Marketing Plan on Peters Drive In

Marketing Plan on Peters Drive In Introduction We are pretty much all familiar with the local favourite, Peters drive-in, where quality is foundational, while they serving a big population of Calgary milkshakes, burgers, and much more. Even after it was taken over by the new owners, the quality and the traditions are still being served in the form of mouth watering snacks and fast food. Offering fast food that is relatively cheaper than the other fresh made fast food businesses around. With already half a century serving the tasty fast food, Peters has established itself as an iconic business in Calgary. To have the most controlled operations, the multimillionaire co owners refused to have franchise. Peters drive in is a name for consistency and quality. Instead of spending a big amount for media marketing they are still focusing on the overall quality and a service which is efficient. Maintaining a place in the top 50 best burgers in Canada itself says about the love in serving their fast-food (Edwardson, 2017). Having a little competition around this business location they are helping nearly about 22000 Calgarians a week to satisfy their cravings for delicious and quality fast food at reasonable price. Having their menu extremely consistent since the opening day, they still rule the hearts of Calgarians. Positioning Statement Would you like to try the traditional Peters secret sauce, perfectly matched with a chicken burger that will take you into heaven on your first bite? If yes, then you must visit Peters Drive-In. A quarter pound of chicken in this burger with a scrumptious and a mouth-watering experience will satisfy your craving. Peters Drive-In offers the customer more then they think with a Competitive price, yet, staying with the old taste.The flame cooked hamburger patties are thin but perfectly paired with the fresh toppings of lettuce, red grilled onion, tomato, with each bite it will make you feel awesome.It is Juicy, hot, and super tasty.The BBQ sauce and real Canadian cheddar cheese that used in the hamburgers will add a unique taste in the eating (Peters Drive-In, 2017). Peters drive ins current positioning is very effective, but it is not very diversified. The chicken burger may bring a new and exciting change to their burger market. Until now, it had an image of offering beef burgers, milkshakes, and fries, but the chicken burger will add a new flavour in the menu. They have the brand image and ability to go into the new market segment. MARKETING OBJECTIVES Strategic business planning involves making decisions about three variables: objectives, strategies, and execution or tactics (Tuckwell, K. J, 1950). Peters marketing share is to maintain their famous brand for quality and service by providing a consistent customer experience and being persistent in all attitudes regarding quality and using the best ingredients obtainable which it has proved in all sense. Peters Drive-In is very concerned about its brand image. In very short time, it has maintained a reputed status in the society. Age range from 5-75 but the median age of approx. 40 is the main target market of Peters Drive-In. As it is famous for fresh beef burgers, a chicken burger can be the new product that can attract more consumers who are not regulars to Peters Drive-In. Chicken is a preferable source nowadays, as it provides a lower level of artery-clogging nutritional factors. People are more conscious about their health which has influenced fast food industry in past few years. As female are more conscious about their health, a chicken burger can be the great way to appeal to female population in the area. Peters main form of promotion is from the radio. They can open Facebook, Twitter, an Instagram account which would be the attraction of newcomers and younger clients. Community events page can be made which would involve more people to head to their site and with visuals of the food. It can also offer gift cards which can attract new customers. Car shows can be the best option which can bring the classic Peters image back, and peak the interest of people to come to the locations, and try their food too. Peters Drive-In should access all the channels and should transfer messages clearly to the target audiences. Marketing Strategy Peters Drive-In has really worked hard over 49 years to preserve product quality and maintain a large, faithful customer base around northern Alberta. The target customers of Peters Drive-In are both male and female and range in age from 5-75 years. Peters Drive-In is a must-stop location for road trippers heading east. And for shift workers finishing up work at 9 a.m. who really need a burger before heading home. (Olafson, 2017) This iconic restaurant is an ideal destination for hungry individuals and families who are looking for a quick meal, but are not willing to sacrifice quality. Most customers are financially secure and have or are in the process of achieving a formal education. The classic old school vibe and quality of Peters Drive-In allows them to excel in customer retention, especially within an older more conservative demographic of Albertans. The consistency of Peters