To Find Common Identifying Factors in different financial scandals Essay Example for Free

To Find Common Identifying Factors in different financial scandals Essay Financial scandals are known for their adverse effects on businesses. They can cripple a business entity or lead to total collapse. Thus, the value of looking into the issue of scandals constitutes a study area of great value both to the academic discourse and the general knowledge. This paper looks into financial scandals with a view to finding common factors underlying them. Through a case study approach, the Amaranth Advisors, Allfirst Group, and Soceite Generale are examined. Through the use of relevant literature review, it is established that though scandals are different in the nature of their emergence, there are a host of common factors that occasion them. The study finds that poor regulating posed by both internal and external mechanisms are to blame for this phenomenon. It is also established that issues such as rogue trading, office politics, laxity in rule application and sluggish responding constitute the other common factors underlying the scandals. The paper concludes by calling upon the tightening of measures, updating technologies, de-politicizing organizational business, and the adoption of stringent regulation to tame the vice. Introduction Financial scandals involve business and political misdeeds by executives entrusted with large public and private institutions. These schemes entail complex methodical application of schemes with a view to misdirecting and/or misusing funds. Other forms of scandals may pertain to understating expenses, underreporting business liabilities, overstating of revenues, overstating of assets, etc. This is normally done by officials and subordinates of businesses. In public enterprises, this kind of action constitutes fraud. In cases where scandals have been detected or reported, the norm is always to launch investigations with a view to unearthing the issues underlying the engagement of such criminal activity. The oversight agencies like Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States are responsible for investigating the emergence of this kind of crime. Scandals typically present a seriously dangerous scenario as most investigations point that such scams are nothing but a ‘tip of an iceberg’. As this paper finds out scandals are often led by officials within organizations. The officials are given support by either laxity or complacency by relevant organs. Literature review In any research, the use of literature review is of undisputed value. Literature review enables a researcher to find the status of an issue area. This is possible as literature review offers what other researchers have done on the study issue. On this basis, this study is no exception as it heavily relies on the works of other scholars towards raising important findings. The case of Societe Generale The scandal involving Societe Generale went on for a long period of time. It was first reported via an email on November 7th of 2007. A surveillance office stationed at Eurex raised the mater before a compliance officer of the bank. It was revealed that a trader; Jerome Kerviel, had engaged in a number of transactions which were suspicious in nature (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). The bank bid its time and launched its own response in 20th of November. In this response, a risk control expert at the bank purported that there was nothing irregular in the transactions executed between the bank and the client; Jerome Kerviel. In his response, the bank official claimed that the then ongoing volatility in the financial markets especially in the United States of America and Europe stocks, was the reason behind the bank’s requirement of after-hours trading (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). The office at Eurex did not stop there. On November 26, it sent a second email to the bank explaining its displeasure at the way the matter was handled by the bank. This explains what led the bourse to demand further information regarding this issue. The bank, Societe Generale provided further information on 10th of December. On this basis, the two parties; Societe Generale and the Eurex office let the issue disappear (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). When Kerviel raised another alarm, coming five weeks later, it proved too little too late. He made a lot of profit based on the surreptitious trading amounting to around two billion US dollars. However, this gain was soon to evaporate as a loss in the region of seven billion US dollars. The bank basically unwound the financial standing of Kerviel on 21st and 22nd of January (Clark and Jolly, 1). A spokesperson of Societe Generale declined to comment on the warning issued earlier by Eurex claiming an internal inquiry led by a special committee composed of independent directors was underway. It is hypothesized at this stage that ignoring the red flag raised by Eurex was a serious misstep in aiding this scandal. The loss suffered by the bank is almost wholly attributable to the actions of ignorance on the side of the bank (Sage, 1). The bank, despite being in business for over one hundred and forty four years, it failed by allowing a culture of risk taking to flourish within its ranks. Simply put, this seriously exposed the bank as it allowed for major flaws to characterize its operations. It is hypothesized that it is this allowance that paved way for the rogue businessman to rock the bank and make away with a good amount of money while leaving the bank with gaping holes in its financial status. The manner in which Kerviel was let to undertake his mischief undetected by a bank of Societe Generale stature serves to underscore this realization (Gregory and Anne-Sylvaine, 1). Instead of discouraging the making of big bets by clients, the Societe Generale group rewarded traders who made such risky investments. It is further revealed that it was never uncommon for traders to exceed the limits put on trading momentarily before holding back. This was however against controls limiting this (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 1). During January 2008, Societe Generale lost over 4. 