Business Environment Assessment Of Bisleri Marketing Essay

Business Environment Assessment Of Bisleri Marketing Essay A study of business environment is very useful to anticipate opportunities and to plan resources to exploit these opportunities successfully. It can also be used as an early warning system to prevent threats or to turn obstacles into opportunities. Business environment is a sum total of all those factors, conditions, situations or surroundings which directly affect the working of business. It is a comprehensive term and covers factors like consumer behavior, economic policies, competition in the market, technology and so on. ABSTRACT: Water is one of the basic necessities for human life to survive on this planet today getting pure water is not an easy task with so much harmful chemical being disposed into the water by various industries is making the water harmful for drinking. 71% of the earth is made of water out of which only 1% of water can be used by living beings. Among this 1% of water 50% of water is polluted. This is an analysis report of one of the premium, recognized trusted brand in the Indian bottled water market named BISLERI INTERNATIONAL PVT LTD. This is enjoying the huge share in the market both in bulk segment in small packs. HISTORY OF BISLERI: WATER WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT JUST A LITTLE THAT IS CLEAN The origin of BISLERI lies in Italy and the brand owes its name to its founder MR.FELICE BISLERI, an Italian entrepreneur. In 1967, BISLERI set up a plant in Bombay for bottling and marketing actual mineral water, which did not quite work. By 1969, BISLERI wanted to exit the business and to help him out the Chauhans bought the brand, intending to turn it into a soda brand. Since then it has come a long way. Now, it owns a large percentage of shares in the Indian market and also it has its presence in International Water Market. WATER WATER EVERYWHERE, BUT JUST A LITTLE THAT IS CLEAN JOURNEY OF BISLERI OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS: 1969: Buys BISLERI bottled water from an Italian company, Felice Bisleri. It was bottled in glass bottles then. Early-1980s: Shifts to PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) bottles. Sales surge Mid-1980s: Switches to PET bottles, which meant more transparency and life for water. 1993: Sells carbonated drink brands like ThumsUp, Gold Spot and Limca to Coca-Cola for Rs. 400 crore. 1995: BISLERI launches a 500 ml bottle and sales shoot up by 400 per cent. 2000: Introduces the 20-litre container to bring prices down from Rs. 10 a litre to Rs. 2 a litre. 1998: Introduces a tamper-proof and tamper-evident seal. 2000: BIS cancels BISLERIS license of water bottling in Delhi since some of the bottles did not carry ISI label; the license is restored one-and-a-half months later. 2002: KINLEY overtakes BISLERI. The national retail stores audit by ORG-MARG show Kinsleys market share at 35.1 per cent compared to BISLERIS 34.4 per cent. 2003: BISLERI ventured out into Europe and America to sell bottled water. THE GROWTH OF BISLERI OVER THE YEARS: 1. HOW THE QUALITY STANDARD IS IMPROVED:- Every bottle of BISLERI is put through a rigorous Multi stage purification processes which includes micron filtration and ozonisation. It acquires 6 stages of purification processes which ensure quality water which is pure and safe for drinking purpose. Good manufacturing are the strength all the time processing in religiously monitored at every stage. 2. THE TRUST FOR BRAND HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONSISTENT :- More than 50 lakhs people trust the BISLERI. They buy only BISLERI water because it has became generic name for mineral water. For example: When people go to buy the mineral water many of them ask for BISLERI, even though they get other brand. 3. LARGE RANGE OF PRODUCTS OFFERED:- BISLERI offers a large range of products which attracts consumer of all categories. For example: 1 litre or 500 ml pack is useful for individual buyers, 12 litres or 20 litres is useful for organization. Therefore it attracts large number of customer. 4. MARKETING STRATEGY:- BISLERI is promoted by an aggressive print TV. TV is backed by a Hoarding point of sale material. Every interface with customer is used as an opportunity to reinforce. For example: All vehicles used for supply have been painted in light green, bears the BISLERI logo sport catchy baseline likes drink and drive. 5. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM. With little belief in the distributor system, the company leverage its large fleet to truck to supply bottled water directly goes to retailers through a system called Route Selling where the driver of truck are trained to be the service person. This ensures that water supplied are fresh and bottles are in the good shape. BISLERI has more than 80,000 outlets in the country. 6. BULK SEGMENT IS USEFUL FOR HOUSEHOLDS ALSO:- Households in certain parts of the country spend a huge amount of money on fuel in order to purify the water. They are supposed to buy the impure water and then they have to spend money to purify it. For instance the water scarce south people spend large some of money to buy water and still more to purify it. The 12 litre product is hit in various cities of south. 7. GROWING POPULARITY:- The popularity of BISLERI is increasing rapidly day by day. People in the market when it comes to mineral water a person goes to any shop and asks for BISLERI as his/her first preference. BISLERI is seeing a growth of almost 50% per year. With the small pack being popular among individuals user its bulk pack is also generating the huge demand which is capturing the market for BISLERI. Today 60-70 % of total income of BISLERI comes from its bulk segment and the company is planning to increase it up to 80%. 