St John's University - Marketing Class

The Da Vinci Code

2004-12-07T06:52:00.000-08:00

The Da Vinci Code by author Dan Brown has been one of the most read and talked about books for the past year. The Da Vinci Code is an intelligent and psychological thriller with a combination of art history and conspiracies. “Intrigue and menace mingle in one of the finest mysteries…an amazing tale with enigma piled on secrets stacked on riddles,” stated by author Clive Cussler about The Da Vinci Code. The mystery begans when Jacques Sauniere and three others who hold an extremely important secret are murdered. However, before Jacques Sauniere passes away he leaves clues to the secret through Leonardo Da Vinci’s works for his granddaughter Sophie Neveu and Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon.

Historical and religious factors are a major theme in the development and understanding of the book. One of the most important historical factors is The Priory of Sion. The Priory of Sion was a group founded in 1099 and their purpose was to protect the secret as well as pass it along from generation to generation. In addition, “The Priory believes that Constantine and his successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the scared feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever” (Brown 124). For instance, when the Catholic Church published their book Malleus Malficarum also known as The Witches’ Hammer explained the dangers of freethinking women and they were referred to as witches. For that reason, “all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers… [as well as]…midwives who had medical knowledge [were] tortured and destroyed.” (Brown 125). It is interesting to see that once women were celebrated and considered the spiritual half of the male counterparts were now considered witches and outcasts. The effects of this can still be seen today, were it is seen taboo for women to be spiritual leaders in most religions.

Additionally, cryptology also plays a significant element in comprehending the novel. The author uses a wide range of cryptology to support his text. In his book Brown uses the Fibonacci sequence, where the next number is the sum of the two preceding number. For example, the character Sauniere writes out the number on his body “13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5” which really is “1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21” the Fibonacci sequence. In addition, the novelist uses PHI the Divine Proportion equal to 1.618. The most important aspect of PHI is “…its role as a fundamental building blocks in nature. Plants, animals, and even human beings all possessed dimensional properties that adhered with eerie exactitude to the ratio to PHI to 1” (Brown 94). For example, if you measure your arm from shoulder to your fingertips and then divide that number by the measurements from you elbow to your fingertips you will obtain PHI. In addition, Leonardo Da Vinci used PHI in his sketch “The Vitruvian Man.” “Da Vinci actually exhumed corpses to measure the exact proportions of human bone structure. He was the first to show that the human body is literally made of building blocks whose proportional ratios always equal PHI” (Brown 95).

Furthermore, Leonardo Da Vinci’s works are also symbolic to the story’s theme, such as “The Vitruvian Man” which symbolizes the male and female harmony. Brown utilizes this sketch by Da Vinci in his book as another means to deliver a message to his characters Langdon and Neveu. In addition, Brown also uses Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” in his book. Brown informs his readers; in the painting, the person sitting to Jesus’ right is actually a woman. In addition, that woman is Mary Magdalene who also happens to be Jesus’ wife. “…The figure to Jesus’ immediate right…the individual had flowing red hair, delicate folded hands, and the hint of a bosom…a female” (Brown 243). One can see that in the picture Jesus is wearing a red robe with a blue cloak where as Mary Magdalene is wearing a blue robe with a red cloak, mirroring each other. This is interpreted as yin and yang or also known as the male and female harmony, a major topic in several of Da Vinci’s works. Ultimately, this is the secret that the author preludes to in his novel, which the Priory of Sion has been protecting over the centuries.

As a result, it can be concluded that The Da Vinci Code by author Dan Brown was exceptionally well thought out and developed tale. The novelist used many interesting themes throughout his book to keep his readers in suspense. It is fascinating to see how history, math, and art can be linked together so effortlessly. History is what we make of it. Meaning, what has been passed on to us through books and literature is only what others before us had wanted to pass on. While things our predecessors did not want to pass along were destroyed. Therefore, there is always a possibility that what has been told to us maybe incorrect. On the contrary, math has always been believed to rational and undisputable quite the opposite of history. For example, two plus two will always equal four. Lastly, art is a way for an artist to express his or her feelings, ideas, or beliefs through their works. Art is another medium to communicate their voice through their artistic skills. The Da Vinci Code is an extremely interesting novel and highly recommended.

