Eating Disorder Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Eating Disorder Research Paper Essay Media and society are often looked at as a source of daily entertainment, gossip and news. Every day, people are constantly exposed to thousands of images of glamour, beauty, celebrities, and much more. The media is so compelling that it has the power to change what people believe in. The images that are shown repeatedly make a way into teenagers mind and they want to be a part of what the media shows. Teens feel the need to change their body to look a certain way and be like someone else. But a fact unknown to teenagers is that even celebrities’ body are not perfect. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. People with anorexia have a huge fear of gaining weight and a change in their body shape and size (â€Å"Eating Disorders†). Anorexia has been characterized as a â€Å"rich white girl† disorder because most anorectics are white and about three-quarters of them come from households at the middle income level or above (Davidson and Fundukian). Bulimia on the other hand is when a person eats large amount of food over a short period of time then later performs activities to try to burn the calories off. Binging is the most common symptom of bulimia and it is often done when trying to get rid of the food eaten. Bulimia is thought to affect around 1% to 5% of teenage American girls and up to 3% will be bulimic at some point in their life (Arnold and Walsh 30). Studies show that â€Å"media exposure has a direct impact on disorder symptoms and indirect effects through gender role endorsement, ideal-body stereotype internalization and body satisfaction. † The covers of magazines display pictures of both men and women whose images are offered as near perfection in society. â€Å"Research has shown that even brief exposure to ads showing highly attractive models results in decreased satisfaction with ones own appearance† (McMurray). Teenagers should know that celebrities are not magically beautiful and thin, they are made to look that way. â€Å"Today’s culture is unique in that the media is a far more powerful presence than ever before† (Derenne and Bersin). The media has been named as a causative factor for body dissatisfaction, which promotes unrealistic standards of female beauty and show images that create and reinforce cultural definitions of attractiveness. (Qtd. in Wexler). The media opens the door of eating disorders to teenagers and brainwashes them into thinking that being thin is important and necessary. The media needs to be very careful in the messages that they give to teenagers regarding body image. Dr. Bond says how â€Å"the media should be more responsible in not publishing pictures of very thin models and celebrities because young people wish to emulate them. Eating disorders are not going away, if anything they are becoming more common (Thinspiration? ). Advertisements everywhere continually expose the notion that losing weight will make people happier. Advertisements that show thin celebrities reach out to individuals telling them what they can be or become if they were thin. By looking at these advertisements, women start to feel insecure about the way they look. The NEDA reports that â€Å"women’s magazines contained 10. 5 times more advertisements and articles promoting diet and weight loss then were found in men’s magazines. It also reports that a study of 4,294 network television commercials revealed that one out of every 3. 8 commercials conveyed some sort of attractiveness message of what is or is not attractive† (Qtd. In Wexler). Many women frequently compare their bodies to those around them and the body images on advertisements lowers their self-esteem. The advertisements of celebrities affects the stereotypical idea of an ideal body which leads to eating disorders (Stice et al 5). Online, there are websites that promote anorexia. Teens with anorexia can then put up pictures of their skinny bodies for other anorectics to see and feel encouraged by. They feature pictures of celebrities such Keira Knightley and Victoria Beckham that promote 400-500 calories a day diet. In a year alone more than 500,000 people visited the sites and a 2011 EU survey found more than one in five six-to 11-year olds had been exposed to one or more sites with these â€Å"harmful content† (Thinspiration? . Teens who are anorexic feel that having an eating disorder is not a bad thing. They look upon each other for support, telling each other secrets of losing weight. The quote â€Å"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels† by Kate Moss is popular among these pro-anorexia websites (Wardrop). TV shows also send the message to be thin to whoever watches them. Disney Channel, which attracts millions of viewers, especially the young, made fun of eating disorder and actually promoted the idea of being thin. In the show Shake It Up, someone stated â€Å"I could just eat you guys up, you know, if I ate† (â€Å"Party It Up†). In another Disney show, So Random, a conversation goes on where one character tells another â€Å"Angus only eats one full meal a day† to which Angus replies â€Å"My agent’s always on me about looking my best (Colbie Caillat). Disney thinks about eating disorders as a joke which is not dangerous. For many kids, the people on Disney are their role models, and if kids see their role models not eating, they are going to think that it is okay to not eat. Also if Disney encourages the idea of not eating that kids will do the same thing. Demi Lovato who battled an eating disorder attacked Disney about these risky messages that they send to kids. Experts say that Lovato opened the Pandora’s Box about the dangerous effects television shows can have on the negative body image of young women (â€Å"Disney Pop