8. THE BREAK AWAY SEAL:- Keeping in mind the consumers need to recognize a genuine product that cannot be tempered with. The unique cap has been patented and cannot be duplicated. This technical strength ensures that the consumer will only get a high safe product when they will drink BISLERI. MISSION STATEMENT To provide the highest quality product, keeping in mind all aspect including freshness purity and safety and making it easy available to the consumer at very affordable price. MARKET SIZE AND GROWTH Market share 2005 Bisleri 53% Yes 13% Bailey 23% Others 11% Bisleri Yes Bailey Others Market share 2007 Bisleri 51% Yes 11% Bailley 17% Aquafina 4% Kinley 10% others 7% Bisleri Yes Bailley Aquafina Kinley Others market share feb 2008 Bisleri 38% Kinley 28% Aqua pure 11% Bailey 6% Others 17% Bisleri Kinley Aqua pure Bailey Others The Bisleri in the mineral water market is still maintaining the pace at which it has been growing over past few years. The brand has been witnessing launch of a number of player with every passing day. Presently the market is skewed towards regional players and has more than 250 players in the fray. Besides these there are a number of fly-by-night operators who enter the market in summers, reap benefits by packaging tap water and selling as pure mineral water, and then leave once the season is over. The problem in the market is not with the players but with the consumers. Poverty levels, illiteracy has led these players to take full advantage of consumers by selling even the tap water as mineral water. Total bottled market has a size of Rs11-12bn of this around Rs7bn is in the hands of organized sector and rest is with unorganized sector. In the organized sector Bisleri is the market leader with 45% market share followed by Bailey with 23-24% market share. The Rs 1,000 crore branded packaged water market has always been synonymous with the desi Bisleri. Market Share of players among users The brand is a product of Parle International and presently is the market leader with more than 45% market share. The company pioneered the concept of bottled water in the Indian market as early as 1967. The company is also credited with SKUs of 500ml, 1.2 lts, 1.5 lts and 2 lts in the Indian market The relaunch of Bisleri in 1993, however was a success due to growing awareness and high consciousness of health and hygiene among people. In 1993, when Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman, Parle Bisleri sold his right to market Bisleri brand to Coca-Cola, Bisleri, which underwent the new management for a period of 5 years, remained largely neglected. On getting the rights back, he started building Bisleri as a mineral water brand. Bisleri had a brand name, a product, the brand building of Bisleri started in a small way in 1998, which bore fruit in 1999-2000 when it grew by 140%. Positioning : Playing Safe Target audience : Health and hygiene conscious people Personality : Guardian, Authoritative, Reliable Punch Line : Play Safe USP : Pioneer advantage in bottled water industry, old player with lot of experience Bisleri, which enjoys 65 per cent market share in the branded water segment, is also eyeing a sharp growth in sales during the present year 2010. The company, that recently launched its premium brand with medical values Vedica, is expecting a 50 per cent growth in sales from this brand With so many brands launched and to meet the growing demand in the bottled-water segment that is growing at 40 per cent year on year, the company plans to scale-up its production units. It would be opening 10-15 bottling units in the next six months. In this year so far, Bisleri has set up 5 plants .At present, the company has 52 bottling plants across the country. On Bisleris overseas plans, company is in talks with local beverage-makers in Sri Lanka, the UAE, Bangladesh and Oman to set up units and franchise the Bisleri brand. The company also plans to expand its global footprint this fiscal. Currently, it exports its products to Singapore. The bottled water brand leader is opening 35 new plants in smaller towns and entering the high-margin segments Bottled water brand leader, Bisleris new plants are ready to meet the summer demand. And over the next six months, the company will start operating more plants in the remaining parts of the country. This is part of the companys plans to open as many as 35 new plants across the country to tap the fast-growing market for packaged water (at Rs 2,400 crore now) in Indias hinterlands. The growth will come, Parle Bisleri says, as there is an increasing consciousness even in villages to the fact that over 1,600 Indians are dying every day because of waterborne diseases and almost four million people in India are affected by water-borne diseases every year. Theres another reason for Bisleris ambitious plans. It will help the company shave costs. Typically, in this business, transporting water to a distance of 200 km costs the company Rs 30 per case freight. But with distances cut, the company will now spend only Rs 4-5 per case freight. But Bisleri invariably starts selling the product in a given location before the plant comes up. There was a point in the early 90s the sales and the market value of the bisleri were going down. No doubt, that was tough to take for Bisleri. The first thing it did was to change the look and feel of its brand. From the earlier conical shaped bottle, Bisleri took on a streamlined, round shape, replacing the erstwhile blue logo with an aqua green one. The move paid off Bisleri is also doing several other things as well to open up the higher margin market. For one, it is in talks with beverage makers and bottlers in countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Oman and the United Arab Emirates to franchise its brand name. Exports to Singapore have already started. It also launched Vedica, its first mineral water, in January 2010 and is test marketing flavoured water across the country. The company is also setting up a new manufacturing facility for its enhanced water brands, which will be fortified with vitamins and minerals. These are brands that will tap the top end of this market, which now account for just 10 per cent of the packaged water market, and bring in substantial profits. Vedica will take on Himalayan and foreign brands like Evian and Perrier in a category that is willing to shell out that extra buck. Enthused by its 35% growth in 2008-09, Parle Bisleri is targeting 40% growth this year. With a 60% market share, they are the market leaders in this segment.. The company has already geared up to foray into the flavored water segment in October 2009. Currently, the company has 52 bottling plants across the country. July 26 2009 Bisleri International Pvt Ltd, the packaged water brand grew at 78 per cent in the current fiscal on the back of increasing capacity. They always had an aggressive growth plan in place. Not only they developed the brand further through several marketing initiatives, they also planned on setting up more manufacturing facilities in the country. The television campaign for Bisleri has worked wonders for the brand giving it a big boost. The important increase in India can be easily explained through the growth of the population and problems of water quality and water supplies. Until 1992, the demand for bottled water in India was mostly limited to foreign tourists, corporate meetings, conferences, etc. The introduction of bulk packaging extended the market to new and numerous consumers. Bottled water is a particularly competitive market, hence companies need to develop diverse marketing strategies, such as accessing new markets by owning or developing partnership with regional brands, developing new products (such as flavored water) or by-products (such as cosmetics) and developing services (home and office delivery of water). WEAKNESS 1. METHOD ADOPTED FOR DISTRIBUTION:- THE ROUTESELLING policy adopted by BISLERI for distribution is more expensive than more commonly followed method of appointing distributors in different towns. This reduces the profit of company. The dealer margin is reduced due to this .therefore not many dealer keeps BISLERI in many areas. Indirectly this is reducing the coverage of BISLERI. 