9 billion euros as it closed positions in three days. At this time, the market was experiencing a big drop in equity indices. It is claimed by the bank that these positions were fraudulent creations of one, Jerome Kerviel, a rogue trader. However, more surprises were sprung up as the police claimed they did not have the evidence to charge the culprit with fraud instead preferring abuse of confidence charges against Jerome Kerviel. Jerome Kerviel claimed that his actions were well known to the superiors at the bank and the major reason behind the collapse of the bank was based on panic selling (Sage, 1). It is claimed by bank officials that throughout the year 2007, Jerome Kerviel was trading profitably anticipating a fall in market prices. This was however done beyond authorized levels. The culprit is accused of engaging in trade totaling almost 50 billion, a figure way above the bank’s sum market capitalization. It is further revealed that Jerome Kerviel attempted to hide this engagement by intentionally creating losing trades in a bid to offset the early gains he had made. In addition to the above allegation, Jerome Kerviel is thought to have made over 1. 5 billion US dollars in hidden profits (Martin, Allen, Allen and Samuel, 14). The case of Allfirst John Rusnak, a former currency businessman at Allfirst bank, at the time an affiliate of AIB Company was given a 71/2 years jail term in connection to his role in the disappearance of six hundred and one US million dollars. This sum of money was lost due to the banking system’s encouragement of bad bets. The bad debts were later to snowball leading to a monstrous scam ever witnessed in the banking industry. The culprit, Rusnak John was transferred from prison to his house in June of 2008 to be under house detention until September the same year and later let free in 5th January 2009. This meant that in total, Rusnak served less than six years in incarceration (Robert, 45). If the original sentence could have been adhered to the later, Rusnak could have been held in prison for a period of over 30 years. However, the original sentence was a presentation of a plea bargain hammered in collaboration with the US prosecutors. While being released, it was alleged that Rusnak had earned good behavior and completed a drug treatment module. On his release, Rusnak was expected to begin paying one thousand US dollars a month to cater for his time in probation (Robert, 45). Though Rusnak was held responsible for the loss of six hundred and ninety one million US dollars, the case prosecutors claimed whatever amount to be paid was to depend on what the culprit was able to make after being freed. The fraudulent activities engineered by Rusnak were very harmful to the entire stakeholder ship as over one thousand and one hundred Allfirst employees lost their jobs during the sale of the company (Robert, 45). Early on at the discovery of the fraud, the executives at Alllfirst and AIB believed that there was no any form of conspiracy between Rusnak and any other member or official of the bank (Brian, 54). This finding may absolve the bank of any blame in the eyes of the public. However, this is a devastating finding since it paints a grisly picture on the part of the bank. That is to say if one bank official would carry out a fraud of this magnitude, then things were quite wrong. Simply put, the bank’s monitoring and self regulating mechanism was in tatters to say the least. The Ludwig report confirmed that the bank’s back office did not make attempts towards confirming the bogus options alongside their Asian counterparts. The negligence fronted by the company’s middle and back offices from confirming the foreign exchange rate from an independent source also puts the bank on the spot. It is also alleged that the internal audit done in 1999 did not bring out the real picture. Later in 2000, an audit carried only examined a single transaction to determine whether indeed there was impropriety. These failures of the bank only present actions that appear in support of graft (Brian (a), 34). The back office at the treasury had issued a warning regarding the events at the bank. The fact that the bank chose to let the opportunity points to gross misconduct by leadership. The treasury, backroom office had raised a host of issues regarding Rusnak’s personality concerns and confirming trades conducted by Rusnak. The culprit seemed excellent in playing organizational politics to his advantage. This is reflected by the fact that the back office desisted from reporting the actions of the trader as the management was behind Rusnak’s activities. If the back office had received support from the top management, then the rogue activities could have been curtailed (Brian, 54). Foreign exchange rules require that suspicious activities should be discouraged (Brian (a), 34). The two prime brokerage provision banks failed to uncover what Rusnak was undertaking. This was a notable omission on the part of the two banks. The Historical Rate Rollovers should never have been used to uncover fraud deals as it happened. The trading system at Allfirst was literary flawed as one employee was trying to run a hedge fund. Rusnak had no knowledge, diversification, skills, and other requisite attributes necessary to run the trading system (Brian (a), 35). The case of Amaranth Advisors The year 2006 was one of the most devastating in reference to the history of the Amaranth group. It is during this year that Amaranth Advisors lost in excess of two billion US dollars over a span of few weeks (Robert, 37). Amaranth Advisors engaged in a very risky venture in regards to trading. This left the business entity hugely exposed to the frugalities that characterise the business world. Liquidity is an aspect that should be closely monitored if businesses ae to be safe. But taking risks as this