Star†). Even in other TV shows, the overweight characters are most likely portrayed as lazy and the one with no friends, while thin characters are successful and popular. This also sends a message that in order to be successful in life a person has to be thin. Teenagers feel pressured into looking the way society wants them to look like. Everywhere they go, they see posters of celebrities enhanced to look â€Å"perfect. Society thinks that if someone does not look a certain way then it is not acceptable and that they should change how their body looks. From a young age, women are given the message that in order to be happy, they must be thin. Thousands of teenage girl starve themselves to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the â€Å"ideal† figure (Thompson). Society has become obsessive and prejudiced when it comes to body image. Society and media work together to get that one message across to teens today; to be thin. New diets come out every month and media spends money trying to advertise them and get celebrity endorsements. In stores, the front pages of magazines show that one celebrity that everyone looks up too. How they talk about that one diet that â€Å"changed their life† and made them â€Å"happy† again. Teens think that if these celebrities can be skinny, then why can’t they? Teens spend their times looking at websites and magazines that tell them how to be skinny. By constantly portraying â€Å"perfect† bodies in the media, it promotes unhealthy eating that can sometimes lead to death (â€Å"Disney Pop Star†). Even today, dolls like Barbie send that message to young girl to be thin. The Barbie doll is a stereotype of a woman with no flaws and a perfect body who gets to be whatever she wants. Girls who play with Barbie feel the need to look and act like her. The traditional Barbie is known for her 40-18-32 measurements (Young) which would be unproportional on human bodies (Grey). If Barbie were real, she would be 59 tall and weigh 110 pounds, about 35 pounds below the minimum healthy weight for a woman of that size (McMurray). Barbie helps to perpetuate an ideal of materialism, beauty, and being thin is happiness and since a young age, the desire to be thin is recognized by girls everywhere. But eating disorders doesn’t just affect women, it affects men also. In a study by Harvard researchers, 25% of 3,000 adults had anorexia or bulimia and 40% of binge eaters were men (Boodman). Just like women, men also feel pressured into looking a certain way. In school, boys are told to be healthy if they want to keep playing a sport. But that habit can become something more dangerous. â€Å"Studies show that gay males particularly place a higher calculation on thinness than heterosexual males, with a level of concern for thinness almost equal to that of the typical heterosexual female† (Anderson, Cohn, and Holbrook 41). Because of this many men might be afraid about coming out to the world about their eating disorder. Some people think of an eating disorder as more of a woman thing and â€Å"psychological tests for eating disorders are biased towards diagnosing women† (Anderson, Cohn, and Holbrook 41). Eating disorders are also common in the entertainment business. Celebrities and models are also under pressure to look their best. The average model weighs 23% less than the average woman and fit the category of being anorexic (Thompson). Models go through plastic surgery and photos are air-brushed before going to print. The body type and images are unobtainable to the average individual and the constant force of these images on society makes teens believe that they should be. Many celebrities and models who feel that an eating disorder is something more dangerous than what everyone else seems have come out and talked about that issues. Even celebrities who once had an eating disorder spend time educating others and telling them that it is okay to get help. In 1992 after the news about Princess Diana being bulimic was released, there was a significant increase in the number of bulimia diagnoses. This effect then came known as the â€Å"Diana Effect† (Celebrities Who Battled Eating Disorders). Just like how Lucy Grealy states in her memoir Autobiography of a Face, Beauty, as defined by society at large, seemed to be only about who was best at looking like everyone else (187) it looks like that concept has not changed since that time. In today’s society everything is about being thin and trying to look like a model or a celebrity. Teenagers try to do everything to make themselves how society wants it but in the end they just destroy themselves. Society and media think of an eating disorder as a joke but it is a disease; a disease that has the power to take the lives of both women and men. For anybody out there who thinks that an eating disorder is not a big deal then they are wrong. People, especially the media, should know that the message they send out to teens is wrong; everything is not just about being thin. Simply by the media bringing out the concept that being beautiful and thin is necessary for a successful life is wrong. Having to look like a model to be accepted in society is wrong. All these messages have a huge negative effect on teenagers and they think down of themselves just because they do not think they are â€Å"right† for society. The fake advertisements that are shown is just another step for teens to developing a dangerous and deadly addiction that is called an eating disorder. â€Å"I think we look at society and we look at every ad that out there and everything that tells us how we’re supposed to look, and how we’re supposed to live, and how we’re supposed to be instead of saying ‘Is that how really I feel? ’, ‘Is that really what I want to do? ’, and ‘Is that really how I want to live? ’† (Ellen DeGeneres).

