no mans land between medicine and product, they dont need someone to prescribe them they need someone to market them. Don Williams, the man currently responsible for the design of the Nurofen pack, works in Notting Hill, west London. His office is just what youd expect minimal furnishings, varnished, blond-wood floors. In the upstairs lobby there is a shopping trolley full of products designed by his company, Packaging Innovations Global: Double Velvet loo paper, Head Shoulders shampoo, Pot Noodle and Nurofen. A former session guitarist from Middlesbrough, Williams is tall and slim, with wonderfully tasteful casual clothes and a fashionably shaved head. â€Å"Thats our philosophy,† Williams said, looking at the trolley. â€Å"Thats what we believe in. Getting things in trolleys. At the end of the day, thats what were paid for.† Packaging Innovations began designing Nurofen packs about five years ago. â€Å"There are very few brand icons that visually communicate what they actually do,† Williams said. The target design is â€Å"directly related to the brand promise†. Two years ago, the Brand Council, an advertising industry panel, named Nurofen as one of 100 British â€Å"superbrands†, one that â€Å"offers consumers significant emotional and/or physical advantage over its competitors that (consciously or subconsciously) customers want, recognize and are willing to pay a premium for†. One of Williams innovations was to place the target in the centre of the pack, with a chevron radiating out to the sides. He also wanted more of the silver foil on the packs to be visible. Consumers, he told me, are visually literate they see the pack design before they read the words. When he took over the design of Benson Hedges cigarette packs, Williams made sure that every pack was gold, even the packs containing low-tar cigarettes, which had previously been silver. â€Å"We believe that brand identities should be recognized at a distance,† he said, â€Å"even through half-closed eyes, or sub-optimal conditions, or in peripheral vision.† In supermarkets, says Williams, â€Å"We want a blocking effect on the shelf. The chevron links all the packs together, so you get a wave effect.† As I left, he said, â€Å"I get more kicks out of seeing a pack in a bin than on a shelf.† This article gives the glimpse of the Neurofen how it is produce? How it was established and how the packing of the brand was designed. So right from 1960 through the effort from the three colleagues from the boots pharmaceutical while developing the drug to the event of August 1983 where it was launched as OTC medicine under the name of the Neurofen, the process of branding had already began. The brand is owned by the Reckitt Benckiser Now the company Reckitt Benckiser, creates the question mark specially on most of us specially to common people who has atleast the knowledge about companies like Pfizer and JohnsonJohnson or say Procter and Gamble which are very much well-known for the best corporate practices and are always been active in media .where as in case of this company it is not rather, the brands which they owned has been widely accepted and has been part of our daily lives from decades long Brand like: Veet, Dettol, Clearasil, Streptsile, Gaviscon Home care like: Air wick, Mortein Fabric care: Calgon, Vanish Surface care: Lysol: Dettol: and Neurofen Most of these brands like Dettol Airwick and Mortien are well establish brand and are 1st choice of the customers when they buy it, they are whichever brand these company owns has certainly enjoyed the brand loyalty, these are the brands that are emotionally attached to the people. Now Neurofen is among the other brand which has already achieved a market leader in its segment and it is in the process to get emotionally attached to their lives. As per the latest figure (0) mentioned the,net sales was 83.5 million which was further boosted to 89.90 million in the year 2008. So there is a clear difference of around 7 and half million growth, specially in such a enviournment where business are not growing, it is very rare, also companies are not investing too much in developing their brand and this might have affected Anadin and Panadol business. Where as in case of Anadin which is owned by Wyeth the net sales in 2007 was 38.50 which dropped down in 2008 by 2.3% to 37.60 million and similar is the case of Panadol which is owned by Glaxo smith Kline where the net sales which were just 12.8 in 2007 to 13.4 growth of around 4.9 % in all. Prior to 2007 Anadin was market leader but later on the placed is replaced by the Neurofen and now it has established brand as a with sustainable growth. So what are the factor that has created this change? Is it totally phenomenal event where 1 brand dies and other replaces it? But how can Neurofen can compete with brand like Anadin who as I mentioned is owned by Wyeth which is one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies, which have skilled professional who understand the pharmaceutical business, similar is the case of Panadol whose owner Glaxo Smith Keline which are also involved in the core business of pharmaceuticals from many years. So a company which is partially related to pharmaceuticals with just few OTC products in its portfolio has become market leader in past couple years is indeed due to the fabulous branding