2. REUSE OF BOTTLE BY LOCAL SELLERS AND ILLEGAL MANUFACTURERS:- Market research conducted by BISLERI revealed that the other overriding concern for this set of buyers is the tampering of seal and the reuse of bottles. Many have witnessed used bottles being refilled at railway stations. This deteriorates the brand image of BISLERI. For example: local sellers fill the bottle of BISLERI with impure water and the bottles are purchased by illiterate customers as BISLERI water but they buy water of low quality. In this way brand of BISLERI gets affected. 3. FAULTS IN PRODUCTION:- Tests conducted by various authorities shows that it contains pesticides. In 2002 the 2cm long insect was found in the bottle of BISLERI. This has affected its sales and reputation. The license of its two factories one at Noida and other at Bangalore has been cancelled because of fault in production. 4. PRESSURE BY GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY:- After insect was found in the bottles, FDA (Food Drug Adulteration) has cancelled the production of BISLERI. Afterwards it was allowed to resume it but in this period its customer were moved towards other products. It is constantly under check by various authorities. 5. NOT MEETING THE DEMAND OF THE CUSTOMER:- In certain parts of south in our country big bottles of BISLERI are in huge demand but the company is unable to meet the demand of the consumers. This is affecting the demand for the product. So People are forced to use other brands of mineral water. OPPORTUNITY 1. FAST GROWING FIELD:- The best beverage for India in the new millennium seems to be water. In recent years, the bottled drinking water market has been witnessing high decibel level of activity, with a host of new entrants. The bottled water market which worth Rs. 1000 crore is expected to be Rs. 5000 crore by 2010. This will increase a lot of scope for bottled water market. 2. BISLERI CAN UTILISE ITS DISTRIBUTION CHAIN:- With BISLERI becoming a generic name for bottled drinking water. If company can manage the distribution chain of the product to make it available where the consumer needs it the most, the company may well succeed in his gamble with water. For this the company can connect it with dealers and other distributors who will market the products for them all around the world. 3. EXPANSION IN EUROPE:- The launch of BISLERI in the European market on 4th September, 2003 has created a lot of scope for BISLERI in the field. This will also compensate the deterioration of image; BISLERI has suffered after insect was found in the bottle. It will silence the critics and it will also increase the faith of the customer for the brand. It will create an international brand image and the quality will increase. 4. LAUNCH OF PREMIUM PACK:- The company also has its premium product range. This is prepared keeping 5-star hotels and other premium customer. This pack will be sold at Rs. 20 per litre. This will give a tough competition to the EVIAN, the biggest player in the premium water range which sells its 1 litre water at a hefty of Rs.85 per litre. 5. CHANGE OF IMAGE:- The company has changed the colour of the product. It has changed from blue to green. By changing the colour, the company has provided a new product to the consumers; they will be getting a new and a refreshing product. 6. INCREASE IN PRODUCTION:- BISLERI is eyeing the Market and is in the process of increasing the production by setting 4 new plants adding to its 23plants. This will increase the production capacity of the company. THREAT 1. MARKET IS EYED BY THE BIG PLAYERS:- The growth of the market indicates the need for the mineral water. Due to this the heavy weights are eyeing the market. Coke, Pepsi, Britannia, Nestle, Auswater-is keen on raising their stakes in this market. With the cut throat competition between Coke and Pepsi, BISLERI is not safe. 2. ENTERING OF NEW PLAYERS:- To get some share in the market many new players are entering in the market. Among them major names are Godrej, which is launching its product AQUA-PURE and Tata-Tea is looking forward to but Himalayan, this will increase the competition. Also Britannia which is distributing EVIAN is planning to launch its own brand. There are also new entrants ATCO with BRILLIANT water, DS FOODS with CATCH are also coming. Even Hindustan lever is planning to enter into the market. This is give a tough competition to the current water brands including BISLERI. 3. WATER FILTER MANUFACTURERS:- BISLERI is not only getting competition from mineral water maker but is also facing a tough competition from various water filter manufacturers such as Eureka Forbes (Aqua guard). They have been marketing there purifiers in the market which has decreased the sales of bottled water supply to homely customers. 4. ILLEGAL MANUFACTURERS:- Company is facing a tough competition from illegal manufacturers in the rural areas. The illegal manufacturers provide water at a very cheaper rate then the branded manufacturers. There are 1000s of illegal manufacturers which are providing the water at a very cheaper rate. This is a serious problem for branded manufacturers. This companies also use the fake name of branded bottled water i.e. BISLERI and supply their products in the market. 5. STRONG DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL OF THE OTHER MANUFACTURERS:- Analysts feel that BISLERIS break away seal will not at all be effective the company having strong distribution channel will only survive. This rings the warning bell for BISLERI because among other players Kinley and Aquafina are having a strong distribution network of Coke and Pepsi. Nestle will be banking on its chocolate distribution network. Even though the BISLERI has a strong networks but its concentration on bulk segment can lead to improper network. For example: A chemist who is selling the 1 litre pack may not sell the 20 litre pack. This could disturb the network.