Spinning Misconceptions :: Break Dancing Culture Essays

Spinning Misconceptions The music pounded loudly on the dance floor as people stood in a circle. Nodding my head to the beat, I stepped out and did a few dance steps before I went down to the ground. On my hands and legs, I began walking rounds to the beat, throwing in a little bit of flare to it all, as much flare as I could think of. A few moments into the step, I jumped onto my hands and twisted my legs in the air. Freeze! So far, the crowd seemed silent; they just casually watched me mess around as if I was making a fool of myself, for it looked so simple to them. After some more dance steps, I jumped onto my right forearm and split my legs in the air above my head. Freeze number two! The hard-to-please crowd gave little response. I find it very difficult to dance to a crowd who shows such little response: neither positive nor negative feedback. So I jumped into the move that they gave their attention to see. I did a windmill: I rolled around on the floor as I swung my legs around in the air. The crow d finally gave me cheers of satisfaction. From the few years I learned about the break-dancing culture, I discovered a drastic difference between the popular view of the dance and an actual break-dancer’s view. Most misperceive the dance to be a bag of fancy aerobic tricks; however, the dance is more than that, for it includes the profound creative expression that makes it a unique portion of the hip hop culture. The first response I notice from people when I say that I break-dance is the emphasis on spinning on the head or just plain old spinning around. Flares (a gymnastic move where the dancer swings his legs around with only arms as support), head-spins, and other flashy moves are the main thing people associate with break dancing. â€Å"What, break-dance? What, you can spin on your head?† is an extremely common response. When people watch any type of breaking, they anticipate the showy stuff. Most have a superficial view of the dance and lack the profound appreciation for the art and culture. I find that people unconsciously categorize the dance into two parts: moves they think they can do, and moves they wished they could do.

International Law †Definition Essay

There have been many attempts at codifying the laws governing international activities. An international law essentially governs international activities, or activities that have international implications, between two sovereign nations or entities by common rules, standards and conditions. The concept of legally binding agreements with an international scope was first introduced by Jeremy Bentham in the last quarter of the 18th Century (ILC, 2009). Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher who first coined the idea of an international law that would regulate all important activities or aspects of international activities like commerce, justice, high sea activity, illegal acts, sovereignty, self defense and crime (Britannica, 2009). International law is inherently different from other laws as it primarily addresses the concerns of nations and not private citizens. It can legally be categorized into three different legal disciplines: 1. Public international law deals with common law issues between sovereign states and international organizations. Legal areas that are covered under the ambit of Public international law include international crime, high sea issues and humanitarian laws. 2. Private international law also called as conflict of laws, addresses the issue of ‘private relations’ across national borders and decides on the jurisdiction of the law. It has its roots in all the conventions, model laws, sovereign laws, legal guides, and all other documents and related instruments that govern such international relationships (ASIL, 2009). 3. Supranational law also called the law of supranational organizations, governs regional agreements between two international entities and distinguishingly nullifies laws of the respective nations in a situation of conflict with their sovereign laws. Public International Law Public international law relates to the form and ‘conduct’ of individual states and various organizations across the globe. Over a period of time, there has been an increased international activity and globalization has further enabled internationalization of issues. These issues, whether, economic, geo-political, environmental, criminal or else, find their right place under the ambit of Public international law. Public international law mainly has two branches that that deal with international issues. ‘jus gentium’ or ‘Law of nations’ was initially used by the Roman empire when they dealt with foreigners. Law of nations is a common law among nations that deals with issues like peace and war, extraditions, national boundaries and international diplomatic exchanges (Wiki, 2009). The other branch of Public international law, known as ‘Jus inter gentes’, also finds its roots in the Roman law system. This branch mainly deals with international treaties, conventions and other agreements between sovereign nations and international organizations. Public international law is also used to address sovereignty issues of nations, their boundary issues and jurisdictions. They also identify the legal responsibilities of a state, their jurisdiction of a territory and other territorial issues. This may lead to a situation of conflict between the international law itself and the sovereign state. Private International Law Private international law as described earlier addresses the issues between two private international entities. This branch of law regulates all the lawsuits that involve an element ‘foreign’ in nature and ones that may result in different interpretations and judgments depending on the jurisdiction of the subject (Collier, 2001). Private international law, in a situation of conflict between two international entities, determines if the proposed forum has any jurisdiction at all over the conflict situation. It then analyses and decides on the ability of competing state laws in dealing with the dispute. This branch of international law is also responsible for enforcement of the law. The term ‘conflict of Laws’ generally refers to the disparities between laws and reflects this disparity irrespective of the fact whether the legal system is international or inter-state. The term ‘conflict of laws’ is used by countries with common law system whereas the term Private international law is used more appropriately in cases where civil law countries are involved. The term that was initially used by and American lawyer and Judge Joseph Story for a common gamut of international