Final Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final Research paper - Essay Example The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and the like. Eating disorder may affect both male and female (NIMH, 2011). The research, therefore, is about the factors influencing the eating disorders in both men and women in the society. Types of Disorders Eating disorders are common and treatable illnesses. They always go hand in hand with substance abuse, depression, or disorders of anxiety. If these symptoms of the eating disorders are not properly treated, they can pose a threat to life and, therefore, people with eating disorders need to seek medical attention or they are likely to die earlier than other individuals of the same age. There are different types such disorders: bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and anorexia nervosa. When people have anorexia nervosa, they think they are overweight when in truth they are clearly underweight. Weight control and eating food will always be an obsession. People with anorexia are alw ays seen weighing themselves frequently, measuring food carefully, and eating extremely small portions of food. People with this illness always engage in excessive exercising, inducing vomiting, and misuses of laxatives or enemas. People with anorexia nervosa are characterized by extreme thinness, intense fear of weight gain, distorted body image, low self-esteem, irregular menstruations (or lack of them) in young girls, and eating according to an extremely restricted diet. Anorexic individuals recover when treated properly. However, there are some who will always have relapses and some who have a chronic illness, so their health deteriorates overtime (NIMH, 2011). Bulimia nervosa is another example of eating disorder. An ill person regularly eats large quantities of food and is not able to control these episodes. The illness is often accompanied by such behaviors as self-induced vomiting, overeating, excessive use of laxatives, fasting, extreme exercises, or a combination of these behaviors. Bulimic individuals are usually healthy and have normal weight, but they desperately want to lose weight and are extremely unhappy about their body size and shape. They always perform these behaviors secretly, because they are shameful acts accompanied by feelings of disgust. The binge-eating has the following characteristics: sore throat that is inflamed, salivary glands that are swollen in the jaw area and neck, sensitive teeth that are decaying due to exposure to stomach acid, gastrointestinal problems, severe dehydration due to purging fluids, and electrolyte imbalance that may lead to a heart attack. The binge eating always occurs from several times a day to many times a week (NIMH, 2011). The final example of an eating disorder is the binge-eating disorder. An ill person is not able to control his or her eating habits. A person with the binge-eating disorder is often overweight or obese. Such a person is at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular problems and hig h blood pressure problems. This may result to a heart attack. These people always feel guilt, shame, and stress about their habits, which results in more binge-eating (NIMH, 2011). Risk Factors of Eating Disorders There are many factors that contribute to the development of eating disorders. They are sex, age, ethnic factors, socioeconomic factors, personality disorders and even emotional disorders. Weight, body image disorders and eve

Strategic Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

Strategic Marketing - Essay Example In the race to capture the lead in India for the most popular sportswear, Reebok has created the strongest showing in the market using their popularity to create new avenues of profit. Critically evaluate the strategic role of a sportswear manufacturer marketing function in achieving competitive advantage for the organisation. Support your answer with examples from the Reebok vs Nike case study. Nike and Reebok have entered into the sportswear manufacturing market through creating strong, identifiable brands that promote more than just the goods that they sell. Through powerful branding and globalization of their brand, they have made a mark on the industry as representative of lifestyles that include health and athletics. While both brands are distinctive, the Nike name and the iconic swoosh has outdistanced its competitors in recognizability. Through branding that creates attractive lifestyles, both brands have made their mark in the sportswear manufacturing industry. Nike’s most powerful advertising weapon is its brand. The Nike swoosh is a powerful pop culture icon. Slaughter and Rhodes suggest that â€Å"the effect of contemporary branding strategies is to push the ’host’ or sponsored culture into the background so that the brand emerges as the ’star’ (Slaughter and Rhoades, 2004, p. 261). In order to support the brand, the swoosh is on every piece of product that is put out into the market. The founder of Nike, Phil Knight, suggested that it wasn’t the mission of Nike to sell shoes, but to make peoples lives better through sports and fitness. The image became so powerful that by the decade of the 90‘s the name of the company was no longer needed in order to create recognition (Slaughter and Rhoades, 2004, p. 261). Nike has had some problems with proven claims of human rights violations in the factories that are subcontracted to produce their product. At the height of this, the Nike company decided to get ri d of the swoosh in order to allay the associations that the public was making to their problems in social responsibility issues. However, as Le Pla (2002) suggests â€Å"Changing an image in response to criticism makes sense. Dropping or reducing the visibility of a highly successful association does not† (p. 49). The brand icon has such a high recognition rate that it is foolish to abandon the brand icon, but to repair the image of the brand so that the associations are sanitized. In conjunction with their high visibility in branding, phrases have been associated with Nike in promoting their belief that every person is an athlete, therefore every person has the potential to be a consumer of their goods. A simple, yet powerful message was erected within the Nike mythology when the â€Å"Just Do It† campaign created a concept of the power of the athlete within everyone. The phrase suggested that no excuses would be allowed, that all goals should be achieved. The stateme nt had the power of a command, bringing an association of power to the athletic wear. The advertising premise, according to Nike, was â€Å" If you have a body, you are an athlete† (Nikeid 2011). The target audience for the Nike marketing concept is everyone without regard to age, health level, body shape, or sex. The original market was geared towards young athletes, but in this age the marketing has been