Foucault – Power/Knowledge

Foucault’s theorisation of the power/knowledge relationship Foucault in theorizing the relationship between power and knowledge basically focused on how power operated in the institutions and in its techniques. The point is how power was supported by knowledge in the functioning of institutions of punishment. â€Å"He places the body at the centre of the struggles between different formations of power/knowledge. The techniques of regulation are applied to the body† (Wheterell et al. , 2001: 78) Power is the ability to control others or one’s entity. Accordingly it can be defined as a kind of strength or as an authority. There are various theorisations about the meaning of this term in sociology thus it would be hard to give a comprehensive definition. Is power a relationship? What kind of outcome does it produce? Can it modify behaviour and can it reduce the power of others? (Waters, 1994: 217) All of these questions can be answered in a different way. The point might be over whom and upon what can this power be exercised. Foucault frequently uses power and knowledge together in the phrase power/knowledge. He claims these two are inseparable. A general expression exists which conjoins the two into â€Å"knowledge is power. † Foucault reverses the logic of this expression in arguing that possession of knowledge does not give one power but gaining power means having knowledge at the same time as â€Å"knowledge is already deeply invested with power† thus it is better to agree on â€Å"power is knowledge†. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 643) Knowledge can be expounded as the awareness of some fact or as a skill that the individual achieved or inherited. In Foucault’s interpretation both idea turned up in the analysis of the â€Å"Panopticon† and the â€Å"plague stricken town†. Being aware of the events happened somewhere is knowledge and this knowledge gives power to those whom got to know about that events although this knowledge could not have been acquired in the lack of power as there would not have been any opportunity to get into a position which allows the observation to get to know something. That is the basis of Foucault’s idea about knowledge and power as oneness and the reason for why is important to think other about the â€Å"power is knowledge† and â€Å"knowledge is power† correspondence. Discipline and Punish (1975) is Foucault’s best genealogical investigation. Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 643) At the beginning he describes a public torture which was a totally accepted from of punishment in the 18th century. Dramatically introduces the whole process without attitudinizing as those days public execution was a common event, the illustrated torture was as real as he presents it. As norms and attitudes changed in lat ter centuries public tortures has become not popular anymore, people were sentenced to go to prison where a completely different penalty system has been running. Foucault describes typical activities and every day life of the inmates. The point of these two presentations is to show that the changes of methods of punishment correlate with cultural and social changes in the all-time society. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 648) In the second part he â€Å"draws a parallel between the aggressive mechanism used by plague-stricken cities in the late seventeenth century and Bentham’s Panopticon which was intended to be the model for the perfectly rational and efficient prison. † (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 648) The point of these comparisons is to reveal how knowledge developed and how this development influenced the society. As knowledge grows and becomes deeper the new understanding of the social and physical world â€Å"generates new locations for the application of power†. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646) Foucault describes two old mechanisms which was widely used, the public execution as an old form of punishment and the actions against plague that emerged in a town. A new type of punishment became popular which aims to punish the soul not the body as it was common before. There is no more physical torture but torture of the soul. These two old mechanisms alien to the latter methods: the usage of new strict rules that determines the prisoner’s life and the new method of control, the idea of the Panopticon which put surveillance from only one place forward. When plague turned up the old system followed the then methods of observation and surveillance, plague was everywhere thus the supporting power must have been mobilized. In this case â€Å"power is mobilized; it makes itself everywhere present and visible; it invents new mechanism; it separates; it immobilizes† etc. o make people act as it was expected in these conditions (because of the plague almost every interactions must have been stopped in the interest of getting rid of the disease). (Foucault, 1975) The Panopticon instead of exercising power from several sides emphasises the importance and perfection of the surveillance focus from one place. The Panopticon is a building which has an annual part in the periphery and a tower in the centre. Next to omitting little details its most important feature is the ability to see into every cells without being visible. The panoptic mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognize immediately. † (Calhoun et al. , 2007: 209) The consciousness of being watched make people put on their best behaviour, their best way of acting thus the inmates do not commit any further crimes as it usually occurs that could happen without being watched. The operation of this building gives the opportunity to work with less employees because only a few overseers necessary being in the tower to check all the cells continuously. This way only a few supervisors needed to control these employees thus it is more economical. The supervision of the plague-stricken town would have cost a lot as a complex system ran which needed a big amount of labour force. As techniques develop and new forms of penalty system emerge costs become lesser. Knowledge grows and makes institutions more efficient as knowledge itself is efficient. â€Å"As knowledge grows the techniques of discipline and surveillance multiply such that power takes on an ever-increasing number of