laws, was discarded later by the common law researchers but was adopted by civil law lawyers (Collier, 2009). Since Private international law deals with international territorial disputes and also decides on legal jurisdictions of nation states, it is generally not easy to enforce decisions. There are two different lines of legal thinking that that try to define this law. One called ‘universalism’ is a stream of thinking where the researchers believe that this branch of law is a part of international law and applies in uniformity and is legally binding to all the nation states. The other group of researchers claims it to be ‘particularism’, according to which each state has its own unique norms of private international laws and pursues them in line with its policies. There are two major areas of functioning for Private international law. ‘Sensu stricto’ or narrow sense comprises of these set of rules and guidelines that actually determine the applicability of law of a nation in relation to the dispute. ‘Sensu lato’, also called as broader sense, comprises of a set of legal guidelines that has a direct bearing on material norms crossing the borders of a state (Collier, 2009). This branch of Private international law normally deals with global issues like international insurance, realty and financial disputes. It was in 1834 that Joseph Story’s treatise on the conflict of laws introduced the contemporary field of conflicts to the system of international law. His work had a great influence on the further legal research done on English laws and thus became the heart of Private international laws for most of the commonwealth countries. Sources of International law International law has evolved over a period of time and has its roots in the Middle Eastern and European history. It was Muhammad al-shaybani who first introduced the Law of the Nations at the end of the 8th century. These were the early legal treaties that explored applications of Islamic ethical code of conduct, and Islamic economic and military jurisprudence in relation to international law. Even though these treaties were in their nascent stage as per today’s complexity of issues, they still covered a number of areas under the ambit of international law, including treaties involving diplomats and diplomatic issues, issues of war, hostages and prisoners of war, and also women, children and civilian protection issues, especially during conflicts (wiki, 2009). The first ever treaties discovered in European history were written by a philosopher, theologist and jurist, Francisco de Vitoria, a staunch Roman Catholic, in late 16th century. Most of these legal opinions by the researchers were greatly influenced by the Islamic International laws that were the only legal International law treaties that took shape in the previous few centuries. Another legal scholar Hugo Grotius in the early 17th century further researched on the international treaties governing international laws and was credited for his legal endeavors (Wiki, 2009). The concept of sovereignty further evolved from the 17th century to the early 20th century in Europe. It was in Munster, in 1648, Germany that the first such instance of any treaty governing the concept of international law called ‘Peace of Westphalia’ took shape. This is when nationalism took precedence and people started identifying themselves with a certain nation-state. It was in the United States that history saw for the first time a modern instrument of international law take shape. Lieber Code was passed in 1863 by the Congress of the United States to govern actions of US forces involved with the civil war (Wiki, 2009). This was the first ever written law detailing guidelines and rules of war that were adhered to by all the civilized nations. The sources of International law are various resource materials and the processes that have shaped it over a period of time. Most of these processes or the building blocks of rules were greatly influenced by the politics in general and the legal theories by the researchers or philosophers. The decisions taken by the judges and the writings by the jurists are considered the auxiliary sources for the development of the international law. The international treaties between nation states and organizations, and the customs are also considered international laws of equivalent legitimacy (Wiki, 2009). As per the International Court of Justice, Customs are considered a primary source for International law, along with general principles of law and various treaties. International law and Customs Customary law is already acknowledged by the International Court of Justice by a statute in Article 38(1) (b), and is also incorporated in United Nations charter by Article 92 (Villiger, 1985). Customary laws are applied by international agencies in addressing the issues related to international disputes where the application of customs is considered an equivalent to the general practice accepted a part of International law applicable to the dispute. As a thumb rule, as and when a practice becomes a custom, it is applicable to all the member states of the international community. These states are bound by these customary principles whether or not they have consented for it, unless they opposed it from the start. Customs have long been a primary source for International law. Even though codification of customary laws took place in 1899 and 1907 in the Hague and Geneva conventions, some customs that were codified, like the ‘laws of the war’, had long been the part of international customs. The new codification of customary civil laws developed over a period of time since the middle ages. The customary expressions of law that were repetitive and were widely accepted within a particular community were written into laws by the local jurists. An example of such law would be ‘custom of Paris’ that regulated the community within Parisian region (Villiger, 1985). The term ‘customary law as a part of International law, also refers to the legal norms that were developed over a period of time and with customary exchanges between two independent states either through diplomacy or with wars. Though customary laws are not considered as superior as other laws written by statute or treaties in the International law system and are loosing their influence, they still are considered and recognized as building blocks for the ever evolving international laws and given great thought in most of the scholarly works by jurists. We may find examples of strong customary laws across the globe, like the Canadian aboriginal law, that have a constitutional backing and thus have an increasing influence over deciding factors (Villager, 1985).