of the product Thus how the Nurofen is different from the other brands? Is it really more effective towards the pain ?or Is it the components of the branding that is creating the space within the buyers? To understand this we need to know where the other competitors are were during the 2006 and where are they right now, what were their strategic moves? STARTING WITH ANADIN Few interesting facts: Anadin was formulated by a US dentist in 1918. Nearly 400m Anadin tablets were sold in the last year. If laid side by side they would reach from London to New York ACHIEVEMENT: Anadin is the most famous OTC brand in the UK with over 90% consumer awareness (Source: RSGB). It has mass market appeal with users of all ages from sixteen upwards. Changes in legislation in the 1990s enabled the brand to extend its product range while maintaining its position as a leading pain killer brand which delivered a range of long standing values to the consumer. Today Anadin is the second biggest selling branded analgesic in the UK and its product range is worth  £45m. History Originally launched in the US as Anacin, the brand appeared in the UK in 1932 under the Anadin name. It is owned by Wyeth and has always communicated that its key task is to defeat pain quickly. Widely respected by health care professionals and consumers alike, Anadin has used several different slogans to press home its message over the years. These range from the famous Nothing Acts Faster than Anadin slogan, which was introduced in 1955, to the recent â€Å"Headache! What Headache?† and â€Å"When only fast will do†. Anadin has successfully steered its way through the growth of Own Label products during the 1990s which resulted in many consumers switching from branded goods to retailers own lines, including health care products by innovating and providing solutions relevant to its target market. Product Anadin is one of the UKs oldest and best known oral analgesics and a firm family favorite. The original aspirin-based formula provides fast, effective relief for a wide range of everyday aches and pains including headaches, period and dental pains, as well as the symptoms of colds and flu. The range has evolved into a portfolio of six UK variants delivering pain relievers in a variety of formats comprising caplets, tablets, liquid capsules and soluble tablets. Anadin Extra, containing aspirin, Paracetamol and caffeine was launched in 1983. Its counterpart, Anadin Extra Soluble, which was unveiled in 1992, is ideal for those finding tablets difficult to swallow. The formula is more readily absorbed into the bloodstream enabling it to act faster. In 1988, Wyeth launched Anadin Paracetamol, a formulation suitable for children from the age of six, which is designed to reduce temperature and is therefore especially beneficial in the treatment of feverish colds and flu. In 1997, Anadin Ibu profen was introduced. Coated for easy swallowing, it is formulated to relieve rheumatic or muscular pain, backache and period pain whilst actively reducing inflammation. Recent developments The last three years have witnessed continuing innovation. As a result of the launch of Anadin Ultra in September 1999, sales grew at a double-digit rate. Anadin Ultra contains an ibuprofen solution in an easy to swallow, soft gelatin capsule allowing it to be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, combating pain more than twice as fast as tablets. In a move to benefit consumers and trade, the entire range received a new look in July 2002. Key features included a new embossed Anadin logo which reflects a more modern and dynamic image. In addition, Anadin Ultra and Extra packs were foiled to differentiate these variants as the most premium within the range. The effect of these changes has added branding consistency across the entire product range, ensuring stronger impact when the variants are grouped together. This improved on-shelf stand-out conveys to consumers that in an increasingly competitive market, Anadin offers a range of premium quality products. For consumers, the new design aims to take the pain out of choosing a painkiller while communicating the modernity of the brand. Key indicators on the front of packs encourage analgesic users to identify the best product for their specific type of pain. Additionally, the use of consumer friendly language on the back of packs and on information leaflets further simplifies product selection and usage. Careline details are also included on packs, allowing consumers to receive further advice and guidance about the range. Promotion Anadins familiar logo is synonymous with its brief to tackle everyday aches and pains swiftly and effectively since its launch more than 70 years ago. It is important for the brand to be at the forefront of product development and to inform the public about the benefits these products can bring. Therefore, advertising is key to Anadins promotional strategy. In September 2002 it launched a terrestrial and satellite television campaign for Anadin Ultra. The campaign avoided the scientific angle taken by some other brands and opted for a humorous, slice-of-life approach featuring the Twice as Fast strapline with the consumer message that Anadin Ultras liquid ibuprofen capsules could hit pain more than twice as fast as their tablet equivalent. The Bus Stop creative focuses on a typical British scene †¹ a bus queue. The woman at the front of the queue announces, â€Å"Its gone!