forms. † (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646) The question is if knowledge produces more power or comes from power. The major effect of the Panopticon is to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. â€Å" (Calhoun et al. , 2007: 210) Accordingly power is what is functioning all the time and knowledge could not be without presence of power. Although as Faucault (1975) claims: â€Å"power and knowledge directly imply one another; there is no power relation without the correlati ve constitution of a field of knowledge, nor any knowledge that does not presuppose and constitute at the same time power relations†. Thus knowledge and power can not exist independently from each other. Benthams laid down two principles about power relating to the Panopticon: it must be visible and unverifiable. The inmates will constantly have before their eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which they are spied upon and must never know whether they are being looked, but they must be sure that they may always be so. (Calhoun et al. , 2007: 210) These two principles give the opportunity to exercise power over the prisoners. The other very important thing is that this system is not only successful in prison but in every kind of institutions. Could be practiced in school or even in an office, people became successfully regulated by the power if vision. The idea of the Panopticon is a metaphor for the general presence of a new penalty system which is called the disciplinary society by Foucault. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 644) This society is disciplined by being constantly watched and punished by excluded them from normal society. Criminals and those whom do not follow the laid down rules are not punished in front of public anymore. There is no need to express power visibly to gain belief in it. Waters, 1994: 231-232) â€Å"Panopticonseque surveillance has become so effective that individuals now sanction and normalize their own behaviour without any prompting, surveilling and disciplining themselves as if they were simultaneously the inmate and guard of their own self-produced Panopticon. † (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646) What if that surveillance is not that effective and something breaks the discipline? The w hole system can lose its power when turns out that this observation is not accurate. Surveillance must be continuous all the time otherwise people lose their belief in the power of it. Once someone realises that can commit an offence or just do something against the rules without being caught the whole system can be questioned. The best example for this is public cameras all over the streets nowadays, although people know that they are visible whatever they do still commit crimes and do unacceptable things. The offender can not be completely sure about being watched or not. The same situation prevails in a school or office where the employees and students know that they can be lucky and might be not watched. If once punishment does not take place the individual can take under consideration the fact of being always watched thus disciplined behaviour is not guaranteed anymore. Foucault’s genealogical investigation is about to look on how power/knowledge and forms of punishment changed during the past few centuries. â€Å"Until turn of the nineteenth century criminal deviance was controlled by public attacks on the offender’s body. † (Waters, 1994: 231) Public execution was quite common in the 18th Century (although it is still ongoing even today in some countries), â€Å"Foucault identifies such punishments as political rituals†. Waters, 1994: 231) Torture was the expression of power, presented how the offender is punished if commits an offence against the only sovereign power. This sovereign power was one â€Å"centralized authority, like a king†. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 643) According to Foucault punishment went through another two stages since pub lic tortures (which is the first stage). This form of punishment is considered unacceptable nowadays, but not because it goes too far, â€Å"rather it is because punishment and the power that guides it have taken new, more acceptable forms. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 643) Punishment became invisible and kinder to the body, to be disciplined was the point rather than to be punished. The second stage of penal practices was based on surveillance and discipline what was aimed to harm the mind. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 644) Public execution can be considered as a terrible kind of punishment, but torture of the mind is the worst. Physical pain could have been unbearable during these public tortures but psychical pain over years and years is tougher as it has no end. With the birth of prison power started to practice the new, less crucial form of penalty which may be more sinister than it seems. Foucault’s three stages can be distinguished by the time period when that form of punishment were popular, by the basis of authority/power was in power, and by the methods how these punishments were practiced. In the 18th Century, as it was mentioned before, the penalty system was leaded by a central authority which could have been a king or one single corporation of the government. The method was a kind of â€Å"public corporal punishment† that is in Foucault’s Discipline and Punish the public execution, the public torture. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646 Table 15. 2) In addition this torture took place in public. Later on among so many changes torture as a public spectacle disappeared. (Foucault, 1975) The second phase of punishment emerged in the 19th-20th Century when the basis of power was a decentralized institution. Methods were based on surveillance and discipline like in Bentham’s Panopticon or in the plague-stricken town. Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646 Table 15. 