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Fahrenheit 451 By George Orwell - 962 Words

Both George Orwell s novel 1984 and Eric Blair’s novel Fahrenheit 451 depict a dystopian society. This was a popular theme of the era since it was a time where the world was at war with a society that wanted complete control of the planet. That society being the totalitarian state of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. The settings that occur in both books depict that of what people could have experienced in the time period these books were published, something that readers for decades could relate to and learn a lesson from. Fahrenheit 451 is set in a futuristic century, where the protagonist Montag takes pride in his job as a book burner. The government orders all books are banned therefore they must be burned in prevention of use. Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse, and it opens his eyes to a perspective he had never seen before. One day, Montag returns home to his wife passed out due to a drug overdose, and he calls for a team of medics that come in and clean out her syst em with their advanced medical technologies. Montag’s boss criticizes Montag for his flirtation with rebellion of the rules and explains the reason behind their profession. Montag begins to have a â€Å"burning† interest in books and often reads from his secret stash of books he has hidden away. Montag decides the book most intriguing to him is the Bible, he sets it to the side to find a teacher, Faber, to help him read and memorize the indepth meaning of the text. As the story continues, Montag’s stash isShow MoreRelatedFahrenheit 451 By George Orwell1931 Words   |  8 Pagescertain freedoms were implemented into these novels which generated connections between these stories. 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The novels are placed in a dystopian setting that the authority believes is a utopia. The dystopian fictions both have very similar predictions of the future. The predictions from these novels have not happened. However, it could be a short matter

Internet World Guide To One-To-One Web Marketing

Question: Describe about a Report on Internet World Guide To One-To-One Web Marketing? Answer: Elements of internet marketing Digital or internet marketing is referred to promotion or selling of a product and/or services to business and personal consumers by means of one or more means of electronic media. The introduction of internet has changed the face of marketing and has accelerated the scope of innovative promotion. Internet marketing shaped with the introduction of web 2.0 which is comparatively interactive, user centric, commercial and cooperative. Its introduction not only opened new avenues for marketing but also gave rise to social networking and online communication. Besides promotional and selling tools, internet marketing includes e-commerce and macro and micro environment of internet as its elements. E-commerce can be referred to the process of conducting business activities virtually using internet. E-commerce can include purchasing and selling of tangible and intangible commodities, fund transfer over electronic media and other business transactions. It is noteworthy that e-commerce can take place in the form of business to business, customer to customer, customer to business and business to customer. The primary benefits of e-commerce are non-stop accessibility and availability of service, speediness, wide choice regarding products and services and mass scale geographical access. The micro environment of internet essentially suggests that it has increase the competitiveness of the market and efficiency of suppliers. The number of rivals in the ecommerce industry is growing while that of middlemen is declining rapidly. Consumers are being provided several choices and their importance to suppliers have also multiplied significantly. From the perspective of macro environment it was observed that internet is essential for success of business as the proportion of internet users and online transactions is rising rapidly. By and large, it can be suggested that internet marketing is of significant importance because of its wide reach and scope, interactive platform, target oriented approach and immediacy. Adaptive and closed loop marketing are also considered as important aspects of internet marketing. Adaptive loop marketing focuses on the way marketers are changing with respect to internetworking and their efforts in terms of strategies in this process. On the other hand, closed loop marketing emphasises on a closed process that helps in improving effectiveness of marketing and sales. Internet marketing mix Internet marketing mix has been derived from the original concept of marketing mix, which is referred to a set of tactics and strategies that influence marketing decisions of an organisation. Marketing mix comprises 7 Ps, namely, Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process and Physical evidence. Presently, these factors are being conveniently implemented in internet marketing by marketers such as eBay. Product: Services such as PayPal and Bill Me Later and various online applications and websites have enabled the company to sell various products and services to consumers through web interface. Place: Consumers have a variety of choices regarding purchasing, selling and obtaining other services at eBay. The company has a page where consumers basic queries are answered promptly. Additionally, the company has different pages for different countries in order to establish strong international presence. Price: Different internet based services at eBay are charged differently. The charges also differ for occasional and frequent sellers. EBay has adopted a pay per click pricing model where payment is done in proportionate to number of clicks done. Promotion: online promotion at eBay is done by means of various web pages where various discount coupons, promotional codes and bargains can be availed by consumers. Additional promotional measures include cash back on purchasing by means of PayPal and reward certificates. Moreover, eBay radio enables traders to have latest