† leaving everyone to assume she means the bus. Confus Relationship Between Customer Perception and Branding Relationship Between Customer Perception and Branding ABSTRACT: Purpose: This paper will try to establish a relationship between the perception build within the users through the process of the branding irrespective of the core use ability, and thus trying to prove the importance of branding which has become the modern tool for doing the business METHODOLOGY The basic questionnaire was designed and were distributed to the users who spend atleast the minimum amount on the above three product, the target of 70 was set order to get rid of the errors like miscommunication, unfilled sets etc and thus of 70, 38 did answer the questionnaire properly which were further tabulated and concluded FINDINGS What I was expecting that Neurofen would appear as a most effective in its class of product but, rather Anadin leads in term of effectiveness but still the sales figure shows that Neurofen is market leader. So this might be the sheer effect of the branding which Neurofen has adopted, thus despite a little bit weak in its performance as per the survey its branding is excellent far better than other two products. LIMITATION Due to the limitation of the time the primary research was conducted on time scale of around 17 days, so I was able to cover 38 users which is more than half as compared to the 70 which were targeted. Executive summary: Well the basic aim of the dissertation is to show how the perception is built among the users for a particular brand irrespective of the effectiveness. Thus also I will try to explain the UK market for the over the counter products and try to analyze the top three brands, where I will be dealing with process of branding in respect to these three brand The dissertation initially will deal with general introduction where we will be able to understand the what is the over the counter products are, who are brands that leads the market, then I will be dealing with each brand with brief description of their portfolio, this will certainly give the clearer picture of the brands in whole. Followed by this I will give the brief description of the primary research where in I will investigate the effectiveness of the brand irrespective of the brand position and we expect Neurofen to be the most effective as per the market position, and thus relating the findings to the process of the branding and ultimately to the sales figure In order to make the data understanding more easy there has been use of graphs and the few of the pie chart which gives the more precise picture of the situation. Thus dissertation will end up with few of the interesting figures their analysis vs. the actual scenario GENERAL INTRODUCTION: Until 1960s and 1970s, painkillers were kept in a glass bottle in the bathroom medicine cabinet. When you had a headache, you would wait until you got home and then open the dusty bottle and shake out two pills: round, powdery discs with bevelled edges and a bisect line a groove cut into the pill so that you could snap it in half for a reduced dose. Youd swallow the pills, either aspirin or Paracetamol, with a glass of water. They felt uncomfortably large in the throat and had a bitter taste. The bottle, which contained 50 pills, hung around for months, even years. Now, when we feel a headache coming on, we pat our pockets to see if we have any painkillers with us. The time between pain and treatment has shrunk to almost nothing. These days, the pills do not come in bottles, but in blister-packs in bright, shiny boxes. When I leave the house, I sometimes run through a checklist keys, wallet, phone painkillers. The packets, some of which are plastic and shaped like mobile phones, are cheerful and glossy; elegant enough to put on a table in a restaurant, they look like lifestyle accessories. You take them with you when you leave the house, partly for convenience and partly because you know that, if you leave them lying around, someone else will pocket them. Painkillers are no longer hard to swallow; the pills have smooth edges, and some have a glossy coating of hard sugar, like Smarties or MMs. Some of them are mint- or lemon-flavored. If your throat objects to tablets, you can take caplets, which are longer and thinner, or â€Å"liquid capsules†, which are soft and gelatinous, like vitamin pills, or powder, which is poured from a sachet into a glass of water. You could conceivably take a painkiller while you were out jogging, or running for the bus. Painkillers are also more widely available than they used to be. We have been able to buy aspirin and paracetamol over the counter for some time now, but in 1996 restrictions on the sale of ibuprofen the newest, raciest painkiller were relaxed, making it available in supermarkets, newsagents and corner shops, as well as from the pharmacist. This was part of an NHS drive to save money by taking pressure off doctors and pharmacists; during my stay in London, we have been taught to be self-medicating when it comes to pain. The change came about after Galpharm, a British pharmaceutical company, made a successful application to the Medicines Control Agency for