2) Today, in the 21th Century we are in the third stage of punishment where there are multiple principles about the authority of the penalty system, multiple self-regulations exist and power is diffusive. The trend of the second phase is intensified in the third. â€Å"Power has become destructed and individualized†, â€Å"disciplinary individuals† turned up . â€Å"No longer are social structures and specific institutions necessary for the exercise of power and the meting out of punishment. (Appelrouth and Edles, 2008: 646) In Discipline and punish Foucault analyses the ways how the offender is disciplined in different punishment regimes. In early times punishments were crude, â€Å"prisons were places into which the public could wander†. (Wheterell et al. , 2001: 78) The latter form of regulation and power became private. Inmates were closed into prisons with an invisible system. Public could not see into these institutions anymore. Punishment became individualized and â€Å"the body has become a site of a new kind of disciplinary regime. Of course this body is not simply the natural body which all human beings possess at all times. † (Wheterell et al. , 2001: 78) Knowledge determines this body, the knowledge about the offence and offender. â€Å"This body is produced within discourse †¦ the state of knowledge about crime and criminal, what counts as true about how to change or deter criminal behaviour†¦ This is a radically historicized conception of the body. † (Wheterell et al. , 2001: 78) Foucault carried out a genealogical analysis of punishment and discipline. This analysis, among others, was based on the power/knowledge relationship which was at least as altering as the forms of the penalty systems were showed in the historical review. Various techniques were used to punish and these techniques were influenced by the exercised power in one place one time. The perfect institution to practice power and discipline/punish offenders is the building of the Panopticon. According to Foucault this building is the answer for all questions turned up with other methods of punishment. Bibliography Appelrouth, Scott and Laura Desfor Edles. 2007. Classical and contemporary sociological theory: text and readings. Pine Forge Press: 641-665. Calhoun, Craig J. , Joseph Gerteis and James Moody. 2007. Contemporary sociological theory. Wiley-Blackwell: 209-216. Foucault, Michel. 1995. Discipline & punish. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Waters, Malcolm. 1994. Modern sociological theory. SAGE: 217-233. Wetherell, Margaret, Stephanie Taylor, Simeon Yates. 2001. Discourse theory and practice: a reader. SAGE.

Objective Reality Cannot Exist Without Subjective Reality Essay

The topic of Meta-Ethics pertaining to whether moral values are objective or subjective, and whether or not as a society we should be able to intervene on another society if we do not believe what they are doing is morally ethical, is quite a large topic. How can we come up with a solid answer as to whether or not there are universal human values, and whether certain things should be considered right for everyone are very difficult questions to answer, we must be wary as to not insult different cultures, religions and societies. It has been concluded that an objective reality cannot exist without a subjective reality, in order to reach this conclusion, we must first consider that morality is wholly subjective, if this is so, we cannot call anything wrong, what we believe is right or wrong is simply an individual’s opinion on a subject. As an example, if someone killed several children from an elementary school, if morality is subjective, all anyone is able to say is that from an individual perspective it was wrong, from the perspective of the killer it may have been (in their opinion) the highest moral good. However, if reality is objective, then we can say that what the killer did was wrong. If one believes that killing is something that is truly wrong, then you believe in objective moral value, and in that case one must ask; how far do objective morals stretch, and where do they come from? If one believes that the wrongfulness of killing is simply a matter of perspective, then one should ask; why does society have the right to tell me what to do if morality is merely a matter of perspective? We cannot truthfully choose one way to look at the world, because the world is not black and white, there are many grey areas and many exceptions people would have to their beliefs, because of this we cannot have an objective reality without a subjective reality. Let us look at the cultural differences on morality, if a North American  (male) citizen is asked the question â€Å"Should women have the same rights as men?† the answer would more than likely be yes, if however this question was asked to a Saudi Arabian (male) citizen, the answer would more than likely be no. Whose opinion is correct? The North American would say their opinion is, and the Saudi Arabian would say their opinion is. In this situation, do we as North Americans have the right to impose our views on another society when we believe their views are wrong? The only reason one could justify imposing their societies views on another society is if that society is giving a different gender, race, or person’s with a different sexuality the same rights. In this example it would be that Saudi Arabia does not give women the same rights as men. In this situation human rights and equality are involved, and another society should interfere in order to help the individuals who do not have the equal rights. As North Americans we could say that this is not our problem, and that because it is not our culture or society, we have no right to interfere. Saudi Arabia would most likely agree, we have no right to interfere, and that it is there culture, society and religion, thus it is up to them to decide how to live, but simply put in the case of human rights, it is not a matter of society; culture, or religion, human rights are a universal issue and as people, we cannot let other people be treated as less than us. â€Å"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.† (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 1) Simply put, the only articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that should be kept and enforced are those pertaining to human rights, equality and freedom. Any other articles included should be disregarded, and laws should be decided by country. It is very important that we begin to enforce the human rights and equality articles to each country because these are the most important to the human race as a whole, we must advance our societies, and our people together, and societies with more advanced living and understand should willingly help societies that have not yet made it there. We as people should feel incredibly sad, and motivated to help when we see other people who are not being treated as equals, anyone of us could be in that situation, and we should be grateful we are not. We must do all  we can as a society to help those in need. It is crucial that all countries begin to work together in order to help those who are not being treated with the rights they deser ve.