information regarding eBay rewards, offers and events. Process: Sellers need to list their products on eBay for an insertion fee and pay a final value fee on completion of the selling process. Consequently, the cost of sale for a seller on eBay comprises the insertion and final value fees. Additionally, the value also depends on the kind of listing such as fixed price and auction style. eBay also facilitates daily deals where interested parties can receive regular alerts. People: eBay has placed various eminent individuals as executives at various divisions so that business remains well managed. The company has also initiated a new buyer protection program where purchase and shipping cost of a buyer are covered. eBay has an effective feedback system through which buyers can communicate their experience and expectation. Physical evidence: eBay is headquartered at California and has international and national sites for establishing its market presence. The site has different tabs for products and services along with other information. Comparing internet marketing tools A number of marketing tools have been observed to be flexible enough for internet marketing. These tools have been contrasted and their role in business development has been discussed as follows: Email marketing: Marketing through email is referred as one of the direct methods of internet marketing where newsletters and offers are emailed to existing and potential customers to attract their attention. Email marketing is effective in acquiring new consumers, making repeat purchase and encouraging consumer loyalty. Search Engine Marketing: SEM is an important internet marketing where positioning of a website is done in such a manner that its consumer visibility increases on a search engine. The marketing process includes search engine optimization, keyword searching and various other search engine services. SEM is done essentially to improve traffic flow towards a particular organisations website and consequently, it is a competitive process. Word of mouth: Word of mouth or internet based referral marketing is another important e-tool where existing consumers generally refer products and services to potential consumers. Online referral is primarily done by means of micro blogging forums and social media. Referral marketing is adopted by marketers because it is considered significantly reliable among various potential consumers. Mobile advertising: the mobile market is growing rapidly and acting as a substitute of various digital devices. This trend has not been neglected by marketers and consequently, mobile advertising was introduced. Mobile advertisements are generally embedded with music video and games so that immediate attention can be attracted. Affiliate marketing: This marketing tool is one of the important e-tools and it helps in internet marketing as it coordinates with other e-marketing tools. In this marketing technique, affiliates are rewarded for every customer they bring in and every business that is generated in the process. Interactive order processing This process is referred as the cornerstone of e-commerce as it helps in delivering consumers authentic products, specific order and quick and easy services. In e-commerce, selection of right product and supplier are very important so that online presence of a firm is promoted. Most sellers try to create appropriate persona for their products by means of internet marketing so that consumer confidence is developed and gained. The idea behind interactive order processing is to ensure that consumer demands are met accurately and products and services add value to their necessities. The interactive processing not only serves consumers requirements but also that of the sellers. In online selling, the main requirement is to establish presence in the digital world as well as in the mind of consumers. The interactive processing aims at increasing product visibility and increasing brand awareness. Once consumer selects a particular product, the most important step therein is to check its availability in the stock. As stock availability is confirmed, the order is placed. For instance, at eBay products at displayed for a week and consumers can bid for the time being. During the purchasing process, consumers can make their payment by means PayPal, cheque and money order. Furthermore, consumers can access the delivery information in the website. Mechanics of search engine marketing Search engine marketing is referred to the promotion of an organisations website on various search engines for achieving maximum visibility on the search result page by means of significant advertising and search optimisation. In this context, search engine optimisation is an important aspect of SEM. SEO essentially affects the process of visibility of a web page on a search engine as an unpaid result. SEO is an important internet marketing strategy where optimisers determine the functionality of search engines and helps in promoting sites and their back links. Search optimisation functions in two ways: on-page and off-page. In on-page optimisation, certain factors such as meta (title and description) tags, keyword density and its placement and HTML code have direct impact on natural search outcomes and these factors are essentially controlled by the coder. Contrastingly, off-page optimisation is about uncontrollable factors that are beyond the limits of webpage such as link popularity, social bookmarking, page rank and social media. The other important aspects of SEM are pay per click, search analytics (determination of appearance of a website on search engine statistically) and web analytics (associated with determination of impact of a website on its user). Flight 001 delivers online retail experience by selling various travel products to consumers. The web and search analytics of the company suggests that the global corporation has very limited online exposure; consequently, consumers have limited knowledge of the site. Additionally, the site has limited number of back links and related sites suggesting poor on-page as well as off-page optimisation. Furthermore, the loading time for the site is fairly high and the site exhibits