ensures that customer expectations are met every time, making them more likely to be repeat customers. Although this consistency is one of the reasons Peters is a local favorite, we feel a new product development strategy will be highly beneficial in attracting both new and return customers to the Drive-In. This new product development strategy begins with introducing a flame grilled chicken burger to the Peters menu. The chicken burger will expand Peters target market to include a more health conscious demographic, while also giving return customers a new reason to Drive-In. This will increase customer volumes and sales. Peters will take full advantage of this product release by ramping up social media attention to make their new chicken burger the talk of the town. Through outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Peters will host contests and giveaways to increase customer excitement for the new chicken burger. This will allow them to increase publicity and reach new clients, especially within a younger demographic that might not listen to their radio ads. Due to its iconic name in Northern Alberta, the news of the new Peters chicken burger will spread quickly, enticing many new and old customers to stop by a location. Peters has always actively supported charities, however th e original owner Gus Pieters kept it a private matter and out of the public eye. Gus Pieters was a charitable guy, but not too many people knew about it because he was so humble. Pieters helped kids whenever he could. Each year, Peters and the team would make 4,500 burgers and donate them to underprivileged children at the annual firemens Christmas fundraiser and party. (Olafson, 2017) Since socially responsible business is a major concern of modern day consumers, Peters plans to host charity events and fundraisers. By doing this on location, Peters will attract more customers and showcase their commitment to the community. Peters also plans to host events such as car shows and a poker run stop in the future, to encourage the community to come out to their locations. This brings the classic Peters image back, and gives customers and families a positive experience that they will associate with the restaurant. Becoming more active on social media and within the community will only inc rease the iconic image Peters drive-In has, thus increasing customer retention and truly making it The Drive-In You Cant Drive by. Peters has relied on their iconic name and has conducted most of its advertising through radio ads in the past. Peters has never been too extensive with their advertising campaigns because their classic products sell themselves. However, with the release of the new chicken burger, Peters plans to take a much more aggressive twenty first century approach to marketing. Peters will achieve this by ramping up social media significantly by hiring experts to take over their pages. To do this Peters must triple their marketing budget to account for all three channels of advertising. Radio allowance will stay consistent with past years; however social media networking will take up fifty-five percent of the advertising budget. This is because social media has the largest potential to attract a new generation of customers. Also advertising for community and charity events will be done through social media platforms. The rest and smallest portion of the advertising budget will go toward prepari ng and hosting events and conducting product promotions. This approach will ensure the chicken burger is a success and Peters iconic image will only improve. Marketing Mix: Introduction of New Product. Peters current Food menu consists of: Beef Burgers Hot Dogs (Cheese dogs) Fries Onion Rings Poutine This is the introduction of the new PETERS flame grilled chicken burger. This burger would be virtually the same as the beef burger, with one exciting change, CHICKEN!! To stand alone in the market and be socially responsible, grain fed chickens would be the first choice for this venture. This burger would be flame grilled to perfection, be juicy to the bite, and have the same delightful taste as the beef burger. The traditional Peters secret sauce can marinate the chicken, to help give it that taste peters is world renowned for. Right now Peters sells approximately 4000 beef burgers on a busy day and 4000 milkshakes any given day in the summer months (Ribecco, 2017). With the addition of the chicken burger, this would introduce a whole new market throughout Calgary to the flavors of Peters. With consumption of Poultry on the rise in Calgary, and beef on a decline over the past few years. Having the competitive edge with bringing chicken to the table of the customer, will juristically improve the profitability of Peters. Health trends are always favoring chicken, and with healthy options mainly targeting women more often than not, this is a great way to appeal to the female population in the area. Price Plan for New Burger: Current prices for food at Peters are as follows: Single to triple burgers- $4.10-7.10 Hot dogs- $3.90-4.50 Fries- $4.00-8.00 Onion rings- $4.50 Poutine- $6.00 With these current prices Peters could easily price their New chicken