Creon as the Tragic Hero in Sophocles Antigone Essay example -- Antig

Creon as the Tragic Hero in Antigone     Ã‚   This essay will compare two of the characters in â€Å"Antigone†, Antigone and Creon, in an effort to determine the identity of the tragic hero in this tale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To identify the tragic hero in Sophocles’ renowned play â€Å"Antigone†, we should first consider both the elements present in Greek tragedies and what characteristics define a tragic hero. Aristotle’s definition of tragedy is: â€Å"Tragedy is a story taking the hero from happiness to misery because of a fatal flaw or mistake on his part. To be a true tragic hero he must also elicit a strong emotional response of pity and fear from the audience. This is known as catharsis or purging of emotion.† In most cases the tragic hero begins the play with high status, which is often lost in the exodus of the play. For example, in another of Sophocles’ plays, â€Å"Oedipus Rex†, in which Oedipus is the undisputed tragic hero, Oedipus begins the play as an illustrious king and ends as a blind beggar. His plight encourages sympathy from the audience because of the curse that had been on him since he was a chil d.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Antigone, to whom the play owes its name, is daughter of Oedipus, the former king of Thebes. It would seem that she has a relatively high position for a woman, based on the fact that she has a marriage tie to Haemon, son of Creon, the present king of Thebes.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Antigone, rather than being happy at the plays’ beginning, instead makes her entrance in the opening scene very upset with the order given by Creon not to bury her brother Polynices. Antigone is then caught while burying Polynices and seems almost content with being put to death, â€Å"I earned the punishment which I now suffer† (Antigone, 152), though... ...† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Heidegger, Martin. â€Å"The Ode on Man in Sophocles’ Antigone.† In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Jaeger, Werner. â€Å"Sophocles’ Mastery of Character Development.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Segal, Charles. Oedipus the King: Tragic Heroism and the Limits of Knowledge. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles. Antigone. Exploring Literature: Writing and thinking About Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Trans. Bernard M. W. Knox. New York: Washi ngton Squ are Books, 1994.

Compare and Contrast Communism, Socialism, and Capitalism

What is communism? Communism is a term used broadly to designate a ‘theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state. ’ It refers to the doctrine which underlines the revolutionary movement which aims to abolish capitalism and ultimately to establish a society in which all goods will be socially owned, all economic activates socially planned and controlled, and in which all distributions will be in accordance with the maxim.German author Emil Ludwig described the maxim as â€Å"for each according to his capacity, to each according to his need. †(1) It is to be distinguished from socialism which aims by constitutional and democratic methods to nationalize gradually only the essential means of production and to organize distribution on the basis of a just reward to each person for the amount and quality of his or her work. In its early forms the term â €Å"communism† first came into use in France, after 1840; the general idea being that private property is the source of all social ills which can be cured only by a community of goods and interest.In the Greco- Roman world, Plato expounded the idea in his book The Republic in the 4th century and to stoics implied it in their doctrine of natural right or as they called it â€Å"jus natural† which means according to which natured created all men free and equal and private property was unknown to the original state of nature. (2) According to Karl Marx, this is the final stage towards development of egalitarian society. Here all the resources are state-owned and it determines its distribution based on the needs in an effort to bring about equality. Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people have any say in how the economy works.By using state coercion to fulfill unmet demands, it restricts individual freedom. Communism necessarily takes the form of totalitarianism or the tyranny of all over one since it’s up to the state to decide who gets what. Historically, communist societies have been characterized by the absolute rule of a revolutionary party leader, beneath whom everyone is equally subservient. It becomes very difficult for such an economy to survive in a large population when it becomes difficult for equal distribution of resources. (5) Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are the ones responsible for the theoretical foundations of the modern communism.In their time together Marx and Engels wrote several pieces of documentations and books which started in 1848 with The Communist Manifesto, 1850 Marx’s Class Struggles in France, 1867 The First Volume of Das Kapital, 1871 Civil War in France, 1875 Critique of the Gotha Programme, and in 1877 Engels so called Anti-Duhring. Marx and Engels took over and modified the current concepts of materialism, the Hegelian view of historic evolution as dialectical process moving from thesis th rough antithesis to synthesis, the labor theory of value of David Ricardo, The critique of capitalism of the ‘Utopian â€Å"by French socialist, and tactics of Blanqui.In later writings, Marx and Engels described the ideal communist society only in general terms such as â€Å"a system of social ownership under which production would be carried on by voluntary associations of workers, distribution would be in accordance with the needs, the state would cease to be an instrument of force and â€Å"wither away† and the individual would live in freedom and in harmony with society. Marx and Engels thought that the social revolution they aimed at could be carried out by peaceful means in some countries like England and The United States. 