Las Fallas de Valencia Spain’s Annual Festival of Fire

Las Fallas de Valencia is an annual springtime festival in Valencia, Spain, which takes place from March 15 to March 19, ending on the feast day of St. Joseph. The festival’s origins are rooted in Iberian pagan equinox celebrations, but much of the festival has adopted Catholic meanings in the centuries since its conception.   Firework displays, live music, and traditional costumes feature prominently in Las Fallas celebrations, but the true focal point of the festival is the hundreds of towering cartoonish monuments that fill the streets of Valencia. On the final night of Las Fallas, these monuments are ceremoniously set ablaze and burned to the ground. Fast Facts: Las Fallas de Valencia Las Fallas de Valencia is an annual celebration of the coming of spring, celebrated by burning artistic monuments in the tradition of ancient Valencian carpenters. The festival also includes street parties, parades, and ornate 18th Century costumes.Key Players/Participants: Falleras and Falleros, or members of neighborhood groups. Each neighborhood group is called a Falla. Event Start Date: March 15 (annual)Event End Date: March 19 (annual)Location: Valencia, Spain Origins   Las Fallas de Valencia features a combination of elements that have been added to the ancient tradition of welcoming the springtime. Over the centuries, the festival has transitioned into a massive celebration and tourist attraction that brings at least one million visitors to Valencia every year. Las Fallas was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2016. Pre Christianity The term Las Fallas refers to the elaborate monuments that are made and then burnt during the festival. According to local legend, Las Fallas emerged from the spring cleaning practices of pre-Christian Iberian carpenters. During winter, these craftsmen would construct parots, wooden beams with torches which allowed them to continue their work with fewer daylight hours. To mark the transition from winter to spring, the carpenters would clear their warehouses of the parots, piling them up and burning them in the streets. Though no records of these early years exist, traditional folklore tells the story of carpenters competing for the biggest bonfire. The competition mounted, drawing in neighborhood support, and soon the carpenters were crafting shapes and characters out of wood and papier-mà ¢chà ©. These characters would eventually become the towering monuments that adorn the streets of contemporary Valencia during Las Fallas. The first recorded documentation of Las Fallas, a municipal decree prohibiting the burning of these monuments in the narrow streets of the city, dates back to March 1740. The contents of the document indicate that a tradition had already been established. Catholicization Before the 15th Century, Spain was a collection of kingdoms loosely tied together by Catholicism in the north and Islam in the south. Valencia was once ruled by Spains historic hero El Cid. The marriage of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I united the Kingdom of Castile in the north and the Kingdom of Aragon in the south, establishing the Kingdom of Spain. The new kingdom was unified under the Roman Catholic Church, and pagan traditions and festivals began to adopt Catholic elements. For example, Las Fallas de Valencia celebration concludes on March 19th, the feast day of St. Joseph. Raising the Fallas  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The humble celebration of the Iberian working class has transformed over the centuries into an event funded and facilitated by the wealthiest Valencian families. The neighborhood committee, also called fallas, now collects membership dues, commissions artists, and hosts verbenas, street parties that continue all night.   These influential community members can be identified by their matching neighborhood falla group jackets with their names emblazoned across the front, or by their traditional 18th Century handmade costumes. Falleras and Falleros   McKenzie Perkins   The Valencians that don the traditional costumes are called falleras and falleros. The hand stitched dresses and tight hairstyles that feature prominently on Valencian women, young and old, are one of the most widely recognized features of Las Fallas de Valencia. Sourced from China, the silk for these traditional dresses was initially brought back through Filipino and Latin American colonies, across the Atlantic and into Spanish ports. Contemporary fallera dresses are typically one of a kind, with prices starting at â‚ ¬2,000 and reaching â‚ ¬15,000 and beyond ($2,250–$17,000). Each neighborhood falla committee selects one adult, a fallera mayor,  and one child, a fallera mayor infantil, to represent the neighborhood. The community-wide fallera mayor and fallera mayor infantil are chosen from this pool of falleras. The responsibilities of these women extend beyond Las Fallas, as they make public appearances and speeches at all major religious and cultural events in Valencia over the course of the year. Fallas Structures   