burgers at a modest $5.25-6.25 per burger to make a healthy 60% profit, but because Peters isnt all about pure profit, this price can be adjusted accordingly. Peters currently purchases their beef from Centennial food services in Calgary, who also provide poultry as one of their services. With current purchases already going through this supplier, adding boneless chicken breast would be a quick addition to the existing order, possibly be a way to cut costs with discounts for more volume purchases. Prices at competitor Burgers places in the area are in the $6-8.00 range, so competing with them would be a profitable way to attain customers, and keeping the sauce the same increases order of the spices, but means they can save by making more at one time. Being competitive with the other local burger places in the area will attract more sales and with hopes raise profits by a 10% increase in the first year, this is because they already have a busier client base then the competitors. The closest burger spots to compete are over five blocks away, and not on a main road like 16th avenue, so they can corner the chicken market in the area for years to come. Placement/Distribution: The addition of this new burger would be cost effective for shipping to the store, providing they stay with the current provider Centennial food services (N/A, 2017). Peters would be able set this up by contacting their current food representative to discuss options for new meat sales. With Centennial being a local supplier, they are the perfect choice to represent Peters in the introduction of the burger. They already have an existing relationship and with supply and demand, Centennial, will be a major choosing for the burger to be successful in the future. Local Purchases means food is fresher than anywhere else and they can ensure the chicken is grain fed, plus this keeps the purchase cost in local Alberta economy. A huge part of the delivery process is to become more socially aware, younger consumers care how the food gets to them and if it was local or long distance. So local deliveries mean less carbon footprint, which in turn means being more socially responsible, so this also makes the environmental consumer appreciate the food that much more. Current distribution method is the best choice, for the best prices, to pass along to the customer. The customers can purchase this new Chicken burger and any of the rest of the menu by heading to 219 16 Avenue, in Calgary, or 131 Leva Avenue, in the world famous Gasoline alley, Red Deer (just off the QE2 southbound, with access from the first Northbound exit). The Calgary Location is open from 9AM to Midnight daily and Red Deer is open daily 10-10 (Website, 2017). This is very convenient for any commuter in those areas to get themselves a burger and shake for the rest of their drive. They can also find out times, prices and locatons by visiting the Peters website at www.petersdrivein.com. Promotion for the 21st Century Drive in: Currently Peters uses radio ads in the slow season(Ribecco, 2017). They currently use radio platforms like: Virgin radio, C Jay 92, Jack FM and Lite 96.9 in Calgary, and BIG 105.5, Z98.9 and Real Country 95.5 in Red Deer. Peters would need to jump in to the 21st century with their feet firmly on the ground. Hiring a dedicated social media marketing representative, that would be the first step. They would be responsible for opening Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, these would be key to attracting new and younger clients. Using a new revised webpage to modernize the feel of the old school touch. Jumping on the social media bandwagon is almost an essential must do for any business to gain new business. They would need to set up a I was at peters drive in Facebook sign up page, so the customers friends can see it in their newsfeeds. To achieve success on these platforms they could hold weekly or monthly contests, which could be anything from Like Share contests to Trivia games on Facebook and Twitter, and Picture hashtag games involving Instagram. Adding pages to the website with links for things to do around Calgary, Charity pictures and events. Helping promote local community events page woul d involve more people to head to their site and with visuals of the food entice them to head to one of the locations. The next way to market the new drive ins image (Calgary and Red Deer), would be to have car shows in the parking lot at both locations on two separate weekends so owners could potentially be at both locations. This brings the classic 1960s Peters image back, peaks the interest of people to come to the locations, where they can try the food and check out the classic and performance cars. Peters would offer specials for car shows to attract more people to this type of event. Show and shines bring a lot of people who are interested in cars out for an afternoon of fun in the sun (this has been proven by event companies and parts stores to bring awareness of the area they hold the event). The performance JDM car markets, Poker Run stops would be a way to bring very nice motorbikes and new flashy cars to the same spot, and be free media outlet for the restaurant. These