business did implies a readiness in the business to test the waters of uncertainty. Launched as a hedge fund business, Amaranth operated a very risky venture as its portfolio could change up to 80 percenty in reflection of the energy trade. As this soared, the group, Amaranth changed tack and put onside the concept of diversification with a view to mitigating the risks that were emerging. the group traded on Credit Arbitrage, Convertible Bond Arbitrage, Merger Arbitrage, Energy Arbitrage, etc. Initially, the the amount in Convertible Arbitrage reflected sixty percenty of te worth of the company. however, by september 2006, this had shifted to almost two percent. Such is the volatility that characterised the company activities (Robert, 37). One factor emerges at this point; there were no limits concerning the regulation of concentration. Leverage was also unrestricted. when leverage is unrestricted, it means that a company can engage in trading beyond the set limit or outside the confines of its budget. this portends ill for a business as in the case of a loss, the company can easily go under (Robert, 37). Brian Hunter who was hired in 2004 takes blame for the financial fiasco experienced by this group. Brian Hunter had already cut a niche for himself in the corridors of wall street. While trading in energy futures, Hunter had achieved great success and it is perhaps on this basis that Amaranth hired him. The trader was so renowned such that When he threatened to quit in 2004, his perks were adjusted upwards to tie him there. Hunter was also given the oportunity to trade separately from the group boss and awarded adittional compenation. Equally of note rests on the fact that the individual was given the privilege of relocating o his hometown and trade from there (Robert, 38). On the basisof the United States Senate Permanent Subcommitte on Finance, Amaranth lost money in the region of two bilion US dollars beginning the first week of August. This loss was attributed to the trading in natural gas which led to high liquidity in the entire company portfolio. The John Marthinsen estimates put the losses at around 6. 5 billion. The Amaranth group was deeply engaged in various types of contracts that captured futures, options, and swaps. The company position remained hugely independent on the future prices of natural gas (Robert, 38). Historically, natural gas prices rose during the winter times. This was held as natural gas is commonly used as a heating source at tis tme. so it was commonsense that gas prices would rise during te time. Amaranth was banking on this norm to enable the company reap profits. However, this is an instinctive way of runing business which cannot be relied upon though it wored previously. this ponts to a lack of well oiled strategies in running the business (Robert, 38). Allfirst hired John Rusnak as a currency trader with a view to help in the proprietary exchange of foreign currency. This was a costly acquistion as the fellow cost the bank around 691 million dollars. Through the use of various methods, Rusnak overstepped his mandate and traded beyond limits putting the bank’s fortunes at stake in the process (Robert, 38). The wild derivatives were the first error towards the financial meltdown. It appears like Brooksley Born, the then chairperson of Commodity Futures Trading Commission had foreseen the danger posed by deregulation of derivatives. The idea to extend the regulation mandate as proposed by Brooksley was rebuffed by the officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department. While it remains debatable whether the regulation could prevent or alter the financial trend, few dispute the idea that such control would have slowed the emergence of the problem. Financial analysts believe if this was introduced 10 years or earlier, the control would have mitigated the rise of the problem (Blinder, 1). Wild derivatives have adverse effects on any business, the deregulation of derivatives at Amaranth, Allfirst, and Societe Generale point to the fact that such a precedent is dangerous as it portends ill for a business. Blinder has observed that the alarm bells signaling the financial credit crunch went long ago and individuals in positions of influence refused to act rather preferring to protect huge business interests. The innermost government sanctums were basically to blame as they chose to protect few businesses at the expense of the common good (Blinder, 1). Brooksley, while serving at CFTC made it clear to congress that controlling the financial markets was necessary. The financial instruments commonly known as derivatives were the focus point. It is little surprise that ultimately the collapse of the derivatives market served as a trigger towards the 2008 financial crisis. Brooksley was overly concerned about the ‘swaps’ unregulated trading (Blinder, 1). This unregulated trading led to the near collapse of the economy. Similarly the unregulated nature of activities of the three companies presented the necessary conditions for the scandals to take place. For an efficient market operation, there are no illusions, regulation by an independent body is necessary. On the basis of Blinder’s observation ‘sky high leverage’ an issue that arose in 2004 leads to serious effects on businesses (1). During this period, the S. E. C allowed securities firms to up their leverage to levels unmatched before. Prior to this instance, leverage stood at 12 to 1. After this event, the leverage sky rocketed to 31 to 1 (Blinder, 1). This is a pointer to madness on the side of the S. E. C and firms’ heads. It is known that at 33 to 1 leverage, a small decline, for example a three percent decline in assets valuation can lead to a wiping out of a business company. If the authorities had ensured that the leverage was kept at 12 to 1, then the firms would have remained stable as they would not have grown that big or exposed to vulnerability. The firms being examined in this study equally let their officials exceed their normal leverage explaining why the