a license to have ibuprofen moved from the pharmacy to the â€Å"general sales list†. After that, painkiller advertising, marketing and packaging moved into a different league. Inevitably, we are also spending more on painkillers than ever. Id buy them as a matter of course, with my groceries. We now a days found wanting to buy smart painkillers, in the same way that I might buy smart jeans or decent coffee. For me, and for many people I spoke to(co-employee), the temptation is to catch headaches early, nip them in the bud. We have become enthusiastic self-medicators. In 1997, according to the market research firm Euro monitor, the British painkiller market was worth  £309m. In 2001, it was worth  £398m. In other words, it grew by almost 30% in just four years, probably the biggest hike since the German company Bayer opened the first US aspirin factory in 1903. Euro monitor predicts more growth: by 2006, it estimates that the market will be worth  £483m, and by now it has already crossed  £600 figure. Recently, I found myself in someones (college friend) house with a slight headache. No problem, he said. He had stocked up on painkillers he thought he had four packets, a total of 48 pills. But he couldnt find them; the packets had all gone. Three people (room mates working in Mac Donald) were living in the house. â€Å"I just bought them a couple of days ago,† he said. This is what makes me more querious that how this tiny stuff has entrenched in our lives. As per my finding from the local corner shops An ordinary shop, you can buy three basic types of painkiller The one which contains aspirin, which has been around for a century; or either has paracetamol, which emerged as a popular alternative after the war; and from past couple of decades they contain basically ibuprofen, which was invented in the early 1960s and has been a pharmacy medicine since 1983. Ibuprofen is slightly gentler on our stomach than aspirin, but it does not thin our blood to the same extent. Aspirin and ibuprofen reduce pain, fever and inflammation, while paracetamol reduces only pain and fever. Paracetamol is gentle on the stomach, but can damage the liver if you take too many. Paracetamol is also the suicide drug; you can die a painful death by knocking back as few as 25. (For this reason, the government has taken steps to reduce packet sizes; since 1998, you have been able to buy packets of no more than 16 in supermarkets, or 32 in pharmacies though there is nothing to stop you from going to more than one shop. The multibillion-dollar paracetamol industry in the US has thus far resisted all attempts by the Food and Drug Administration to reduce packet size.) Aspirin and ibuprofen are potentially less harmful: most people would survive a cry-for-help dose of around 50 aspirins, or even 100 ibuprofen tablets. When it comes to headaches, ibuprofen is my drug of choice. (Im not alone: according to Euromonitor, ibuprofen now has 31% of the market, and is growing exponentially. Aspirin has a 7% share, and paracetamol 13%; the rest of the market is made up of combination painkillers.) I also, I have noticed, have strong brand loyalty. When I go to the supermarket, my eye is drawn to the row of shiny silver packs with a chevron and a target design Nurofen. Nurofen claims to be â€Å"targeted pain relief†. I am highly influenced by the advert of the car racing and the way the tablet they have shown as bullet acting on the pain. Targeting a headache costs me around 20p a shot. On one level, I am aware that the active ingredient in a single Nurofen tablet, 200mg of ibuprofen, is exactly the same as that in a single Anadin ibuprofen tablet, or an Anadin Ultra, a Hedex ibuprofen, a Cuprofen or, for that matter, a generic own-brand ibuprofen tablet from Safeway, Sainsburys or Tesco. On another level, Nurofens targeting promise appeals to me. It feels hi-tech(Remember about car advert), almost environmentally sound. It makes me think of stealth bombers dropping smart bombs down the chimney of the building they want to destroy, with minimum collateral damage. Are our headaches getting worse, or do we just think they are? I went to see DrVajpayee My GP, a consultant in pain management, in his office at Brigstock medical service in Thornton heath, to find out what he thought. Dr Vajpayee offers his service through NHS Dr Vajpayee believes that our society tolerates less pain than ever before. Modern life requires you to be pain-free; there just isnt time to lie around waiting for a headache to go. Young people are more impatient than older people; when they feel pain, they want something done about it, immediately. Generally speaking, the younger the consumer, the stronger the painkiller they are marketed: Anadin Original is pitched at people over 45, Anadin Extra at people between 25 and 55, and Anadin Ultra at people between 19 and 32. Of course, there is a limit to this sliding scale: Nurofen for Children (six months and over) contains 100mg of Nurofen, half the adult dose. Is any of this surprising? We live in an age of quick fixes. These days, we expect everything to get faster cars, lifts, food. When we suffer psychological distress, we take Prozac and Seroxat. More people are having their wisdom teeth extracted under general anesthetic. Caesarean section is on the increase. Half a century