Study of Fans - Essay Example Similar fan frenzy was visible when the latest book of Harry Potter series, 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' was launched in the first week of December 2008. What is quite amazing is, this fan frenzy is not limited to just one country or one region, but it crosses all boundaries from Europe to Asia. Angela Cerda, a resident of Temecula, Southwest California, was in seventh grade when she first started reading Harry Potter books and she still continues to enjoy reading this series while in third year of college. Cerda says2, "I read the first four books in the series in four nights, then I had to wait three years for the fifth one to come out, It's so strange to think that now I'm waiting for the last one." Similar loyalty or love is expressed by the fans of television serials, when they make sure that in order to watch their favourite television serial, they get their meetings postponed. Football is the game played by a large number of nations around the world. But the situation becomes quite different during the European cup and sometimes during the world cups etc. The intense rivalry leaves the fans to fight it out amongst themselves. Similarly, though cricket is played by a few nations around the world, yet the intense competition has developed a large number of fans, who often make it a point that they travel with their favourite team, wherever the team goes for their matches. This includes visits within the country or abroad. Often, team managements too encourages such fans and try to sponsor their visits abroad. The commitment of fans to their favourite personalities or products is indeed commendable and provides encouragement. But, it is equally true that such tactics are being used by marketing gurus to reach out to the maximum number of people around the world. Today we are living in a world of globalisation and liberalisation, which is marked by competition in almost all sectors. Therefore, in order to reach out to the maximum number of people or audience, the marketing department tries to explore all possible means to spread the word about the product. This includes highlighting special features of the product, comparisons with the existing reputed brands, and the devotion shown by the die-hard fans. If we take a look at the world around us, we can easily figure out the distinctive emphasis on advertising techniques in reaching out to the customer. The marketing communication department is often entrusted with the task of coming out with the strategies which helps the customer in relating to the famous celebrities. While on the one hand the competition helps the consumer in getting worth of the spending, and consumer has a range of alternatives to chose from, companies too have come out with innovative ideas to reach out to the consumer with their products and brands. Marketing people try to come out with strategies which instil a brand with personality traits resulting in anthropomorphizing, personification and creation of user imagery (Aaker, 1997). Human beings tend to identify themselves with such traits which give them a distinct identity called fans. The fan community shares a set of common interests and hobbies. While identifying the community as fandom, Fiske (1992) stated that, "fans are active
0 Comments
Have power and ideology been used to achieve consensus India - Essay Example Yet, the U.S. could not claim the same degree of representation and plurality that India can. In this respect Indian democracy can be said to be more functional than the more publicized democracies of the western world. But this is not to say that real-politic does not exist in India, or that political campaigns and policy-making are fair and just. In independent India, there were numerous instances of misuse and abuse of power. Even the once-revered Congress Party (which was once led by the great Mahatma Gandhi) has now reduced to yet another power broker, having lost its aura and initial sanctity. (Cohen, 2000, p.32) The latest sign of its deviation from founding principles is its close alliance with the United States of America, whose imperialist agenda is well documented and blatantly expressed. And recent Indian governments have projected America-led neoliberal capitalist ideology as something benign and progressive in garnering electoral consensus. “Numerous American officials already used the term "irreversible" to describe the course of Indo-U.S. relations. No U.S. president visited India between January 1978 and March 2000, when President Clinton made a historic trip to the Subcontinent. Cabinet-level exchanges have since become routine, and President Bush's planned visit in early spring 2006 will reflect an agenda that has come to encompass shared global interests and concerns ranging from Iran and China to nuclear cooperation and biotechnology. Some have begun to see Bush's visit to India as similar, in both intent and consequence, to that of Richard Nixon to China in 1972--which transformed Sino-U.S. relations and the global balance of power for the next three decades. (Khanna & Mohan, 2006, p.43) The Congress Party, which has a history going back 115 years, is not only the oldest but also the most successful political organization in the country. In the six decades of post-Independent democracy, the party has nearly monopolized power through consistent electoral victories. But the Congress Party of today (run under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the widow of Rajiv Gandhi) doesn’t follow the same ideology as that under Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru, having studied law at Harrods and much inspired by Bertrand Russell and other progressive thinkers of the time, belonged to a different era and espoused a different set of political values. Since his time, the condition of the party has undergone steady decline and it has now become power-hungry and devoid of content and ideals. In its early days, the party stood for such noble principles as secularism, egalitarianism and moderation. But today, this ethos is completely lacking. (Charlton, 1997, p.265) A reflection of the Congress Party’s lost stature is its electoral performance in the last two decades. Ever since the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi (the grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru) in 1991, the party could not manage to win a majority of parliamentary seats. As a result, it is dependent on coalition partners in holding onto power. In the 2004 general elections, for example, the Leftist parties such as Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) gave outside support to the Congress-led coalition government. Interestingly, it was the pressure exerted by Leftist parties that led to constructive social measures and policies during this tenure. The NREGA
|