2) Marx and Engels used the term â€Å"communism† to distinguish their program from socialism which in the 1840’s meant economic and social reform. Some countries that are, or have been communist are the former U. S. S. R, Chin a, Germany, Guatemala, Cuba, Greece, Africa, Some parts of the United States, Turkey, Suez, Israel, North Korea, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and the southern part of Thailand. (2) We now move to socialism, what is socialism? As mentions before socialism is the doctrine that espouses public ownership or control of a major means of production.It aims to achieve an equitable and efficient distribution of social goods and greater economic planning then exist under capitalism. Although the central concerns of socialism appears to be economic its ramifications extend to the moral, social and political realms, in fact together with nationalism, it is the leading ideological and political movement of the 20th century. It is considered to be the transitional phase between the capitalism and communism. Thus, you would find all communists advocating for socialism because it lays the foundations for communism.It advocates an egalitarian society where everyone shares equal wealth and power . There is a considerable disagreement over how the distribution should take place. Hence, socialism can be said to be between extreme capitalism and extreme communism with it being nearer to communism. Socialism is liberal. More people have say in how the economy works. (5) The basic principles of contempary socialism have their origin in the economic, social and cultural transformations of Europe which occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries.Contributing factors were the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the bourgeois’ and proletarian classes, the enlightenment’s secular and rationalistic view of men and society, and the democratic demands of the French Revolution. Social ownership and control is the development of private property and it inordinate pursuit are seen by socialist theorist as the root causes of inequalities among men, of moral corruption, and of disruptions of the social order, this led to the abolition of private property or control over its u ndesirable manifestations, is fundamental tenet of socialism.The means advocated attaining this objective accounts for a broad range of socialist programs, from state ownership and regulation of the entire economy to anarchistic cooperative association; from mixed economy of publicity corporately and privately owned enterprises to national producers’ and consumers’’ cooperatives; from state sponsored social welfare programs to self-sufficient local communes. Socialist argues that the pernicious nature of private property was cleared disclosed with the development of capitalism.The growth of commerce and industry, coupled with the doctrine of Laissez faire, brought about the private ownership of the major means of productions by a small group of individuals, who intern was able to accumulate most of the wealth of the society. People began to move away from the country and the population became centralized. Cities grew rapidly and overcrowding became an enormous p roblem. This new industrial workforce, the proletariat, worked and lived in appalling conditions. Poverty was rampant.The cities were havens for crime and disease. The tumultuous transformation affected not only the lives of the workers but also craftsmen, such as handloom weavers, who were being forced out of business by factories which could produce the same product at a lower price. Much of the working class was confounded by the radical changes that were going on. Without anyone planning it, capitalism had emerged and began to flourish as there was no opposition to it. The factory owners became richer and low-skilled workers and the unemployed became poorer.Workers whose trades were less secured decided to form trade societies. This allowed the proletariat who had nothing to trade but their labor, to sell their labor for the best possible price. By uniting, workers could achieve results that could not be achieved individually. The central ideas of socialist have their roots in m ans perennial discontent with the conditions of his existence. They reflect his desire to overcome scarcity, inequality and social strife, and his longing for justice, happiness, perfection and at time for transcendence.Among the forerunners of modern socialism are the utopias of Plato with is book The Republic along with Sir Thomas More Utopia , 1516 and Tommase Campanella City of The Sun 1602, the experiments of the Anabaptist Sects in Central Europe, the theories of the Diggers and Levelers in England. (3) The theories of Marx and Engels represent the watershed of socialist thought. The collaborators synthesized the basic socialist ideas, gave them a comprehensive theoretical and practice expressions and influence their development.Although communism developed as an atheistic ideology the basic principles of socialism can be readily traced to the Christian idea of brother hood, it protests against the selfish pursuit of wealth, and its traditions of communal life. Indeed, Engels acknowledges the religious heritage of the socialist movement and considered the early Christians among the precursors of socialism. (3) Louis Blane and Constantine Pecqueur, who advocated