of the NHS has softened us up, and the sheer success of modern medicine has made pain something of an anomaly. We work out, we take vitamins: we cant really be doing with headaches. We see pain not as a symptom an alarm system to warn us of illness but more as an illness in itself. When the alarm comes on, we just want it turned off. Look at the ads on TV, and on buses and trains in any major city: painkillers will get you back to work, help you keep your job, deal with the kids; with painkillers, you can cope. I had a slight hangover the day I visited Vajpayee, which seemed to be getting worse. Id nearly missed my train, and found myself repeatedly clenching my jaw in the taxi. Id planned to buy some Nurofen before I got on the train, but had run out of time. Dr Vajpayee explained the anatomy of my headache. The alcohol We drink does dehydrates the inside of our skull. Consequently, the Dura, the Cellophane-like membrane that encases our brain, has no longer fully supported. Cells inside our skull were gets traumatized, and had responds by releasing tiny amounts of Arachidonic acid; this acid, having seeped out by our cell after we drink ,later this acid turns into a set of chemical compounds called prostaglandins. And these prostaglandins hurt us; they tell nerve endings in our head to tell our brain that my cells were traumatized. Our brain, in turn, does try to get our attention, and succeeds. And this process of our brain to communicate that there is some defect in our system the process is called pain. It felt as if something inside my head was being gently pulled away from my skull, which it was. When you take aspirin, or paracetamol, or ibuprofen, the drug works by deactivating a chemical called prostaglandin H synthetase, the catalyst that turns Arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. So even though your cells are still traumatized, your brain is no longer aware of the trauma. Your brain is being fooled. This process was discovered in aspirin in the 1970s by John Vane, a scientist working at the Welcome Foundation, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1982. (Aspirin was first synthesized in Germany in 1899, and so had been on the market for more than 70 years before anybody knew how it worked.) â€Å"Pain,† said Vajpayee, â€Å"is what the patient says it is.† All sorts of things can make you feel headachey, including muscle contractions on the scalp or the back of the neck, dehydration from drinking too much alcohol or caffeine, staring at your computer screen for too long, looking at bright lights, colds and flu, grinding your teeth, anxiety at the prospect of getting a headache. Sometimes, prostaglandins are produced when there is no apparent trauma. You might feel pain because something has subtly altered the balance of your brain chemistry, or simply because your mood has changed; you might be producing an uneven amount of serotonin or dopamine. You might, most worryingly, have a headache because you take too many painkillers, a condition known as â€Å"medication overuse headache†. A study published in the British Medical Journal last October found that â€Å"daily or near-daily headache is at epidemic levels, affecting up to 5% of some populations, and chronic overuse of headache drugs may account for half of this phenomenon†. Low doses daily appeared to carry greater risks than larger doses weekly. Of course, most pharmaceutical research is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, which are understandably reluctant to explore the negatives. But what research there is suggests that analgesics, when used frequently, chronically reduce levels of serotonin, and increase levels of pain-signalling molecules. Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that a German study had found that even a two-week course of Tylenol (an American brand of paracetamol) â€Å"causes a drop in serotonin-receptor density in rat brains†, an effect that is reversed when the rats are taken off the painkillers. If you keep fooling your brain into not feeling pain, your body will eventually fight back and make you feel more pain. And then youll want more painkillers; its a vicious circle. Imagine this as a business proposition. You buy a cardboard tub of fluffy white powder for around  £100. Then you turn the powder into a quarter of a million pills, which you sell at 10p per pill. Every cardboard tub you buy makes you a profit of  £24,900. The powder is pure ibuprofen. The pills are painkillers. The company is Boots, which owns a subsidiary called Crookes Healthcare, which manufactures Nurofen. Sounds good, doesnt it? Of course, there are overheads you have to invent the drug, spend years on expensive clinical trials, build a factory, and hire people to make the pills, tell the public about the pills, and design the packs so they look attractive on the shelves. From the store manager of East Croydon boots pharmacy and article from Google, Boots corporate responsibility. â€Å"It takes 10 years and  £200m to get a new drug accepted,† said Dr Jagdish Acharya, a senior medical adviser to Boots(From the store manager of East Croydon.) Boots head office, and the factory that makes many of its painkillers, are on a campus that lies a few miles outside Nottingham. Every day, trucks full of raw ingredients arrive at one end of