Fidel Castro :: essays research papers

Fidel Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926 (some sources give 1927), on his family's sugar plantation near Biran, Oriente, Province. His father was an immigrant from Galcia, Spain. He attended good Catholic schools in Santiago de Cuba and Havana, where he took the sparten regime at a Jesuit boarding school, Colegio de Belen. In 1945 he enrolled at the University of Havana, graduating in 1950 with a law degree. In 1948, he married Mirta Diaz-Balart and divorced her in 1954. Their son, Fidel Castro Ruz Diaz-Balart, born in 1949, has served as head of Cuba's atomic energy commission. Fidel Castro Ruz, Cuba's enduring "maximum leader," has held power since 1959. He is president (since 1976; formerly prime minister), first secretary of the Cuban Communist party, and commander of the armed forces. His decisions are final on matters of domestic and foreign policy. A member of the social-democratic Orthodoxo party in the late 1940s and 1950s, Castro was an early and vocal opponent of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. In 1952, he ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. But troops led by Batista halted the election and ended democracy in Cuba. As a result of Batista's actions, Castro tried to start a revolution against the Batista dictatorship. He eventually succeeded on January 1, 1959 and took control of the Cuban govenment. Castro, who has no rivals for power, demands the absolute loyalty of those around him. As a lawyer by training, Castro led the Cuban Revolution and transformed the island into the first Communist state in the Western Hemisphere. He has been less than successful as an economic policymaker: Cuba remains a poor country in debt whose livelihood depended on sugar production and Soviet economic aid -- which was cut off after the demise of the Soviet Union.

Case Study Dove Evolution of a Brand

Q1: What was Dove’s market positioning in the 1950s? What is its positioning in 2007? Dove back in the 1950’s had one product that was the â€Å"beauty bar†, it was positioned upon its function as a superior product that doesn’t dry out the skin the way soap did. It was marketed through a mix of marketing communication tools like the TV, print media and bill boards. The advertising message was â€Å"Dove soap doesn’t dry your skin because its one-quarter cleansing cream†. All of these ads were illustrated with photographs that showed cream being poured into a tablet.In addition; the ads were shot with natural looking women rather than models to convey the benefits of the product. Dove in 2007 had a mix of personal care products in addition to the soap, such as deodorants, hair care products, facial cleaners, body lotions and hair styling products. It was positioned as aesthetic need for consumers; it didn’t focus on the functional bene fits but on the need to feel good by representing a point of view about the concept of beauty.It delivered this message through campaigns such as Real Beauty and Self-Esteem that questioned the true meaning of beauty, and the high standard that media set to the concept of beauty. Dove used in its campaigns oversized models and elderly women in order to convey the message† Dove shifted from broadcast media to digital media, such as YouTube videos and written blogs. A short movie called evolution was the proof of success as it was viewed 3 million times during three months (it is viewed 15 388 230 times today! . The wide exposure of the digital controversial campaigns gave dove free media on TV, blogs, social networks. TV shows like Today show and Good Morning America talked about these campaigns and Oprah Winfrey show was inspired by the self-esteem campaign and dedicated an episode to discuss the self-esteem concept with centre attention on the dove campaign. Q2: How did Unile ver organize to do product category management and brand management in Unilever before 2000? What was the corresponding structure after 2000?How was brand meaning controlled before 2000 and how is it controlled at the time of the case? Before 2000, Unilever lacked a unified brand identity and brand managers were allowed to set the direction in each geographic region. There was very no control of the brand across the regions where Unilever products were marketed. For example, Unilever produced ice cream under the wall’s brand in the UK and most parts of Asia, The Algida Brand in Italy, Langnese in Germany, Kibon in Brazil, Ola in the Netherlands, and Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers in the United States.Unilever organized their marketing using a brand management system, offering multiple brands within product categories. Each brand operated independently with its own brand manager who had the responsibilities of a general manager. In February 2000, Unilever initiated a five-ye ar strategic plan called â€Å"Path to Growth† in order to centralize the company’s brand portfolio and to create a unified global identity. Unilever reduced the number of brands from 1,600 to 400 and changed its brand management strategy.Under the new Masterbrands strategy, global brand categories were established for each Masterbrand, which were responsible for creating a global vision and inspiring cooperation from all geographic markets. Under this strategic initiative, the responsibility for a brand was split between two groups: Brand Development that is responsible for advertising, strategy, innovation, and long-term market share; It is global in scope. And Brand Building that is decentralized according to region; accountable for growth, profit, cash flow, and short-term market share.Before 2000, according to the traditional media that has been used and the fixed message of dove as, the brand meaning was tight and centered on a specific concept that dove is a uni que soap that is ? cleansing cream or moisturizing cream. In the time of the case study, and after the exposure of the creative campaigns, the brand meaning is open because of the unique message it delivered which was a point a view, this provoked discussions and debates about the real beauty of women. Q3: Spend a little time searching blogs to get a sense of what people are/were saying about Dove.What does this discussion contribute to the meaning of the brand? I searched many blogs talking about dove, in particular the self-esteem and Real beauty campaigns. I noticed that a lot of bloggers counted on statics that were published by dove about self-esteem and beauty and show an emotional link to the campaign, for example a blogger named Jennifer Beer wrote after addressing some of dove’s facts about self-esteem: â€Å"When I read these statistics, it made me cry. As a mother of a daughter I'd hate to see er become part of these statistics, so I will make sure to tell her eve ry day how beautiful she is† In addition, the blogs illustrated a great engagement of the audience in the campaign, a blogger named Blythe Newsome said in the beginning of a blog that was describing her experience with dove self-esteem campaign: â€Å"When I heard about the Dove Self-Esteem Movement I knew I wanted to get involved†. Another blog I found on wordpress. com, praised Dove for using ordinary women as models in its advertisement to change women’s attitudes about beauty as well as how they perceived themselves.I found a sarcastic funny blog at Bros fail blogs wondering how will dove’s â€Å"real beauty campaign† looks like if it was for men, with this picture attached to the blog! I think all of the blogs that I reviewed reflects the massive success of the campaigns, the amount of exposure that they received over the free digital media is phenomenal weather it’s a positive feedback or a funny picture! Such exposure would help any co mpany gaining a market share and retaining the message of the brand because of its controversy and open end horizons.Those discussions and reviews contribute powerful meaning to the brand in a positive way. Q4: Footnote 1 of the case leads you to a blogger who asks, with reference to the age of YouTube advertising, â€Å"Is marketing now cheap, fast and out of control? † Footnote 2 refers to Dove as having started a conversation â€Å"that they don’t have control of. † In â€Å"When Tush comes to Dove†, Seth Stevenson writes about the â€Å"risky bet that Dove is making. † Do you see risks for the Dove brand? Seth Stevenson’s article, When Tush Comes to Dove suggests that Dove is taking too much risk.The brand’s nontraditional marketing may lead consumers, or potential customers, to believe that Dove products are for unattractive, over-weight women, or those who don’t consider themselves to be beautiful. I don’t think th is might happen, because the message doesn’t send a counter message that beautiful women aren’t beautiful! The message brings up the issue of beauty for specific segment of women. In addition; such campaign would add to the value of the brand because of the contribution in the awareness of the people as part of its social responsibility obligations.Furthermore, dove is the pioneer in the market to launch such campaign, and it might create a new trend for competitors to follow. I believe dove took the first mover advantage out of these campaigns. Let’s assume that it this negative effect that Stevenson’s talked about would occur, according to Exhibit 4 a total of 18% of respondents think that they are beautiful, sexy, attractive, pretty and stunning. If they consider the received message as negative and stopped using dove products; it wouldn’t be a great loss comparing to the 82% that will get a positive message.