public ownership, worker-managed industries and parliamentary democracy during the Revolution of 1848 in France, were the precursors of the socialism accepted by the modern social democratic parties.The Fabian society founded in 1884, set out to promote socialism through gradual democratically achieved reforms in England. Relying on propaganda, research, and public debate, the Fabians sought to â€Å"permate† trade unions, political parties and other gaps with their ideas. They succeeded with the middle and educated classes and they became influential in the labor and liberal parties. Among the earliest Fabians were G. B Shaw and Sidney Webb. Areas that were affected by socialism were European countries such as Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Estonia.In Asia you had North and South Korea, Vi etnam, Burma, Japan, Lon Nol, Singapore, Ceylon. In the Middle East there was Israel, Egypt, and Tunisia. In Africa there was Ghana, Sekov Toure, The Congo, Kenya and Tanganyika, and in Latin America there were Uruguay and Mexico. (3) This term was first coined by Karl Marx to describe a system in which small group of people own large amount of money, land, resources. It puts all the economy is the hands of wealthy business people with the only aim of maximizing profits.Such economies remain free of government intervention with all the policies being determined by private individuals. The result is monopoly, and a huge gap in the earnings among the employer class and the worker class. Though it’s very good for trades and industries to flourish, it can lead to worker exploitation and unethical business practices. â€Å"Laissez-Faire† capitalism which means pure capitalism with no government intervention is said to have never existed in practice. 5) Capitalism is the typ e of economy in which capital is privately owned and maybe freely used by the owners as they wish in attempting to make profits from their economic enterprise. This type of economy is known as Capitalistic system. Implicit in capitalism is the existence of an effective technique for exchanging good and services. In all but extremely primitive forms of capitalism presuppose the existence of a monetary and financial system. In the sense the term capitalism may be distinguished any economic system in which capital is privately owned and used by the owner as he wishes, capitalism is not of recent origin.Elements of this type of economic system may be traced back to early historical periods. Even in the hunting and fishing style of society, physical capital and financial capital were individually owned and used. Further capitalistic developments continued through the pastoral and agricultural stages and into the age of metal. By the time of the Greek and Roman civilizations, capitalism h ad become fairly well developed. The oppressive phase due to the Industrial Revolution in England drew much socialist criticism.Marx and others tended to generalize from the unfortunate aspects of the Industrial Revolution and to conduce that the explanation of labor was an inherent of evil capitalism. Marx predicted that under capitalism cyclical fluctuations in business activity would become increasingly severe. This would cause more and more members of the capitalist class to be reduced to the ranks of the proletariat. Eventually, he predicted the increasing misery of the proletarian class would lead it to overthrow the capitalistic system and replace it with some form of socialism.In 1776 Adam Smith, a Scottish university professor, produced a book which described the workings of a capitalist society. He believed that a country's wealth depends on all people pursuing their own interests. If a person promotes his own interest he or she is unintentionally promoting his country's i nterest. Smith thought that governments should promote free trade and not interfere by protecting certain industries from competition. The only duty of governments, Smith wrote, was to provide services that couldn't be profitable like the building of roads, schools and churches.

Do We Actually Need ESRB

Do We Actually Need ESRB? When you think about organization like ESRB, you can’t but wonder why people find the greatest pleasure in their life in causing harm to other people’s business and doing everything to find ways of depriving other people of pleasure. ESRB, or the Entertainment Software Rating Board, was founded in 1994, when the society considered that there was too much violence in a number of video games, such as Mortal Kombat, Doom, Lethal Enforcers and others, and that the game industry needs to be regulated. Since then almost no game passes without being submitted to the ESRB (though it is voluntary, many retailers won’t sell games that haven’t passed the rating, as well as console producers won’t license such games), the content is being removed or suppressed in order to get more lenient attitude from the board, scandals are brought about, when yet another piece of adult content passes unnoticed into a â€Å"Teen† game and the publishers are forced to make cosmetic and not just cosmetic changes in their products in order to please the ESRB. It is hard to say how many people feed on it while producing nothing but ESRB logos to be placed on the boxes with games, but I still can’t understand what it changes. Does the society really believe that children that are supposed to be protected from harmful content have never seen or heard anything about violence, sex, drugs and alcohol? Does it think that a child won’t find a way to get an â€Å"M† rated game if he wants to? The only thing that happens is that a number of people found themselves a sinecure and dictate their will to honest businessmen, who try to make money, and honest buyers, who want to get their share of joy.

