I am part of a subculture, as are many people, even if they aren’t aware of it. A subculture is a group of people who operate based on shared values, norms and practices within a larger culture (Brym and Lie 2012). I work for Sport Chek as a sales associate and we have our own subculture, not only as a corporation but as a staff. As a staff, we are expected to have a certain set of values based on sports, but mainly on the lifestyle of an athlete. We are expected to be active and have an athletic background, whether it is an individual or a team sport. Since we are a sporting good retailer we are all expected to have some background knowledge when it comes to athletics. As a corporation, we are expected to work towards a common goal based on …show more content…
Values are defined as “ideas about what is right and wrong, good and bad, beautiful and ugly (Brym Lie 2012:31).” Sport Chek hires people who have the values of an athlete such as understanding the importance of team work, being able to perform a task that will benefit the team, what makes a good athlete; and we are supposed to share these values with our customers. Sport Chek’s goal is to get Canadians to live a healthy and active life. As a corporation, we want to achieve our goal and make all those necessary steps and norms clear. A norm is the way of doing something that is accepted by a society or subculture (Innocente 2016). If an employee does not adhere to the norms, then we stop being consistent. Consistency is important in a subculture because if we are unable to prevent deviation from our norms, then our subculture will not function efficiently. Our main goal could be misinterpreted as selling product because Sport Chek only cares about profit, which is only half the truth. We care about making budget but we want to achieve that in a way that we believe is a genuine road to a healthy Canada, versus one that is based on money. Sport Chek operates in a non-commission based environment because competition and goes against the values of Sport Chek. Although competition may be healthy, it allows employees to focus on personal gain rather than team …show more content…
We connect with people through small interactions like the shared expressed frustration of waiting for a late city bus, or through the shared sorrow we feel when our favourite team loses an important game. The sociological imagination lets me connect my small work experience to how we assess advertisements and associate brands. When we see popular symbols like a Nike swoosh we either think of sports, or the corporation. Small things like inspirational stories of people from disadvantaged backgrounds encourage us to better our lives. My mere Sport Chek example helps me connect the goal of a certain brand with the goal of the corporation behind it. We are all subjected to these corporations that try to impose their ideas on us through small things, like their logos and jingles. Corporation is the company that represents a certain idea within a corporation, that idea being the brand. Corporations benefit from our tiny interactions with their brands, and make millions whether we are aware of it or not. Although Sport Chek has good intentions, they are still a corporation based on the healthy
In Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, Heather L. Reid presents a discussion of how ethics is treated in the arena of Olympism and some of the struggles of defining and how or if the ethical guidelines should be enforced. Reid notes, “Some would say that ethical principles are always the product of a particular culture, so there can no more be universal ethical principles than there can be a universal culture” (Reid, 22). I disagree with the notion that there cannot be universal ethical principles for athletes to follow in sport because even across cultures there are general morals that shape the lives of people from all over the world. For example, murder and cheating are inherently immoral actions, no matter where someone comes from;
“The athletic craze began in the late nineteenth century when American’s were looking for some recreational activities to add to their daily lives during the Depression. In the cities, industrial wage earners frequented play grounds. They went dancing at the dance halls and had fun at the amusement parks. People that lived in rural areas simply rode bicycles, played baseball or football. “
In everyday life we are bombarded with advertisements, projects, and commercials from companies trying to sell their products. Many of these ads use rhetorical devices to “convey meaning [,] or persuade” their audiences (Purdue OWL) . Projects, such as the Dove Self-Esteem Project uses native advertising in their commercials, which refers to a brand or product being simultaneously and indirectly promoted. In this essay, I will analyze the rhetorical devices, such as ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos, as well as the fallacies corresponding to each device, that the Dove Company uses in their self-esteem project .
Women and men play various sports because they as Americans want to experience the excitement of playing for fun, and doing something they love. The idea of what men and women can do for fun in sports has been shaped by the American society in many different ways through the media, schooling and education, and professional sports organizations. America portrays women playing field hockey and doing synchronized swimming while men do boxing, and body building. If a woman chooses to do boxing because to her it is fun and if a man chooses synchronized swimming because he likes it, they face many cultural costs and benefits of choosing this sport. Society does not like change and holds female athletes up to ideals such as being beautiful, graceful, and healthy. Male athletes are held to ideals such as strong, aggressive, and powerful. People who choose to play non-traditional sports risk being judged by society as unnatural and homosexual, instead of being viewed as an athlete who is special and unique, they are often subjected to unwanted sexual advances and assumptions. The benefit of doing an untraditional sport is that you are able to do something you love. As a result of people who do non-traditional sports, they open the doors for future generations of women and men who might want do play an non-traditional sport.