promotional strategies will increase profits by 20-30% in the summer and possibly become the new muscle car hangout in the process. This increases free advertising by 40% due to people wanting to see the cars and also mentioning the location on social media. There are limitless ways to promote the new chicken burger. Peters can incorporate a charity event along with specific deals or events they might want to host. One idea is to have a monthly drawing of charitable donations, voted on by the customer. This will not only attract a huge portion of the consumer base it will also promote a good philanthropy practice. Showing that peters cares about the community with fundraiser events, brings general awareness to an otherwise blinded consumer that might not be willing to stop in otherwise. Promoting events around the city that local and traveling guests can be involved with is a good way to get people out of the house and in to the city more. Posting social events around town also shows that peters cares about the consumers happiness within the community, but also gets people to be more interactive with the Peters brand which will in turn help with marketing all their products better. Peters could also take advantage of mixing a few of these promotion ideas together, by having a charity show and shine/poker run. This would bring excitement to the locations and they can even use the radio and social media to let the customer know whats happening at these events/charities. They could Introduce a charity Burger for the Hungry Eater, that burger could be a double cheese burger, with a chicken breast in-between, and topped with a couple onion rings. Add a Shake and some fries for a package price, and some of the proceeds can go directly to the charity that was voted for that current month. Conclusion We all know that peters had an image of offering beef burgers, milkshakes, fries and onion rings. To add a new flavour in the peters drive in we are introducing totally new chicken burger which is supposed to bring new changes to the market. Maintaining a reputed status in the society peters drive in is attracting new customer to generate sales with some gift cards and offers. They are also looking forward to organize a car show upbringing the old peters classic image back. We all know that the classic peters drive in lip smacking snacks sells themselves because of their iconic name and image which does not require huge marketing campaigns but still in the 21st century drive in promotions will always be beneficial in attracting new customers contributing to sales and profit. Also, a new demographic will be added in the peters drive in customers market who were originally buying burgers off DQ and Burger king which is much expensive than the product being introduced here. In addition to the social media marketing we are also looking forward for charity fundraising on a monthly basis and having chicken burger as a feature deal will for sure make the people familiar with our new burger and this is how we will be going to roll out our campaign article, C. o. (2016, 11 18). cbc news. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/restaurant-sales-calgary-full-vs-limited-service-1.3856939. BILL KAUFMANN, C. S. (2014, 09 16). Calgary sun. Retrieved 2017, from www.calgarysun.com: http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/09/16/calgarys-iconic-peters-drive-in-expanding-to-red-deer-after-53-years-in-the-burger-business Edwardson, L. (2017, 03 30). metro news. Retrieved from metro news: http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2016/12/22/peters-drive-in-named-one-of-worlds-best-burger-joints.html Farms, S. O. (2017, 03 01). http://www.sunshineorganicfarm.com/price-list. Retrieved from http://www.sunshineorganicfarm.com/price-list. freepress), J. C. (2016, 09 23). http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/food-chicken-prices-increase. Retrieved from cbc online newspaper: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/food-chicken-prices-increase-1.3776594 N/A. (2017, 03 11). Centennial Foodservice. Retrieved from Centenialfoodservice.com: http://www.centennialfoodservice.com/ Olafson, K. (2017, Febuary 2017). http://www.avenuecalgary.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from http://www.avenuecalgary.com/Restaurants-Food/5-Decades-of-Stories-From-Peters-Drive-In/ Peters Drive-In. (2017, 03 23). Retrieved from www.petersdrivein.com: www.petersdrivein.com Pieters, G. (2017, 03 01). Peters Drive in history. Retrieved from http//:www.petersdrivein.com/history. Ribecco, G. (2017, 03 01). Manager. (B. Halliday, Interviewer) services, G. f. (2017, 03 02). https://www.gfs.ca/en/products/product-categories/poultry. Retrieved from https://www.gfs.ca/en/products/product-categories/poultry. Website, P. D. (2017, 03 15). main page. Retrieved from Peters Drive In : http://www.petersdrivein.com

Culloden Case Essay