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The Validity of The Evolutionary Theory Essay - 1486 Words

The evolution theory, one of the most significant theories, laid groundwork for the study of modern biological science. This theory has lead scientists into unending debates due to lack of empirical supports. Until the mid-eighteenth century, when Charles Darwin came up with an explanation to evolution, scientists, then, began to endorse this hypothesis. In â€Å"Natural Selection,† Darwin explains the natural selection, a plausible mechanism that causes evolution, to gain approval of his cynical audience for his evolution theory. He supports his claim with numerous examples of animals and plants that have developed traits beneficial for survival. A century later, Stephen Jay Gould, influenced by Darwin’s work, supports the evolution theory†¦show more content†¦By â€Å"begging,† Darwin shows his respect for the audience’s opinions, making them listen to his claim without feeling obligated. Darwin realized that had he kept asserting the idea of th e evolution theory upon the readers, he would have ended up losing them. The readers would have eventually gotten tired of listening to him. Therefore, Darwin composed his essay in a subtle tone so that the readers would not feel offended and would eventually approve the evolution theory. Through gentle persuasion, Darwin triumphs in gaining his readers’ support in evolution. While Darwin uses neutral tone to persuade his readers, Gould, on the contrary, portrays his essay in a more vehement tone. Since Gould aims at people who are in favor of evolution, his cynical opinions toward the creationists tends to please his audience. While Darwin employs subtle tone to persuade his readers, Gould uses fervid criticism to create emotional appeal that links him and his readers. Employing emotional connection, Gould effectively makes the readers feel that they are both on the same side, convincing them to support the evolutionists. Gould’s disapproval on creationism can be see n through the vocabulary used to describe the creationists. For instance, Gould labels the creationists as â€Å"meaningless† and â€Å"self-contradictory† with regard to their use of â€Å"distortion† to deplore the evolutionists (113-117). Gould explains how theShow MoreRelatedGame Theoretic Evolutionary Multi Objective1212 Words   |  5 Pages!!!!!!! Research Proposal ! ! ! Game theoretic evolutionary multi-objective clustering !!!!!!!!!! Seyed Alireza Mohammadi ! 1. Introduction The goal of game theoretic evolutionary multi-objective clustering is to divide a dataset into similar groups maximizing multiple objectives in parallel using evolutionary algorithms based on game theory concept. From an optimization point of view, clustering can be grouped as a NP-hard problem [1]. 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The ongoing debate between evolutionary and abiogenesis biologists and religious leaders is the ultimate contest between science pseudoscience. Evolutionary biology bases i ts claims behind the idea that aRead MoreCrime And Theory Of Criminal Behavior Essay1920 Words   |  8 Pagesare many approaches to criminality and theories of criminal behaviour that have been supported by empirical evidence, which provide insightful, but different explanations of this psychology phenomenon (Eysenck, 2013; Hollin, 2013; Putwain Sammons, 2013). In spite of this, there are criticisms and weaknesses to these approaches and theories as well as methodological limitations to the supporting research, which brings into question the reliability, validity and usefulness of these approaches in theRead MoreOrigin Of Life On Earth And How Biological Populations Have Changed And Developed Over Successive Generations1635 Words   |  7 Pages The theory of evolution discusses, with considerable proof, the history of life on earth and how biological populations have changed and developed over successive generations. Despite the abundance of evidence for evolution, both scientific and physical, some still doubt the validity of this theory. However, once compared with the alternative theory of creation, it is apparent that evolution is the most probable explanation for the origin of life on earth, to date. This essay will explain a handfulRead MoreBiological And Social Effects On Sexual Orientation1406 Words   |  6 Pagesthat it is socially constructed. There is a third belief that human sexual orientation is not solely biologically determined or socially constructed. From this belief come theories that combine both arguments, where human sexual orientation contains a biological component and a social component. One of the conjoint theories is that humans are born with a propensity for certain sexual tendencies which ar e determined biologically, and these tendencies are developed into a complex sexual identityRead MoreThe Difference between Pure Logic and Scientific Logic and Its Relation to the Problems on Earth1538 Words   |  6 Pagesby the Romantic/Enlightenment era. Q.2. As an application- Discuss why evolution is still considered a theory (ie. the theory of evolution) and why so many people can still dispute its validity: The theory of evolution must still be considered a theory because it has not been proved on a macro level, either according to empirical science or to philosophical or pure logic. Theories are simply ways of understanding natural phenomena; they are not to be taken as scientific fact. Newtons law

Inherit The Wind Analysis Essay Example For Students