effects were lethal. Findings When Eurex issued a warning, the Societe Generale officials did not respond adequately, instead they took to time wasting with a view to getting the issued buried. Warnings are expected to serve an entity to refocus or correct something going wrong. The Societe Generale group did not heed this, nor did Amaranth do. The officials of Societe Generale affirmed that there was nothing wrong with the transactions executed by Kerviel. This is an indication that Kerviel must have been operating under the protection of big officials at the institution or that the institution checking mechanisms were amiss. The internal self regulating and checking mechanism were in a total mess. This explains why Kerviel was able to wage such criminal activities without being noticed. However, this may point to another issue concerning politics of organization. Accomplices must have been used from the highest levels of management. For Kerviel to engage in this act, he must have been damn aware that there was some form of protection that would come his way. Risk ventures hold huge potential both in reference to loss and profit making. Societe Generale encouraged traders to continue engaging in such ventures. Jerome Kerviel claimed that superiors were aware of his actions. The losses incurred by Societe Generale were reflected in a very short time; three days. This does not however imply that prior to this; the business was in a sound position. This is because before such a position is reached, there must have been factors at play. The senior management based in Dublin and Baltimore failed to focus on the happenings at Allfirst. The role of any management team in all organizations is and remains one of overseeing the transactions executed. Simply put, the management should sanction all activities. Activities which carry the importance as the one carried out by Jerome Kerviel should have been closely monitored. However, this was not done. The betting business is a risky business venture which Allfirst bank encouraged. It is a fact that profits can be made in this business. However, it is also possible to make huge losses which may lead to collapse of a business entity. On this basis, there are regulative measures always put in place to guide in the setting the right amount to be gambled. Laxity in rules comes into the fore as Rusnak was given a relatively big sentence at the beginning but this was watered down to a mere 7 years though the culprit ended up serving even less. The amount payable back; 1 000 US dollars presented a slap in the face of justice considering the amount of losses the person had led Allfirst into incurring. The foreign exchange rules requiring the disapproval of suspicious ventures was also discarded as Rusnak continued with his business unhindered. Internal mechanisms at Allfirst and AIB at first claimed there was nothing sinister about Rusnak’s engagements. All other bank officials were cleared of any wrong doing claiming that there was no form of collusion between Rusnak and any member at the bank. The middle and the back office must have slept on the job. They did little to seek valid information from independent sources regarding exchange rates. In addition to this, the audit carried out by the bank examined only a single transaction involving the activities of Rusnak. How fair was this? The back office at the treasury issued a warning of impropriety at the bank concerning Rusnak’s activities, but this was either unheeded or ignored. The senior management monitoring and control system like auditing were overrated as they miserably failed on the very aspect they were there for. Just like Allfirst and the Societe Generale group, Amaranth Advisors engaged in a very risky trading system. Thus the uncertainty in the bank was bound to reflect on its financial and business health. Unregulated leverage was the crucial issue that brought down the bank. Brian Hunter the fellow behind the scam at Amaranth Advisors was given special treatment. Rusnak overstepped his mandate and traded beyond Amaranth Advisors’ limits. While Rusnak was doing this, the Amaranth Advisors just like the other two companies had internal mechanisms of regulating and monitoring activities within the organization. Outside regulators were also in place. The fact that both internal and outside sources of regulation failed to act puts such bodies or departments on the spot. Comparison of findings Poor rules and regulations regarding business operations are found to be reflected by the three business entities. Rules and regulations play a very pivotal role in the running of a business. Such rules and regulations stem from either within or from outside a business. The regulations relating to trading limits were flouted. Internal and external mechanisms equally failed to unearth these events. Where they were unearthed by external offices, the establishments at the three companies poured cold scorn on the advice. It appears like engineering episodes that were bound to happen. In the three cases, there are single individuals masterminding huge scandals. What baffles scholars and the public alike is the manner in which the events proceeded undetected for a long period of time. With the current levels of technology, it also leaves a lot to be desired why institutions like these could not use such technological assistance. Office politics, a regular phenomenon in most public offices also rears its ugly head again. The revelation by the former chief economist, Yves-Marie Laulan that what happened at Soceite Generale was inevitable offers strong support to this position. Yves-Marie Laulan further claimed that some things are hard enough and thus difficult to control, an implication that the economist could have well been aware the scam was in the making. The fact that when red flags were raised in these scandals nothing of note was taken by the companies serves as a pointer that senor and powerful individuals were behind the scams. Only that, they were achieving their goals through proxies. The