the factory, and trucks leave the other end with the finished product tens of thousands of cardboard packs, destined for 90 countries. This is D-95, one of the biggest painkiller factories in Britain, working 24 hours a day. If youve ever popped a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen tablet, or a Nurofen Plus, or a Nurofen liquid capsule, or a Boots own-brand generic ibuprofen tablet (the active ingredient is the same), or a Boots own-brand aspirin or Paracetamol tablet, the pill you swallowed will have been made here. â€Å"Six hundred people work here,† as per Catherine McGrath, who is working there as â€Å"shift manager, analgesics†. She explained that the factory works seasonally, making cold remedies in the autumn to meet winter demand, and hay fever remedies in the spring. Headaches are a year-round phenomenon. â€Å"Theres a constant demand for painkillers,† McGrath Before the fluffy white powder becomes a hard, glossy pill, it must go through many different stages. First, it is mixed with â€Å"excipients†, ingredients that have no painkilling role. Each Nurofen pill, for instance, contains 200mg of ibuprofen, but also maize starch, sucrose, calcium Sulphate, Stearic acid and shellac. These things hold it together, bulk it out, make it taste nice and help it disintegrate when it reaches the stomach. The factory is large and sterile, like a setting in a JG Ballard novel big, barn-like spaces, dull, neutral colours, large rooms full of vats. The thing that gets you is the scale. This is about making millions and millions of pills to cure tension headaches in France, migraines in Germany, hangovers in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Naturally, after a few hours in this environment, a headache started creeping up on me. Stewart Adams, the inventor of ibuprofen, lives modestly in a compact modern house on the outskirts of Nottingham. On the sideboard in his living room there is a silver Nurofen pack, cast in metal, with the names of the first Nurofen advertisers on the back. He won an OBE for services to science in 1987, and his name is on the ibuprofen patent. But Adams has derived no great material reward from his invention no house in the country, not even a lifetime supply of painkillers. When he gets a headache, he goes to the corner shop just like the rest of us. From the article the guardian 2001 A sprightly, talkative 79, Adams came upon ibuprofen when he was working as a research scientist for Boots in the late 1950s, looking for a drug to reduce inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Looking back on his career, he says he was â€Å"very disappointed†. He had found a headache remedy that was more potent than aspirin, with fewer side-effects but he hadnt found a cure for rheumatoid arthritis. His operation was very small â€Å"a man and a boy†. Typically, his research budget was between  £4,000 and  £5,000 a year. Adams discovered that aspirin reduced the swelling caused by ultraviolet light on the skin. Working with an organic chemist called John Nicholson, he began looking for aspirin-like compounds that might have fewer side-effects on arthritic patients. â€Å"It was a bit hit and miss,† he told me. (This was long before John Vane had discovered how aspirin worked.) â€Å"We werent as clearcut in our thinking as we might have been,† said Adams. He and Nicholson looked at hundreds of chemical compounds. They put several drugs through clinical trials, testing them on arthritic patients. One drug produced a nasty rash in a large percentage of the patients; another produced a rash in a smaller, but still significant, percentage. A third, ibufenac, an acetic acid, caused jaundice. â€Å"We had to sit back and have another rethink,† said Adams. During this long process of trial and error, Adams synthesized a version of ibufenac that was not an acetic acid but a proprionic acid ie, related to propane rather than vinegar. He assumed it would be toxic but, surprisingly, it wasnt: it had a short half-life in the tissues. It was like aspirin, only you could take more of it. Adams and his colleagues began taking the compound, ibuprofen, when they got headaches. â€Å"We knew it was analgesic, because we were taking it well before it got on the market,† he says. He remembers making a speech at a conference after a few drinks the night before, having dealt with his hangover by taking 600mg of this new drug he had invented. When Boots patented ibuprofen in 1962, Adams could have had little idea what he had invented an analgesic that would compete with aspirin; a drug that, once its control had passed into the hands of the marketing men, would change the way we consume painkillers for ever. For the rest of his career, Adams continued with his efforts to find a cure for rheumatoid arthritis, without success (although ibuprofen has important uses in its treatment). Holding the original patent in his hands, Adams said, laughing, â€Å"We didnt get anything. I think, in fact, we were supposed to be given a pound for signing away our signatures, but we didnt even get that.