Culloden is not an action film, or a historical documentary, it is a historical deconstruction.   It serves to retell the events of the battle of Culloden as they really occurred.   Culloden was not the patriotic battles filled with the heroes that are portrayed in history books, it was an occurrence of bloody mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing. Through filming the events in a documentary style and vividly reconstructing events, the Director of Culloden, Peter Watkins, represents the horror of war in a true and realistic manner and allows the viewer to feel as though they are witnessing events first hand.   This technique, coupled with rapid editing, loud noises and tight close-ups brings the horror of the events home to the viewer and any images of the battle that a viewer may have previously held are completely lost. Within the documentary the deficiencies of the myths contained in history books and stories are revealed.   The character of Bonnie Prince Charlie, for example, is not portrayed as the romantic hero with whom people traditionally associate, rather he is revealed as an incompetent fool who self obsession leads to the murder of innocent civilians and soldiers. The presence of the British historian commenting on events from a safe distance is aimed squarely at pinpointing exactly how this reality becomes distorted over time.   The disjoint between the events on the field and the historian’s reaction to them serves to show how events such as this are dramatized.   Even in the midst of the bloodshed and the violence the historian views events with bias, commenting on them in an animated and vibrant fashion. The film draws the viewer’s attention to a number of factors that are traditionally forgotten in the heroic tales of war; it is an extremely terrifying event where innocent people die, the soldiers themselves suffer horrendously from the events and dreadful mistakes are made.   Whilst the bravery of the men who fight these wars should be remembered, so should the reality of what occurred on the battlefields.

A Long Way Down By Matthew Simpson Song Analysis

Nick Hornby is a modern British classic author, having won many awards, most of his books have climbed to the top of the bestsellers chart. Most of his books are fictional and tend to be written about unemployed characters or characters who are now quite far down the social ladder, for whatever reason. His books have done well enough for three films to be made out of them. ‘A Long Way Down' is about four characters who want to commit suicide, but meet and decide not to, instead opting to help each other. It was very successful because of its narrative and the characters which we like to read about in order to make ourselves feel better. People would also buy it because of his previous success. There are many reasons for its success, including the fact that it is about suicide. We are intrigued by this narrative because it is something we do not really know about. The theme of social wealth is also very important because it is something we are involved with on a day to day basis. Character introductions are very important because it sets the standard for the rest of the novel and also needs to hook the reader. ‘Emma' By Jane Austin is a good example as it hooks us by talking immediately about social wealth, â€Å"with very little to distress or vex her†, this intrigues us because we want to learn about her luxurious lifestyle. As I have previously discussed, Hornby is a bestselling author who has become a modern classic author. This reputation must have helped ‘A Long Way Down' to sell well, as it did become a bestseller. Exploration of character introductions All four characters start the narrative and the variety in social wealth of the characters adds to interest. By having these four contradicting characters, we are guaranteed conflict. Jess is a young, party-going loudmouth, but is without many friends, â€Å"and not have anywhere to go on New Year's Eve.† We as readers wonder what her life is like, but once we find out that she has a political father, and a comfortable home, we feel little sympathy for her. Jess likes to argue with and annoy the other characters, which can excite us, because we like to see characters fall out in order to make us feel better about ourselves. Maureen is the other female, who is extremely introverted with a disabled son. Her transformation from this character into a more relaxed, open and friendly character after hitting Jess' ex, shows us that even the most reclusive people can change and be happy, making us as readers happy as well. By adding a supposed rising American rock star, who has unfortunately fallen on hard times, we feel sorry that he was not able to achieve his ambitions. JJ's constant use of swear words livens up the story, â€Å"Oh OK, your band was fucked up†¦the only reason you were in this fuckin' country†, as we don't see it as being pretentious, or something that we can't read. The icing on the cake has to be the law-breaking child molester, â€Å"screwing a fifteen-year-old†, who rocketed into the public eye for things which he would rather have not been' being bombarded by the press with headlines such as â€Å"SLEAZEBAG!