proxies in the cases include the three individuals mentioned as the perpetrators of the scam. Rules regarding business operations were flouted. If rules and regulations are not obeyed things are bound to go awry at some point. The trading limit rules were ignored by these companies. Risk ventures which were suspect in nature were let tom thrive. As if that wasn’t bad enough, warnings issued were ignored. Where they were heeded, the approach was truly sluggish in nature. The companies; Amaranth, Allfirst, and Societe Generale presented cases of flouting expected levels of leverage. It is crucial that leverage levels be kept at the right level if businesses are to remain afloat. In the cases of the three businesses, this was never observed. The failure to observe set rules and regulations serves to point to impropriety in handling the businesses. Discussion On the basis of findings, it is discernable that there was laxity in rule implementation. Every trade has its regulations which aid operations in day to day transactions. The three entities examined in this survey exhibit an unwillingness or sluggish nature in implementing the regulations of business. In the three cases, the three culprits wee found to have operated way beyond the limits set by their businesses. System weakness and other failures are equally found to have served as impediments in the success of business. The scandals raised or rather examined in this paper are of big magnitude. However, despite calls for investigations and the raising of alarm bells in reference to the scandals at their initial stages, nothing worthy was engineered to curtail the explosion of the scandal. Every system is supposed to regulate itself fully. A system that fails this test is out of sorts and lacks the legitimacy of being in operation. Assuming that there was no abetting of these criminal activities in the respective scandals, then the systems regulation and control mechanisms were a total mess. Such systems should e replaced and completely done away with. Technology plays a critical role in present day business activities. For example, it aids the flow of transactions in a very expedient and efficient manner. Thus each company is encouraged to employ latest and up to date technologies in order to move a business forward in tandem with present trends. However, the scenario at Alfirst points to a different direction. The use of the Crossmar Matching System to monitor trade should have been used, working as a group would have equally helped. Instead of applying this latest technological support, Allfirst was employing the use of telephone and fax. The use of spreadsheets to feed information regarding exchange rates to the business is also another shortcoming attributable to the inability of the business from taking important and necessary steps in addressing business requirements. Simply put, it is a shame that a company of Alllfirst’s stature could be using the methods mentioned above. Whichever explanation is given in support of this position is unacceptable and unwelcome to level headed individuals. One of the greatest mistakes of the companies though not expressly captured in the paper relates to office politics. Office politics is almost commonplace in every business as human beings often tend to align themselves to different cocoons at the work place. However, it is the duty of the top management to focus on this aspect and ensure that office politics does not work to the detriment of an entity. If a business leadership fails on this, then there is no good in the office leadership being in office. A closer look at events in the three scandals implies an absence of good leadership characterized by political intrigues. When warnings were issued at initial stages of the scandal, the top leadership in the organizations seemed to brush aside the allegations. They equally failed to investigate and either authenticate or dispel the rumors in total. This, in my considered view, was an act outlining a possibility of role playing in which case the top leadership was an accomplice in the scandals. In the case of Allfirst, the preferential treatment of one employee illustrated by receiving extra perks and being allowed to work from home also underscores the point. The key to success in any business rests on good management practices (Barrett, 51). This points to the ability of the management to set achievable goals and embarking on a mission towards realizing them. For success to be attained, the management must outline the necessary tasks in setting up and managing the business. The goals set for the business must be measurable in performance terms. Towards that end, major goals should be broken into smaller goals. These sub goals should have timelines which must be observed. This is an area in which the businesses failed leading to the witnessed scandals. After setting goals and the sub goals, the individual owner or manager must move into action and make the necessary steps towards attaining them. The efforts required in achieving the different goals and sub goals are different, then the deviations should be reflected in the actions or the steps taken towards the achievement. The required effort must remain reasonable so as not to discourage the manager. Caution should be taken to avoid chasing too many goals as such pursuit may scuttle the success of a business (Wright, 75). In this regard, priorities must be set. The businesses studied in this research should prioritize vigilance and caution while trading. The planning and setting of goals must be done well in advance. This enables the manager to understand what to expect in most circumstances. As the business grows the set goals should gradually be achieved as such achievement is expected to motivate the manager. Normally, obstacles will be on the way of any business venture, this should be anticipated and provided for in terms of arrangements to counter or mitigate the effects (Wright, 75). The businesses mentioned in this study should have done this to avoid such scandals.