poor navigation links. It is recommended that the company should improve its title and description tags. Moreover, the navigation links require modification so that they appear on the left side of the panel (under header) instead of appearing on the body of the website. Opt-in email marketing newsletter In opt-in email marketing, newsletters, advertisements and other offers are sent to existing and potential consumers with or without their consent. Such mails are often referred as spam. Some organisations have adopted legal measures in this regard and send marketing newsletters only when subscribers have confirmed their identification. Newsletter with header Flight001 Newsletter newsletter@flight001.com from: Flight001 Newsletter to: xyz@abc.com date: day, date at time subject: Sign up for great discounts mailed-by: email.flight001.com signed-by: flight001.com Travelling made easy with Flight001. Sign up with us for discount coupons. Dear subscribers, We understand your love for travelling and to meet your requirements, our products are available at amazing discounts. Kindly sign in and update your information to avail the offers. Simply update your personalised Flight001 profile with your birthday and mailing address and allow us to fill in your mailbox with various goodies on your special days. Update your profile See you soon, The Flight001 Team Not interested? Unsubscribe instantly Best practices in online public relations Online public relation activities are essentially targeted towards various audiences, media and communities that primarily exist on internet by means of online channels. These channels include search engines, news search, discussion threads, blogs, forums and social networks. The online PR tools are presently as strong as the offline ones and consequently, marketers need to be very careful while implementing the same. Guidelines regarding best online practices at flight001.com are discussed as follows: Social Networking: the company need to have strong presence in the social media. Presence in websites such as Linked In, Twitter and Facebook will increase its exposure to greater number of potential users.Photo and video sharing: YouTube and Flicker can be considered effective for this purpose. The company can share various travel and shopping experiences by means of photos and videos while endorsing its products.Brand properties: Presently reputed organisations are adopting various brand properties such as mobile app, RSS feeds, company blog and forum for developing public relation. Such adoption can prove effective for Flight001. Use of new digital media communities Digital media communities have gained significant importance over the years as these are neither sales tactics nor campaigns. These communities are as real as an individual. The communities are essentially dependent on individuals and their viewpoints. Such communities have often been praised for being source of long term business growth strategy. However, the communities essentially need exclusive and reliable contents for growth. In this regard, it is noteworthy that online communities present a way to share individuals opinions and views regarding products. Studies suggest that online communities play an important role in increasing sales and retaining customers. Flight001 has its own website blog where various travel related information have been published by the company. However, the website does not have sufficient presence on social media such as Face Book. Additionally, the website does not have instant messaging and chat room services so that consumers can interact with customer care executives. Secondary market research The secondary research has been conducted to determine consumers online purchasing behavior of cosmetics. Current trends: According to studies, consumers tend to not only surf internet in home but also in office and school. Additionally, the surfing does not always involve work related activities. Internet has become a multipurpose utility domain and has influence the general lifestyle of consumers significantly. It has been gathered from different studies that more than 50 percent of individuals have bought one or more products online indicating that e-commerce has become one of the prominent features of the internet. Buying habits: the e-commerce facilities are not limited to general grocery products. It was determined from studies that in the United States about 60 percent of women purchase personal care and cosmetic products online. This trend is especially common in the US and Canada. It was also determined that online presence has helped cosmetic brands to reach consumers with greater ease. However, consumers are equally price sensitive like offline purchase. Preferences: it was determined that consumers are largely uninterested in coupon based selling. Instead, they exhibit great demand for personalized shopping experience. They are more inclined towards stores that are promoting products keeping in view consumer needs. The secondary market research also revealed that consumers purchase cosmetics driven by emotional needs instead of actual needs. Competition: growth in consumption has affected competition as well. Presently, the market is dominated by more than a few companies compared to the handful that initially captured the market. The industry is worth $20 billion and its major players include local as well as foreign players. The major players in this industry are Sephora, Burberry, L Brands, Sally Beauty Holdings and Estee Lauder. Most of these competitors are e-marketing their products using discount coupons, special discount, online beauty consultation support, social media and mobile app. Online questionnaire survey The paper has undertaken an online questionnaire survey using Survey Monkey in order to assess the consumer preference and support the facts that has been gathered by means of secondary research. Where do you shop from?Home Office Both What do you mainly purchase?Books Apparels Electronics every kind of goods and services Do you prefer bargaining on online websites?What is your frequency of online purchase?Daily Weekly Monthly Rarely Do you prefer receiving online promotional