† We want to know how on earth he could possibly live with himself, and perhaps understand that he's not the murderous villain that we might typically stereotype him as. Although, for sure, we are not meant to like him all that much. Having these four different suicidal characters also means that we can see that suicidal people aren't necessarily as selfish as we might think they are, and that they are just normal people like you and me, except grossly stereotyped and with supposedly big problems. Each character interests us in a different way, and obviously one of the novels greatest pulls is its modern style, with frequent use of colloquialism and so on, as I have explained below. However, some other interesting factors are the fact that Jess doesn't use speech marks because she apparently doesn't understand how to use them. By varying the syntax like this, it makes the sentence structure less common and so more interesting to read, and perhaps a bit more of a challenge to read. Another key factor is how one character thinks of the other characters, for example Martin thinks that he is too cool to â€Å"hang around† with the other three, when he clearly isn't. This difference in attitudes towards each other that they don't all necessarily know about, has the effect of making the reader think they have an advantaged view on things and so want to find out how things change. Hornby releases information slowly in order to add intrigue. This is evident in the first chapter which Maureen â€Å"writes†, where she talks about a â€Å"He† and â€Å"His† without telling us who this is. We wonder if she is in a dysfunctional relationship, until we find out a few lines later that it is actually her son, and later still a sick child, which perhaps makes her seem selfish when she says, â€Å"but you can see that nothing goes in.† It is vastly important that Hornby uses a split narrative so hat we can see the central plot told or portrayed from several different angles, and see what effects it has on Martin's family or what he has left of it as a result, for example, â€Å"You know Martin left us? We didn't leave him?† It also gives us, as readers, variety so that if we get bored of one characters way of writing, we are safe in the knowledge that another character will be along in a minute that has a different outlook on things, and a different style of writing, inspiring us to keep reading. Moreover, if we had just one narrative then we wouldn't learn anything about suicide that would give us a â€Å"well-rounded† opinion if you like, it would also get terribly boring unless that character had split personalities, for example. Explore Hornby's writing style I think that Hornby's writing style is fabulous. The way we get the impression that he has written nothing, and that it was the work of these completely believable characters is astounding. As above, he frequently uses colloquialism, presumably to bring the novel down to earth and to make people believe that these could be real people. He uses very subtle language techniques such as brackets to make Maureen seem un-confident and Jess' lack of speech marks to indicate stupidity. Practically the whole book is written like a conversation and flows like one as well. Pretty much the whole book could be put on a stage without too much re-writing, and this, I suppose, helps to lift it out of the weighting of â€Å"a book† where complicated language and dull paragraphs are used into something that you could believe to be happening in you street. Exploration of themes and narratives We are interested in a group of people who want to kill themselves because it is not something we would normally think of doing, and neither is it something that we know about. The fact that suicide is so taboo in modern society makes the narrative of this book even more narrative, because it is somewhere where we can find out a little more about suicide, without all the opinions of other people etc. We are ultimately intrigued by this. Social wealth is extremely important in the novel, because if the characters had been successful people with lots of money, and lots of friends then we as reads would not be interested. When we pick up a book, most of us like to escape to another world, and find out about that world. Furthermore, we like to feel good about ourselves at the same time, so the characters have to be the complete opposite to the above so that we can compare it to our own lives and be happy that we are doing fairly well. A lot of people are obsessed with celebrity in today's society, so the fact that this is a key component for Martin in the novel is a big pull. Celebrity magazines usually focus on relationships, and rarely do we see celebrities with such vivid problems as Martin. We as readers want to see what this fame-torn star does with his life and also to observe his downfall. They want to know how someone with such a reputable job could get into such a bad state, which is something a lot of people like finding out about. We perhaps also feel sympathy for him because of the way he is treated by the media, which draws parallels with how real-life celebrities are treated and how we now think of them as a result of reading the novel. For those people who read ‘A Long Way Down' and are religious, a big part of the narrative for them must be Maureen's struggle with her religion's stance on what she so desperately wants to do and the pain she