This technique is commonly broken into three categories: pathos, ethos, and logos. The multi-billion-dollar company, Nike, is one of many companies that utilizes these techniques to not only sell their products, but present their values and morals as an athletic company. Nike’s, “If you let me play,” ad is a perfect example of a print advertisement that encompasses all three persuasion techniques. The ad has emotional appeal, using pathos to evoke feelings of strength and positivity in young girls and their parents urging them to embrace sports and physical activities. Ethos is a fairly simple persuasive technique for Nike to utilize due to their overwhelming success and popularity. With such a large company, it is easy to establish unspoken credibility. In order to establish further credibility, there are statistics and claims based on logical reasoning that exemplify an advertisement using logos to help the target audience understand exactly what Nike is striving to communicate. Through capitalizing on these persuasive techniques, Nike not only successfully promoted their female athletic apparel, but also educated the public on the importance of empowering young girls and encouraging them to participate in sports and physical activities for the overall betterment of their lives mentally, physically, and
"A value determines what a person thinks he ought to do, which may or may not be the same as he wants to do, or what is in his interest to, or what in fact he actually does. Values in this sense give rise to general standards and ideal by which we judge our own and others conduct; they also give rise to specific obligations” (CCETSW,
What is a subculture? As clearly defined in the textbook, a subculture can be described as “cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population” (Macionis 584). The way I think about it is, a various amount of people that define themselves as a group or team, or a culture within a culture. Subcultures are qualities and standards that are particular from those of the greater picture, and are held by a section outside of a more extensive society. In the United States, subcultures may incorporate radicals, Goths, gay/queer, hippies, aficionados of hip hop or heavy metal and even bikers - the examples are never ending. Subcultures can also
Materialistic things consume today’s society, whether it is cars, clothing, or jewelry, in a sense we rely on these objects for our happiness. Companies such as Nike, Gap, and Toms, have all had major success do to their loyal customers, who seek the name brand logo of their company. These companies have continued to grow tremendously, making billions of dollars; the companies strive to find ways to outsourcing its manufacturing, in hopes of making more and more profit. Profit is not the only thing that rises, many questions and investigations have occurred, exposing the poor ethical choices these businesses have made. Nike, one of the most well- known and profitable companies have experienced this heavy scrutiny first hand. Throughout this essay the reader will gain a better understanding of Nike’s poor ethical business decisions and what actions they took in order to repair their image.
In other terms the values are expected to be fulfilled by the members of the community. The same values are understood in different ways. The values of the fitness gym club included “safety”, “injury prevention”, “progress”, “motivation”, and “accountability”. For instance, one of the new members with me thought that the trainers were accountable to the injuries while he did weight lifts more than he was advised to base on his body type and weight. I believed that accountability meant to be responsible in making choices and make sure the activities within gym do not harm me or anyone
The sports genre of film has for while been very popular with society and can compete with other films of different and other popular genres as well. The sports genre like other genres has been around as long as films and short films have. Some of the earliest sports films include a film produced in the early 1890s titled Corbett and Courtney before the Kinetograph. (K.L Dickson & Heise, 1894) This arguably can be one of the earliest silent films people have seen let alone in the sports genre. The sports genre itself can be up for discussion that it only is particular to sports, or athletic fanatics. However we see that many sports films can bring about such a symbolic and unique meaning to the audience that we can throw the name of the genre aside and appreciate the film for what it means.
Research can be defined as a systematic method through which new knowledge is discovered. No matter what topic is being studied or analyzed, the value of research lies in how well it is designed and carried out. There are several types of research which include: surveys, interviews, content analysis and focus groups. As an advertiser it is important not only to be aware of your surroundings, but what goes on in people’s minds. Individuals’ needs and wants are not only essential but the base of an advertisement’s success. The purpose of this essay is to conduct my own research about a company that has transcended barriers such as race, disabilities, and gender with a phrase that has sparked interest, innovation and motivation all over the world: “Just Do It”. Since the 1980’s Nike has not only become one of the leading sports brands, but a corporation that learned just how to convey a message and reach their target consumers through successful advertisement. The question is: What is portrayed through Nike’s advertisement and slogans? How has this helped sales, and how far has advertisement pushed its success? The objective of this research paper is to find and understand in-depth answers to these questions that bring a
In the essays that we have been reading, there is a consist theme that has been occuring. This consist theme has been that there are people who are in power, and that their conscience has been covered by hot iron, becuase their minds are being controlled by their love for money, and that they have screwed up the way that the world works in the pursuit of money. The first assignment that we had was to watch the “Story of Stuff” and then had to talk about it. In the “Story of Stuff”, the main idea was that corporations cared about one thing and one thing only, making the most money, even if that meant destroying human lives and destroying the planet. In the next assignment, we had to read Naomi Klein’s essay “No Logo”, in which she tells us that the corporations found that they could make money without making any products, instead they made something called “brands”, which were nothing but concepts that did not require them to make the actual products. So instead they had several companies that treated their workers without any respect, but could make the products for the corporations at cheap costs. And in the essay “Iron Maiden” written by Jacobson and Mazur, the authors tell us about how the media has created an environment in which women honestly believe that only when they buy “brands” and torture their bodies to the horrors of unnecessary cosmetic surgery. And all of this is because there is a group of people, who have their morals controlled by their love of money, and that they have a race for who can own the most things and that nothing can get in their way, and all of this is shown by the essays that we have been studying.
It has become impossible to avoid marketing and branding. Everywhere a consumer turns, they are being persuaded and influenced by all sorts of symbols, logos, slogans etc. These aspects of a brand create the culture we live in. “The effect, if not always the original intent, of advanced branding is to nudge the hosting culture into the background and make the brand the star. It is not to sponsor culture but to be the culture.” 30 no logo. Humanity has become one large sponsored event, making it impossible in order to escape.
Sports may have impacted our culture much more then we thought it would, and keeps impacting. Sports have affected some of the most important aspects of life, such as jobs and money. It has also affected things as little as who we look up to and how we dress. Culture means “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.” The definition of sports is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” So when we put two and two together we get a a nation or world that has changed due to sports. Back in the mid and late 1900’s sports were used to see whose way of life was better. As time went on and keeps going on, we
“Values are the beliefs of an individual, group, or organization, in which they are emotionally invested” (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2015). Many organizations consider corporate values strategically import for building their company’s reputation and keeping the customers’ confidence and allegiance. That, however, is only a tiny portion of the strategic benefits that organizational values can offer. “Further benefits include:guidance for decision-making on all levels, selection criterion for new employees, driver for individual and corporate behavior on all levels supporting the vision, mission, and goals of the company, and effective definition and implementation of core values” (Gupta, 2015). Values within a company need to be more than just a few words that sound nice to ensure overall acceptance within an organization. “Effective core values need to be emotionally appealing and workable” (Gupta,