Inherit The Wind Analysis Essay Inherit the Wind, a play written by Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee, is one of the greatest and most controversial plays of its time. It was written at a time of scientific revolution to benefit people of the day and in the future, however, people of the day had a hard time accepting new ideas. It is societies unwillingness to change, and accept new ideas that create racism, and hate groups of today. This unwillingness is one of the major themes of this play. This thesis will be further explained, and supported by such literary elements, as setting, and character throughout the essay.The first example of the peoples unwillingness to accept new ideas, such as Darwinian theory, is towards the beginning of the book when both sides of the prosecution arrive in Hillsboro. The town is parading up and down the streets chanting, give me that old time religion, and down with Darwin. The irony of this is that none of them have read Darwins book, for example, when E.K. Hornbeck was talking to Eliza, the Bible salesman. Eliza said, that he, cant neither read nor write, so he could not have read Darwins book, but yet he is calling Hornbeck a sinner, and evil-utionist for believing in its ideas. None of the towns people on Mr. Bradys side of the trial have read, The Evolution of Species, not even Mr.Brady himself. Nevertheless, they will not accept the idea or take it into consideration. It is the towns people who represent society, and even today people will make false accusations about issues without even researching or knowing about the topic. Just saying something that they hear someone else say, then someone will hear them say it and so on, and that is the theme the book addresses, and this has created a problem in our society. The setting of this play has a lot to do with the main theme. Because the setting is a small town, it is not use to new ideas, and major cultural shock such as a large city. The people of the town have followed more traditional ancestral views about society, whereas people in a large city have been exposed to different cultures, and new ideas. A small town, in general, has no economic stature, and therefore, people of conditioned thought and tradition does not easily accept scientific revolutions from the big city. It is a great setting for the major theme, because those people are unwilling to accept new beliefs because they have been taught only one. In a large city, there will not be as much picketing and hatred for the idea, and that is why the people of Hillsboro make a great representation of our society, and their unwillingness to accept new ideas and changes. The characters in the novel also play an important part in the theme of the play, in that what they really represent to us. Cates portrays the change in our society when he is talking to the children of his class about evolution, and not abiding by the law. The town represents society, and Colonel Brady represents the unwillingness to change, and helping to warp the minds of the towns people having them cling to every last word he says. Colonel Drummond represents the minority of the people who agree with the change, and that he is representing Cates in this trial. Other characters in this play have a few significant roles, but not that directly relate to the theme. In conclusion, there are many different themes of this play, but there is only one to be selected. The one chosen, societies unwillingness to accept new ideas and changes, is a subject that we are fighting today, and one in which people need to change and learn more about what is different. .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .postImageUrl , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:visited , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:active { border:0!important; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:active , .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63 .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf90df18368591537f0355d61a1ed2b63:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Mental Illness Essay This is the theme of this play, and the most important one, one we need to learn from in which not everything is black, and white, right or wrong, good or bad, but it is the gray area that people need to come to a compromise about. Society would then be a better place for children to grow up in, and minority

The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements

Introduction In today’s business environment, advertisements are a part of our everyday lives as business aim to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. Advertisements appear in any conceivable legally acceptable place as organizations aim to capture the attention of their prospective clients. TV programs are punctuated by commercial breaks which increase in intensity at the time of day when advertisers concede that there is maximum viewership and towering billboards continue to litter our highways.