is suffering. People may wonder how on earth a Catholic could possible consider one of the biggest sins, as the obvious thing to say is that it is not an option for her, but she clearly thinks it is. Readers will want to find out, specifically in these days of high religious tension, how and if she manages to turn her back on her religion's beliefs. Suicide and religious guilt tie in very tightly with each other here. Some people may argue that the ending of the novel was a bit of an anti-climax, because they were expecting at least one of the four to commit suicide. However, I would argue that it wasn't, because we never really root for any of the characters to kill themselves, instead we want to see them resolve their problems. The fact that we get an ending where they talk about helping someone else who is in their situation, shows that they have learnt something and moved on, and this makes us happy. In Martin's last chapter, he seems to write a bit like an offender doing community service, as he tries to gain back his â€Å"self-respect.† This shows us that his arrogance from the start of the novel had perhaps started to die, until we read that he didn't like the child and blamed him for not getting his self-respect back quickly, â€Å"I blamed him, partly.† And again, perhaps the â€Å"partly† shows that he is starting to see the error of his ways. He also uses a circular narrative; the story beings with him stating, â€Å"Suicide was my Sydney†, and ends by saying, â€Å"self-respect is in, say, Sydney.† This shows us that he has moved on, but more so that he was back at the start, as were the others, and all the guilt and problems they had were very much still there. Throughout the book I never really cared for any of the characters and perhaps this is because I saw hope for them, there was always an alternate path; Maureen could have sent Matty to a care home, so I didn't think they needed caring for. I think that they were designed to intrigue and interest the reader, but were too vulgar or out of the ordinary to care for. I think that a reader would be more likely to care for a character if they were in a similar situation and so could empathize with them. In conclusion, I think that the social relevance of the novel outweighs that of the character introductions, because it is such a big issue in modern society, and this is where the initial spark of intrigue comes from, from us wanting to know so much about the topic of suicide. However, because the character introductions are so good, they are also responsible for hooking the reader and keeping them reading, perhaps more so than the social relevance. Had this book been released in the 1920s then the social relevance in relation to partying and suicide etc, would have perhaps of been less than it is now, and the introductions would have been such a contrast to writing of that time that they would not hook many people. So after reflection, it must be a combination of the two.

Visual Media, Allegorical Consciousness, and Postmodern...

Visual Media, Allegorical Consciousness, and Postmodern Culture I think many of us would agree that we are living in an era of transition: generally, from one phase of modernity to another; more specifically, it is harder to say. Lets ask ourselves for a moment how this sense of change might guide the rhetorical study of visual media. Of the many possible answers to this question, there are two I want to put on the table. The first consideration is that the study of visual media is likely to be occurring at all, or in a particular form, because our society now is moving beyond those media to other communication technologies. Here I am applying an observation from the history of communication: We know that the study of the forms†¦show more content†¦Not surprisingly, the study of meaning quickly became articulated through terms such as symbol that could work in both verbal and visual media, while subsequently verbal and visual terms have become interchangeable as we referr to all manner of practices as discourses and read a limitless range of artifacts, or at least gesture in that direction. And now we find ourselves amidst the study of visual media, visual cultures, visual literacy, etc.--which is more, by the way, than previous investigations of the individual visual arts, which always arise soon after their moment of origin. I cant help but wonder if, once again, the study of communication is caught in a slightly retrograde enterprise. Are we focusing on the visual because we are already under the influence of a successor technology? If so, isnt it likely that our account of visual rhetorics is itself already bearing the stamp of a post-visual mode of perception or cognitive style, or that if it is not, it wont last once such an account emerges? One more time: could it be the successful account of visual media is likely to be the one that also works with its successor medium? If so, then we need only specify that successor. To suggest how this logic might play out, if the successor medium is interactive computing generally and the internet/web practices currently, the n our account of visual rhetorics will be likely to feature interaction