† Now that painkillers exist in a no mans land between medicine and product, they dont need someone to prescribe them they need someone to market them. Don Williams, the man currently responsible for the design of the Nurofen pack, works in Notting Hill, west London. His office is just what youd expect minimal furnishings, varnished, blond-wood floors. In the upstairs lobby there is a shopping trolley full of products designed by his company, Packaging Innovations Global: Double Velvet loo paper, Head Shoulders shampoo, Pot Noodle and Nurofen. A former session guitarist from Middlesbrough, Williams is tall and slim, with wonderfully tasteful casual clothes and a fashionably shaved head. â€Å"Thats our philosophy,† Williams said, looking at the trolley. â€Å"Thats what we believe in. Getting things in trolleys. At the end of the day, thats what were paid for.† Packaging Innovations began designing Nurofen packs about five years ago. â€Å"There are very few brand icons that visually communicate what they actually do,† Williams said. The target design is â€Å"directly related to the brand promise†. Two years ago, the Brand Council, an advertising industry panel, named Nurofen as one of 100 British â€Å"superbrands†, one that â€Å"offers consumers significant emotional and/or physical advantage over its competitors that (consciously or subconsciously) customers want, recognize and are willing to pay a premium for†. One of Williams innovations was to place the target in the centre of the pack, with a chevron radiating out to the sides. He also wanted more of the silver foil on the packs to be visible. Consumers, he told me, are visually literate they see the pack design before they read the words. When he took over the design of Benson Hedges cigarette packs, Williams made sure that every pack was gold, even the packs containing low-tar cigarettes, which had previously been silver. â€Å"We believe that brand identities should be recognized at a distance,† he said, â€Å"even through half-closed eyes, or sub-optimal conditions, or in peripheral vision.† In supermarkets, says Williams, â€Å"We want a blocking effect on the shelf. The chevron links all the packs together, so you get a wave effect.† As I left, he said, â€Å"I get more kicks out of seeing a pack in a bin than on a shelf.† This article gives the glimpse of the Neurofen how it is produce? How it was established and how the packing of the brand was designed. So right from 1960 through the effort from the three colleagues from the boots pharmaceutical while developing the drug to the event of August 1983 where it was launched as OTC medicine under the name of the Neurofen, the process of branding had already began. The brand is owned by the Reckitt Benckiser Now the company Reckitt Benckiser, creates the question mark specially on most of us specially to common people who has atleast the knowledge about companies like Pfizer and JohnsonJohnson or say Procter and Gamble which are very much well-known for the best corporate practices and are always been active in media .where as in case of this company it is not rather, the brands which they owned has been widely accepted and has been part of our daily lives from decades long Brand like: Veet, Dettol, Clearasil, Streptsile, Gaviscon Home care like: Air wick, Mortein Fabric care: Calgon, Vanish Surface care: Lysol: Dettol: and Neurofen Most of these brands like Dettol Airwick and Mortien are well establish brand and are 1st choice of the customers when they buy it, they are whichever brand these company owns has certainly enjoyed the brand loyalty, these are the brands that are emotionally attached to the people. Now Neurofen is among the other brand which has already achieved a market leader in its segment and it is in the process to get emotionally attached to their lives. As per the latest figure (0) mentioned the,net sales was 83.5 million which was further boosted to 89.90 million in the year 2008. So there is a clear difference of around 7 and half million growth, specially in such a enviournment where business are not growing, it is very rare, also companies are not investing too much in developing their brand and this might have affected Anadin and Panadol business. Where as in case of Anadin which is owned by Wyeth the net sales in 2007 was 38.50 which dropped down in 2008 by 2.3% to 37.60 million and similar is the case of Panadol which is owned by Glaxo smith Kline where the net sales which were just 12.8 in 2007 to 13.4 growth of around 4.9 % in all. Prior to 2007 Anadin was market leader but later on the placed is replaced by the Neurofen and now it has established brand as a with sustainable growth. So what are the factor that has created this change? Is it totally phenomenal event where 1 brand dies and other replaces it? But how can Neurofen can compete with brand like Anadin who as I mentioned is owned by Wyeth which is one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical and healthcare products companies, which have skilled professional who understand the pharmaceutical business, similar is the case of Panadol whose owner Glaxo Smith Keline which are also involved in the core business of pharmaceuticals from many years. So a company which is partially related to pharmaceuticals with just few OTC products in its portfolio has become market leader in past couple years is indeed due to the fabulous branding of the product Thus how the Nurofen is different from the other brands? Is it really more effective towards the pain ?or Is it the components of the branding that is creating the