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Advertising as a marketing medium for business promotion is here to stay owing to the huge successes it yields to the organizations which employ the means. Advertisements have evolved in complexity and creativity throughout the years as a result of numerous resear ch efforts undertaken in advertisements. In the recent past there has been the prevalence in the use of celebrities by organizations in advertisements. The fashion industry in particular has been notorious for its usage of celebrities to endorse its products. This begs the question as to whether employing celebrities to front fashion marketing campaigns results to greater gains for a particular organization. To answer this question, this paper shall set out to discuss the significant advantages and disadvantages that may come about as a result of using celebrities in marketing campaigns. An analysis of the merits and demerits of celebrity advertisement in the fashion industry shall enable the paper to authoritatively state if these means of advertisement is worthwhile for the industry. Advertisement and Celebrities There is no universally accepted definition of the term â€Å"advertising† but the legal and statutory definition puts it as â€Å"a paid form of message dissemin ated by businesses†¦ specifically and systematically designed to influence the attitudes and decisions of individuals in relation to their consumption of goods and their use of services† (AGCM 2010). As such, advertising is always aimed at biasing the attitudes of the market to be favourably disposed to the company’s product. Despite the lack of a universal definition, the core function of advertising remains the say: to sell a good, service or product to a targeted audience (MacRury 2009, p.1). One can therefore infer that good advertisement is that which results in the increase in sales of goods or services to the targeted audience. The fashion industry stands out for its use of celebrity endorsement as a major marketing communications strategy. A celebrity is a well-known personality who is famous to the public for his or her accomplishments in some area e.g. acting, entertainment or athletes. Celebrity endorsement is generally defined as â€Å"any individual w ho enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement† (McCracken 1989, p.310, cited in Wong 2009, p.1).Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A report by Cooper (2010) indicates that the reason that celebrities are so prevalent in fashion marketing strategies is as a result of the acknowledgement by marketing executives that celebrities actively influence the public’s taste. Advantages of Celebrity Advertisements For a product to sell there must be some positive regard to the product by the consumers. If the consumers can perceive the product as being of a superior quality to other similar products by differing companies in the market, the consumers are more likely to purchase the alleged quality product. Celebrity advertisements are very effective in creating this perception of quality in the eyes of the consumer. This allusion of quality as a result of the products being used by the celebrities springs from the fact that the public assumes that being a celebrity is synonymous with having a taste for quality products. A case in point is the Nike â€Å"Just Do It† campaign in the early 1990s which made use of a number of celebrity sport figures including Michael Jordon and Bo Jackson. The Center for Applied Research (2000, p.2) asserts that the use of celebrity sports figures was very effective in reassuring consumers that the brands they picked (Nike in this case) was a quality brand. As a result of the celebrity endorsement, Nike rose to become the leading sports apparel company in the world. This goes on to demonstrate the power of celebrities to showcase a product as being of high quality hence leading to increased sales. The core goal of any advertisement efforts is to expand the consumer base of a product and ensure that the current consumer base is maintained. Cele brity endorsement enables an organization to tap into the fan base of a particular star (Elberse 2009). This is especially significant if the organization desires to reach a certain group of consumers who are known to make up a significant presentation of a celebrity’s fans base. Devoted fans of a celebrity have been known to don the product that the particular star vouches for regardless of their prior like/dislike for the same. Contrasting this with non-celebrity advertisement personalities who have no fan base and are unknown to the public, one can see why an organization would prefer to use celebrity advertisers whose mere endorsement of the products represents an intrinsic increase in the products consumer base. One of the defining attributes of using celebrities in advertisements is that they are generally very expensive. However, celebrity endorsements are in most cases regarded as worthwhile investments in advertising since the company makes up for the costs incurred through the positive stock returns and increased sales.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This may be because a product always has a higher likelihood of being successful if it is well known to the consumers and the use of celebrities invariably leads to the generation of a lot of publicity and attention by the public to the product in question. While the high cost may be seen as undesirable since it cuts into the company’s bottom line and the success of the celebrity endorsement is not always guaranteed, Elberse (2009) reports that a survey she conducted indicated that use of celebrity endorsements mostly led to the increase in a firm’s stocks. It can therefore be reasonably argued that despite the high cost for celebrity endorsements, an organization gains more than it losses in advertisement co sts. Today’s market is saturated with multiple products serving the same purpose but made by varying manufacturers. This is especially the case in the fashion industry where the there may exist multiple dresses, hand bags and shoes to name but a few, all made by different designers. In such a case, celebrity endorsement can achieve the invaluable