The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Edgar Allen Poe Writers Authors E

The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was a bizarre and often scary writer. People throughout history have often wondered why his writings were so fantastically different and unusual. They were not the result of a diseased mind, as some think. Rather they came from a tense and miserable life. Edgar Allan Poe was not a happy man. He was a victim of fate from the moment he was born to his death only forty years later. He died alone and unappreciated. It is quite obvious that his life affected his writings in a great way. In order to understand why, the historical background of Poe must be known. Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809. His parents were touring actors and both died before he was three years old. After this, he was taken into the home of John Allan, a prosperous merchant who lived in Richmond, Virginia.1 When he was six, he studied in England for five years. Not much else is known about his childhood, except that it was uneventful. In 1826, when Poe was seventeen years old he entered the University of Virginia. It was also at this time that he was engaged to marry his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Elmira Royster. He was a good student, but only stayed for a year. He did not have enough money to make ends meet, so he ran up extremely large gambling debts to trying make more money. Then he could not afford to go to school anymore. John Allan refused to pay off Poe's debts, and broke off his engagement to Sarah Elmira Royster. Since Poe had no other means of support, he enlisted in the army. By this time however, he had written and printed his first book, Tammerlane, and Minor Poems (1829).2 After a few months though, John Allan and Poe were reconciled. Allan arranged for Poe to be released from the army and enrolled him at West Point. During this time, his fellow cadets helped him publish another book of poetry. However, John Allan again did not provide Poe with enough money, and Poe decided to leave this time before racking up any more debts Still, Poe had no money and necessity forced him to live with his aunt, Mrs. Clemm, in Baltimore, Maryland. None of his poetry had sold particularly well, so he decided to write stories. He could find no publisher for his stories, and so resorted to entering writing contests to make money and receive exposure. He was rarely suc... ...f the House of Usher† what kills Roderick Usher is the sheer terror of his sister who appeared to have come back from the dead. According to Marie Bonaparte, one of Freud's friends and disciples, all the disorders Poe suffered from can be explained by the Oedipus Complex and the trauma he suffered when his mother died. The Oedipus Complex is best described as a child's unconscious desire for the exclusive love of the parent of the opposite sex. The desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. In fact, upon examining the women in Poe's stories, we find that they bear striking resemblance to the mother that Poe never had. So one gets a glimpse at how Poe's life, filled with insurmountable obstacles and full of disappointments, indeed played a role in his writing. A good comparison would be Vincent Van Gogh. He also endured hardship and died at an early age. Poe was only forty when he passed away. Insignificant in his lifetime, it was only after his death that he was appreciated. He is now acclaimed as one of the greatest writers in American history. It is indeed a pity that he will never know or care.