McKenzie Perkins  Ã‚   Commissioned annually by neighborhood falla committees, the towering structures—also called fallas, from which the festival takes its name—take 12 months to design and build. Contemporary fallas reach as high as 30 feet and get larger and more elaborate every year. Fallas are constructed out of wooden scaffolding and covered in a combination of cardboard, papier-mà ¢chà ©, and polystyrene foam (Styrofoam). The foam is sanded down into shapes and characters and painted in vibrant colors. While every falla will burn on the final night of Las Fallas de Valencia, one smaller falla, called a ninot, from the winning falla collection is selected to be placed in the Fallas Museum. Winners are determined by a City Hall committee. Fallas typically take on the shape of medieval or modern characters, usually to illustrate a political or satirical message. In recent years, fallas have featured prominent figures such as United States Presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush, former Catalonian President Carles Puigdemont, and contemporary popular culture figures like Lady Gaga and Shrek. Events of Las Fallas de Valencia Although the official celebration is held March 15–19, events begin as early as the final Sunday of February and extend until the early hours of March 20th.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   La Crida On the final Sunday of February, the Valencian community gathers in front of the Torres Serranos, the medieval city gates, to hear speeches by the mayor of the city, the Fallera Mayor, and the Fallera Mayor Infantil. The night concludes with the first official firework display of Las Fallas. Fireworks: Mascleta and Nit del Foc   Sarah Mendez / Getty Images   Beginning on March 1, crowds gather in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to see the Mascleta, a fireworks show that occurs daily at 2:00 p.m. from March 1–March 19. The displays are approximately eight minutes long, starting relatively slowly and ending with a terremoto, or an earthquake, of hundreds of cannons releasing fireworks simultaneously. As a daytime firework exhibition, Mascleta is more of an audio experience than a visual one, but at least one Mascleta every year features plumes of color. Officially, nighttime fireworks occur on weekend nights in March leading up to Las Fallas and every night during the festival, but unofficially, individual firework displays light up the city skies for weeks. The officially sanctioned pyrotechnical exhibitions take place in Plaza del Ayuntamiento or in the Turia riverbed park, just below the Puente del Aragon. The most exceptional firework exhibition occurs on the Nit del Foc, or the night of fire, as a welcome to the final day of the celebration. La Ofrenda de Flores David Ramos / Getty Images   On March 17 and 18, falleras dressed in their traditional 18th century clothing parade from all the neighborhoods in the Valencian Community, each carrying flowers to offer to the Virgin Mary. A wooden scaffolding of the Virgen de Los Desemparados—the Virgin Mary of the Helpless, the protector of Valencia—is erected in the Plaza de La Virgen, beside the Valencia Cathedral. Each bunch of flowers offered by the falleras is strategically placed within the scaffolding. By the end of the offering, the Virgen’s dress is entirely made up of the white and red flowers. The parades last until well after midnight on both nights of La Ofrenda, bringing in thousands falleras and falleros from everywhere in the Valencian Community. After the completion of the offering, the scaffolding, complete with the flower dress, is paraded through the city and returned to the Plaza da La Virgen, where she sits in front of the cathedral and the basilica as a guardian of the city. A relatively new practice, La Ofrenda was officially established in 1945, and the first wooden scaffolding of the Virgen to hold the bouquets of flowers was erected in 1949. St. Joseph’s Feast Day The feast day of St. Joseph honors the earthly father of Jesus Christ on the final day of Las Fallas de Valencia, paying homage to St. Joseph as the patron saint of carpenters.   La Crema   McKenzie Perkins   After the sun sets on March 19, the skyline of Valencia lights up as the falleras mayores ignite the fallas, and the crowd watches as the structures turn to ash. The burnings start around 10:00 p.m., though the falla located in Plaza del Ayuntamiento is not burned until after 1:00 a.m.   Contemporary Problems Xaume Olleros  / Getty Images   As Las Fallas de Valencia has grown in popularity amongst tourists, the city of Valencia has struggled to maintain the infrastructure that protects the most treasured and historic part of the city. As of 2019, residents have filed official complaints against the degradation of historical monuments with both the city and UNESCO, which designated La Lonja de La Seda as a protected World Heritage Site. Additionally, air pollution from burning polystyrene foam has promoted neighborhood falla committees to consider returning to tradition construction materials of wood and papier -mà ¢chà ©.