The Vietnam War, Grandpas Story - 1281 Words

â€Å"The Vietnam war was a costly and very long conflict that eroded the communist regime of North Vietnam and its allies against the South Vietnam and its ally, us the United States of America (Unknown Source).† The Vietnam War began on the eve of 1959, causing a struggle between two of our major national forces. These two forces were attempting to unify the country the both love, Vietnam. Many of the young souls were young men, such as my grandfather who felt that they were helping their country. Like my grandpa, many of the soldiers have not served in a war before, and were recruited into the war. The troops of the United States knew who they were fighting, which was the North Vietnam, however, they had no idea of what kind of enemy they†¦show more content†¦My grandpa told me, that I soon looked up that the Special Forces placed many of their defense groups in villages. First the goal was to protect, however the goal surely shifted to focus on the surveillance on the North Vietnam, giving inside missions to detect and interdict enemy infiltration routes. My grandfather’s story was an amazing one. While he talked he spoke about so much passion the soldiers had fighting in the war. He told the story how the one day he had to go out into battle. The United States troops fought in the horrible plains, and tangled, unbearable woods. They walked through swamps, and lived in horrible conditions. My grandpa said that being on the field there was an almost seventy percent chance of being killed. The living conditions were so bad than many of the soldiers died along the way while moving locations. Everyone was on standby, and they didn’t have many tents to live in while they traveled. Tents carried extra weight while traveling. The Vietnam War, changed the life of many soldiers. Paw paw said that there was not enough food for everyone during the war. While the United States was trying to give food to their troops as well as give food to the South Vietnamese, as they fought in battle as well. The food was rationed, if they ate at all however it was a simple price to pay. While fighting to help the South Vietnamese. My grandfather spoke aboutShow MoreRelatedSearch For New Hope : Hieu Nguyen1315 Words   |  6 Pages In Search for New Hope: Hieu Nguyen The Vietnam War was an expensive and fatal conflict, which happened within the North and South Vietnam regions. The Northern communist government and their southern allies, the Viet Cong, were heavily against South Vietnam and their benevolent allies, the United States. And their main purpose of the Vietnam War was to reassemble the country of Vietnam under the rule of communism. 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