Miss Essay

You will also evaluate who the target audience is, and analyse the effectiveness of the advertiser’s use of language, imagery and colours (advertising techniques) in achieving their intentions. Students must also discuss and evidence their understanding of the social, historical and cultural features which they feel are explicit and implicit within the poster. For this task, all students must demonstrate that they are taking an active and contributory role within the discussion and annotation process and that you have met the assessment criteria for this element of the task. Photographs of each group’s annotated ‘War Child’ poster will be taken. (1. 1 – 4. 2) ii. Compare and contrast the two advertisements by holiday companies to inform and persuade their target audience For this part of Task 3, you must compare and contrast the two holiday advertisements for Ibiza and Blackpool. Use the writing frame and assessment task criteria to help you structure your writing. Paragraph 1 – Introduction (1. 2) Introduce the two adverts, what they are for? Are they predominantly trying to persuade or inform? Mention the fact that you are going to compare and contrast them, and will be evaluating who the target audience is, evaluating what style and form the advertiser’s use, analysing the language used in the advertisements, and evaluating the imagery and colours that the advertisers have used. You will also mention that you will be analysing the social, historical and cultural features in the advertisements which are explicit and implicit. You must also comment on how you will be evaluating what all of the above (advertising techniques) has with regard to the overall effectiveness of the advertisements in targeting the audience. |In this media essay, I’m going to compare two adverts – which are adverting on holidays. The first advert is for the ‘IBIZA’ (I will call this advert A) The | |second is for ‘BLACKPOOL’ (I will call this advert B) Although they are both adverting on holiday, the advert holiday is totally on a different ways. This is| |because they are aimed at different group of people. | | | | Paragraph 2 – Target Audience (3. 1) Compare and contrast the two advertisements with regard to the target audience. Here you must evaluate who you think the advertisements are aimed at. You need to give at least two main points of evidence here. You also need to summarise how effective you think the advertisements are with regard to the targeting of the audience. The adver t A is persuading the young people and also giving information to what they are presenting for them during the time spent on their holiday. The | |advert B is also persuading people by giving them a free ticket to come to the Blackpool tower a place for holiday also informing them for is best to receive| |like the Tower complex houses have many attractions in all kind of entertainments that you can think of. | |In this two Adverts A and B I am going to have a closer look on both of them by comparing and contrasting them and evaluates who the target audience is. Both| |adverts are aimed at adults. However, advert A is aiming to the young people whereas advert B is aimed to mature adult’s men and women. The denotation of | |advert A IBIZA the style of the advert is girly colours like bright pink, blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. | | | | | |Poster A is aiming to the young people whereas poster B is aiming to adult’s men and women. In the advert A IBIZA the uses is girly colours like bright pink,| |blue and yellow and the written words are of red, white, yellow and violet colours. The imagery is about grouping pictures of young boys and girls at the | |beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; and some are travelling on large vehicle and they are of different code of dressing which is mainly for the young | |people and the language uses on it, it is an attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s planning for their holiday. The both adverts are very | |effective because of different colours uses to design the posters they are of different effects, the form of the languages uses is to call an attraction of | |people and persuade them to come spent the holiday and the words uses are of upper and lower case which explain the thing to expect like going around visit | |the city, to the beaches, clubbing, dancing in the hall while spending their holiday. | | |These adverts are aiming at two different groups of people for the young boys and girls the styles uses and the languages uses know exactly the mind of young| |people of kind of thing they want like the social life style a young person would like to receive to be a history something they should look back on. | Paragraph 3 – Style and Form (3. 2) Here you need to compare and contrast the style and form of the two advertisements. Evaluate the overall style and form of the advertisements (the layout). Things to consider might be the position of the writing and the pictures. Which dominate and why? How does that link to the target audience? What font styles are used? What words are made to stand out? Again, summarise how does this link to how the advertisers are trying to inform or persuade the target audience? You must provide evidence. | | |The advert A which is the IBIZA has more effect on the poster and more colours also more photos of groups of people. The poster is displaying different | |people on different types of dressing. On the poster the written languages were uses upper and lower case some are bold and italics. The word used to stand | |out the advert is IBIZA written in a capital form with a large form of Alphabets. | |The position of the advert characters was at the right which displayed things to do at the beach, nights on the town, what’s are the costs prices, also the | |photos of groups of people was at the right side, they advertise the club beats with upper and lower case. |The advert B BLACK POOL the denotation of advert uses are less in colours and one photo of people dancing in the tower hall, photo of two people sited at the| |beach, the front photo of the tower hall and map show the travel direction which displayed the address and the direction to Blackpool town hall. The | |languages uses were upper and lower case some of the written words are highlighted bold and the position were at the left and the word Blackpool was written | |bold with a red colour and a written note from Deca Maggie to Jacquie were at the middle of the poster. The word used to stand the adverts is Blackpool | |written with a red colour and with large Alphabets. The two adverts A and B are trying to persuade the target audience to come and experience a good holiday. | | | Paragraph 4 – Language and slogans (4. 