offers such as newsletters in email?Yes No The online survey revealed that consumers purchased mostly from home as well as office unless they have workplace restriction on visiting retail websites. Consumers also agreed that their purchasing behaviour is not limited to one kind of product only; instead, they avail all kinds of products and services online. Almost every consumer agreed that they enjoy bargaining online and they made their purchases mostly on weekly and monthly basis. Lastly, most consumers agreed that they prefer receive promotional offers by means of subscribed newsletters. Electronic customer relationship marketing Establishing customer relationship is essential for business growth and development. Every organisation is presently making effort to improve their customer relationship because customers can be considered as life blood of an organisation. For online retailers, eCRM has played an important role as it helps organisations to manage competition and retain valued customers. Various eCRM techniques are discussed as follows: Consumer facing applications: These interfaces or applications help consumers to have direct interaction with the company by means of one or multiple channels. Many organisations are adopting automated responding system where promotional e-mails are sent and basic queries are answered by the system and complaints are registered until human agents log in the system and resolve it. Besides consumers, such system are being developed and adopted for employees and vendors where they are automatically updated regarding consumer information, sales progress, sales call and inventory requirement and so on. Touching applications: In these applications, consumers essentially interact with pre-programmed system for resolving queries. In this regard, corporations are adopting the strategy of personalising web pages using personal accounts. Through this, consumers can see their previous transactions, products suitable for them (based on frequent purchases) and maintain their payment account safely. In addition, large number of companies are developing the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page where commonly asked questions have been answered for consumers. Online networking applications: At present, every organisation has back links to Facebook and Twitter. Consumers can log into the personalised web account using their existing Facebook and Twitter account. This helps firms to not only interact with the consumers in a public forum but also to show the number of friends and family members of the consumer engaged with the firm for building confidence and trust. Outline internet marketing plan Background activities (Pre-Planning assessment): Competition analysis, Demand analysis, External (PEST) analysis, consumer and supplier analysis, industry analysis, Forward and backward integration with various departments and cost analysis. The online marketing plan has been developed incorporating four Ps of marketing mix: Product strategy Product information: size, colour and brandQuality informationUsage tipsComplementary product offeringsOnline product comparisonCustomized products (as and when possible)Return and refund policyCompetitive pricingFree shipping above specific amountDifferent price for specific occasions (festivals and special days e.g. Labour day)Simple yet informational wireframecreation title and description tags (meta tags)Search engine optimisationBasic information of account holderPayment detailsPurchase details (present and history)Product suggestionsDevelopment of back links to popular social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Linked In and Twitter.Company blogRSS feedsDiscount couponsCorporate partnership for promoting back linksPay Per Click marketing such as Google AdWordsOnline chatting applicationMobile applicationOrder, query and feedback link and pageFAQ pageOffline customer support Pay per Click Campaign PPC marketing campaign is one of the vital online marketing strategies which involve using various search engines to promote a website in exchange of payment. In this marketing technique, companies pay search engines to generate clicks to its website instead of earning them in organic (unpaid; naturally) manner. PPC campaign can be observed commonly on various search engines such as Google and Yahoo where the sponsored ads are placed at the top and every time consumers click them the search engine firm gets paid. The cost is considered trivial if the technique is effective in attracting consumers. However, it is noteworthy that an online business will be benefited from this marketing technique only if consumers like the website and make purchases. Therefore, success of PPC campaign heavily depends on the corporation in terms of its services and user friendliness of its website interface. The main advantage of PPC advertising is that it gives complete control to the advertiser on campaign budget. The marketer can determine hereof the amount they are interested in investing weekly or daily basis. PPC campaign brings direct attention of the consumers to the website and the marketer has control to stop the promotion in case it is underperforming. On the negative side, the cost of the click depends on the competitors who bid for the keywords. A well-bidding keyword can be expensive and may require company to pay significant amount to earn top ad placement. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that all visitors will be potential purchasers. Reference List Allen, C., et al., Internet World Guide To One-To-One Web Marketing, New Jersey, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1998. Bellman, S. Et al., Predictors of Online Buying Behaviour, https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/1168/predictors_of_online_buying_behavior.pdf, 1998, (accessed May 15, 2015). Coupey, E., Marketing and the Internet, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 2001. Cravens, D. and N. F. Piercy, Strategic marketing, New York, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. eBay, about us, https://www.ebay.com/, 2015, (accessed May 15, 2015). 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