space within the buyers? To understand this we need to know where the other competitors are were during the 2006 and where are they right now, what were their strategic moves? STARTING WITH ANADIN Few interesting facts: Anadin was formulated by a US dentist in 1918. Nearly 400m Anadin tablets were sold in the last year. If laid side by side they would reach from London to New York ACHIEVEMENT: Anadin is the most famous OTC brand in the UK with over 90% consumer awareness (Source: RSGB). It has mass market appeal with users of all ages from sixteen upwards. Changes in legislation in the 1990s enabled the brand to extend its product range while maintaining its position as a leading pain killer brand which delivered a range of long standing values to the consumer. Today Anadin is the second biggest selling branded analgesic in the UK and its product range is worth  £45m. History Originally launched in the US as Anacin, the brand appeared in the UK in 1932 under the Anadin name. It is owned by Wyeth and has always communicated that its key task is to defeat pain quickly. Widely respected by health care professionals and consumers alike, Anadin has used several different slogans to press home its message over the years. These range from the famous Nothing Acts Faster than Anadin slogan, which was introduced in 1955, to the recent â€Å"Headache! What Headache?† and â€Å"When only fast will do†. Anadin has successfully steered its way through the growth of Own Label products during the 1990s which resulted in many consumers switching from branded goods to retailers own lines, including health care products by innovating and providing solutions relevant to its target market. Product Anadin is one of the UKs oldest and best known oral analgesics and a firm family favorite. The original aspirin-based formula provides fast, effective relief for a wide range of everyday aches and pains including headaches, period and dental pains, as well as the symptoms of colds and flu. The range has evolved into a portfolio of six UK variants delivering pain relievers in a variety of formats comprising caplets, tablets, liquid capsules and soluble tablets. Anadin Extra, containing aspirin, Paracetamol and caffeine was launched in 1983. Its counterpart, Anadin Extra Soluble, which was unveiled in 1992, is ideal for those finding tablets difficult to swallow. The formula is more readily absorbed into the bloodstream enabling it to act faster. In 1988, Wyeth launched Anadin Paracetamol, a formulation suitable for children from the age of six, which is designed to reduce temperature and is therefore especially beneficial in the treatment of feverish colds and flu. In 1997, Anadin Ibu profen was introduced. Coated for easy swallowing, it is formulated to relieve rheumatic or muscular pain, backache and period pain whilst actively reducing inflammation. Recent developments The last three years have witnessed continuing innovation. As a result of the launch of Anadin Ultra in September 1999, sales grew at a double-digit rate. Anadin Ultra contains an ibuprofen solution in an easy to swallow, soft gelatin capsule allowing it to be rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, combating pain more than twice as fast as tablets. In a move to benefit consumers and trade, the entire range received a new look in July 2002. Key features included a new embossed Anadin logo which reflects a more modern and dynamic image. In addition, Anadin Ultra and Extra packs were foiled to differentiate these variants as the most premium within the range. The effect of these changes has added branding consistency across the entire product range, ensuring stronger impact when the variants are grouped together. This improved on-shelf stand-out conveys to consumers that in an increasingly competitive market, Anadin offers a range of premium quality products. For consumers, the new design aims to take the pain out of choosing a painkiller while communicating the modernity of the brand. Key indicators on the front of packs encourage analgesic users to identify the best product for their specific type of pain. Additionally, the use of consumer friendly language on the back of packs and on information leaflets further simplifies product selection and usage. Careline details are also included on packs, allowing consumers to receive further advice and guidance about the range. Promotion Anadins familiar logo is synonymous with its brief to tackle everyday aches and pains swiftly and effectively since its launch more than 70 years ago. It is important for the brand to be at the forefront of product development and to inform the public about the benefits these products can bring. Therefore, advertising is key to Anadins promotional strategy. In September 2002 it launched a terrestrial and satellite television campaign for Anadin Ultra. The campaign avoided the scientific angle taken by some other brands and opted for a humorous, slice-of-life approach featuring the Twice as Fast strapline with the consumer message that Anadin Ultras liquid ibuprofen capsules could hit pain more than twice as fast as their tablet equivalent. The Bus Stop creative focuses on a typical British scene †¹ a bus queue. The woman at the front of the queue announces, â€Å"Its gone!† leaving everyone to assume she means the bus. Confus