2) Here you must compare and contrast the language and slogans used in the two advertisements. What do you notice about the language choices? Is it formal or informal? Does it contain any dialect? Are there any slogans? Can you analyse how the language in the advertisements is used in different social contexts? Again, summarise how effective you think the language used in the advertisements is, in targeting the audience. You must provide evidence. |The language uses is to draw the attention of people who’s want or planning for holiday uses persuading word , writing on different form of colours, make | |use of italic, bold, upper case and case to call attraction. The imagery showing the adult’s men and women dancing at the tower all these are form of drawing| |an attention of the people to come and spent their holiday at the Blackpool tower. | |The language used was a clear and understand English languages there were nothing contain dialect and is wasn’t formal or informal. The language was use | |effectively because on the poster you can see that the written word was design attractively on lower and upper case has different attracting colour and the | |languages was targeting the people planning on holiday. Paragraph 5 – Imagery and colours (3. 2) Compare and contrast the imagery and colours used in the advertisements. Here you must evaluate the imagery (pictures and graphics) contained in the two advertisements. Compare the imagery of the two advertisements and comment on the differences. You could discuss how you think the use of imagery and colours is perhaps more effective than the other in targeting the audience. Wh at does the imagery and colours suggest about the two holiday destinations? Evaluate how the colours in the advertisements create a mood? Are they vibrant and exciting, or plain and reassuring? As before, summarise how effective you think the imagery and colours used in the advertisements is in targeting the audience. Give evidence. |The imagery is displaying group pictures of young boys and girls at the beaches, cinema, airport, and car park; travelling on large vehicle also the code of | |dressing which is mostly for the young people and the language uses on it. This advert is to call attraction to draw the attention of the young once that’s | |planning for holiday by persuading them to come and spent holiday. On the other hand, the denotation of advert B is a Tower hall Blackpool the style of the | |adverts uses in the background is blue with yellow and red and dim warm colour and the written words are of red, blue, yellow and black. | |The image and the pictures contained in the two adverts are very different; the IBIZA has more features images of young people than the Blackpool. The colour| |used for both image is more effective because it is attractive poster whose ever see is would like to have a closer look what the advertisement for and these| |adverts is targeting many adults willing to go on holiday. The evidence used to compare to be a poster magazine contrast. | Paragraph 6 – Social, historical and cultural features – explicit and implicit (4. 1) Compare and contrast the social, historical and cultural features which are explicit and implicit in the two advertisements. For instance, in the Blackpool advertisement why do you think the advertisers show a prominent image of a postcard? Is this a social, historical or social feature? You must provide evidence. |The imagery of the social life styles these days are totally different from the time of 1990. This present time we are now has different kind of dressing | |compare to the time of 1990, like the young boys and girls at this present time we are now put on tight clothes like jeans, short sleeve wearing of boots, | |different kind of hair styles but some people still like the old hair style of 1960, but the hair styles this time is different compare to the time of 1990 | |when people use to have afro hair styles and the code of dressing now also different. The code has built in rules or signals indicating the message being | |given by a person’s clothing and how it is worn. This message may include indications of the person’s gender,  income, occupation and  social class, political,| |ethnic and religious affiliation,  attitude  and attitude towards comfort, fashion, traditions, gender expression, marital status, sexual availability and | |sexual orientation, etc. Clothes convey other social messages including the stating or claiming  personal  or  cultural identity, the establishing, maintaining,| |or defying social group  norms, and appreciating comfort and functionality and the technology this time has developed more and experience han the time of | |1990 the both young’s and adults people are now civilise, mature in every areas of their social life styles with now bring effect on cultures and tradition. | Paragraph 7 – Conclusion (1. 1, 1. 2, 2. 1, 2. 2, 3. 1) For your conclusion, you must compare and contrast the two advertisements, evaluating how effective you think the advertising techniques used are with rega rd to the audience the advertisers are targeting. I am going to compare adverts of IBIZA and Blackpool for the conclusion of the advertisement. The IBIZA was very effective because it draw the attention of | |young people to take part of the holiday programme it to make the young people to have interest on what they were adverting that why it was design with so | |many effective colour that can create an attraction. The techniques used to advertise the poster was aiming to the young’s people who are planning for a | |holiday. The Blackpool is aiming to the adults men and women and the techniques used for the advert was targeting the adults people planning on holiday. The | |effect of the advert written was clear and clean easy to read and understand the colour use are so bright and the photograph show on the advert is a sign to | |encourage people whose has not have the chance to dance for a period of time, if you love dancing and meeting new people this is your chance to dance. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Leadership Corruption Of The United States - 2298 Words

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