task of differentiating the organization’s products from those of its competitors (Elberse 2009). In an attempt to differentiate its products from those of other organizations, a company will have to invest a lot of time and money into ensuring that its products remain visible to the public. As a matter of fact, celebrities are more exposed to mainstream media than anonymous models (Bergstom Skarfstad 2004). Celebrity endorsement will therefore bring a great amount of attention to the organization’s unique product therefore differentiating it from the others in the market. Celebrities can be used to bring about credibi lity to a particular brand. If a celebrity is perceived as being trustworthy and respectful, the audience to the advertisement will see the celebrity as believable and hence take his/her word for it in relation to the product that he/she is endorsing. Credibility is given high value in the fashion industry since some of the products sold are especially expensive and as such, consumers need to be convinced before parting with a small fortune to purchase the product. Elbers (2009) suggest that while â€Å"consumers cannot easily assess the true quality of products†¦ seeing a celebrity attaching his or her name to a product may help alleviate some of the uncertainty.† The consumers trust will therefore be built as a result of this celebrity connection leading to higher sales for the organization.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Disadvantages of celebrity Advertisements A significant disadvantage of using celebrities in advertisements is that if a company repetitively uses the same celebrity, consumers may subconsciously begin to link the brand to the celebrity. For example, Till 1998 (cited in Bergstom Skarfstad 2004, p.2) notes that the consistent use of Michael Jordan in Nike’s advertisements encouraged customers to think about Nike whenever they thought of Jordan and vice versa. This may be detrimental to a company’s goals should the celebrity endorser fall out of grace with the public. This is a very real danger as can be demonstrated by the product endorser giant, Tiger Woods. Until 2009, Tiger Woods was one of the most popular celebrity endorser earning up to $100 million from his endorsement deals with multiple companies (Shimp 2008, p. 250). Nike in particular made use of this athletic star to endorse some of its products. The negative publicity that came about as a result of Tiger W oods infidelity cases which were over publicized by main stream media resulted in a bludgeoning of his image and by extension, a negative perception for the products he endorsed. Another demerit of celebrity advertisement comes from the fact that fitting a celebrity endorser with a product may be a hard task and if it is not done correctly, an organization may end up spending millions on advertisement costs and not reap any benefits from it. A research by Bergstom Skarfstad (2004) indicates that most companies do not employee a clear strategy when they are selecting celebrities to use in their advertisements. As such, the companies rely more on intuitions and feelings in the selection process. For example, the sports apparel company, Gap, enlisted the high-fashion celebrity Ms. Parker (the star in Sex and the City) to market its sportswear (Ferla 2005). This was a mismatch which had disastrous results for Gap as its consumers could not identify the celebrity with the product. The o rganization therefore ended up spending millions of dollars in celebrity advertisement despite it not reaping any significant gain as the sales decreased. Conclusion This paper set out to highlight the significant advantages of employing celebrities by an organization to front its marketing campaigns. To this end, this paper has discussed some of the advantages as well as disadvantages that are apparent in celebrity endorsements. From the discussions presented herein, it is evident that the main aim of using celebrities is to obtain as much media coverage for the organization as possible which results in the generation of more sales. The facts presented in this paper demonstrate that this is a role that celebrities play successfully. It can therefore be authoritatively stated that the use of celebrities in advertisements is more advantageous to a company. Celebrity advertising should therefore be employed wherever possible by organizations in the fashion industry. However, care shou ld be taken to ensure that the celebrities chosen to endorse a product are well fitted for the role and fairly predictable to avoid the losses that can be incurred by the organization should the celebrity fall out of favour with the public. References AGCM, 2010, The Statutory Definition of Advertising. Web. Bergstom, C. Skarfstad, R. 2004, Celebrity Endorsement: Case Study of J. Lindeberg. Web. Center for Applied Research (CFAR) 2000, Mini-case Study: Nike’s â€Å"Just Do It† Advertising Campaign,. Cooper, R. 2010, Celebrity Fashion: Terms of Interest to the Fashion Industry. Web. Elberse, A. 2009, Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Endorsements. Web. Ferla, R. L. 2005, The Celebrity Endorsement Game. Web. MacRury, I. 2009, Advertising. Illustrated. Routledge. Shimp, T. A. 2008, Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Cengage Learning. Wong, C. 2009, Risky Business: The Pitfalls of Celebrity Endorsement, Otago Marketing Review. We b. This essay on The Advantages and disadvantages of Using Celebrities in Advertisements was written and submitted by user Dylan George to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.