Customer Service

2004-12-07T06:38:00.000-08:00

Customer service has been a huge issue in today’s growing economy. Organizations such as businesses and corporations offer customer service to better serve their customers through reliable processes and procedures for interacting with their customers. Therefore, organizations offer this to help support their customers and have them stay loyal to their products. However, recently many major companies have started to move their customer service departments overseas since it is cheaper to pay employees overseas than here in America.

This is beneficial to the many organizations since they will save money, on the other hand, it can also have negative effects. If a person from overseas cannot communicate in English that well than they will not be able to help the customer. Additionally, a customer may also get frustrated with the situation of not being able to understand the representative as well as not receiving any help for the problem. As a result, the customer will most likely be dissatisfied with this company. For this reason, a consumer might switch to organization’s competitor, which customer service tries to prevent in the first place. For instance, Dell has moved its customer service department overseas. However, the representatives available to help the consumer do not converse efficiently in English. In addition to the two-hour long wait if one representative cannot help customer they just switch them to another agent. If the agent is unable to acquire a solution for the problem the representative notifies the consumer and informs them to have a nice day, instead of offering any other resolutions. It may seem to the customer that the agent is more concerned in moving onto a new individual, then helping the current customer with the dilemma.

Consequently, it can be deduced that moving customer services overseas can have disadvantageous consequence then what the organizations had initially assumed. The customer service division has many purposes. As stated above, it can range from helping customers with their inquiries to helping solve problems with products to keeping their customer base devoted to their company. Only time will tell in the end if corporations will keep their customer service sectors overseas or bring it back to America.

Coca Cola vs. Pepsi

2004-12-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

The competition between Coca Cola and Pepsi has been going on for numerous years now. Pepsi is rated to be more favorable then Coca Cola world wide, however, Coca Cola is rated to be more favorable in the United States then Pepsi. Nevertheless, each individual has their own preference as to which beverage they prefer.

Taste is a big factor that determines if a person will purchase Coca Cola or Pepsi and is one of the important aspects to use to sell the public. Both companies have to be able to develop a favorable taste for the diverse population and not just one group in particular to be able have a higher chance of return of profits from sales. Coca Cola has a formula, which was developed years ago that no one knows expect for the top officials of the corporation. In my opinion Coca Cola is more carbonated and has it’s own unique flavor. However, Pepsi does not have a formula like it’s adversary Coca Cola. Therefore, in my opinion Pepsi is sweeter than anything else. Both Coca Cola and Pepsi have their own distinctive flavor.

For this reason, Pepsi had a unique advertisement against its opponent Coca Cola. For instance, in the commercial Pepsi did the taste test to different individuals who did not know which was Coca Cola or Pepsi. After the test they picked which one they preferred and then were told which one was Coca Cola and Pepsi. The advertisement Pepsi aired help them immensely in sales as well as in popularity. Now Pepsi commercials have famous celebrities such as Britney Spears and Beyonnce. Furthermore, the Pepsi commercial is one of the most anticipated commercial during the Super Bowl.

Not to be outdone, Coca Cola has had unique advertisement as well. The Coca Cola Company’s advertisements are more family and tradition orientated. For instance, the Coca Cola Company presented the Coca Cola polar bear family that drank Coca Cola in various situations in their ads. Accordingly, the Coca Cola Company offered other products with the Coca Cola polar bears such as loose-leaf folders, magnets, and Christmas ornaments. In addition, Coca Cola Company has also used celebrates to promote their products such as Christina Aguilera. Presently though the Coca Cola Company in conjunction with the movie Polar Express is advertising Coca Cola beverages.

As stated above, in the end the choice between Coca Cola and Pepsi depends on ones’ personal taste. However, that does not mean that both companies have not tried to influence the public’s decision through unique advertisements. For this reason, Coca Cola and Pepsi have been extremely successful in marketing their products to the public. However, in my opinion Coca Cola tastes much better and is my favorite.

Celebrity

2004-12-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

Today’s technology in countless ways has hurt the music industry. For instance, problems like napster and kazaa has given the public an opportunity to download music for free. As a result, to encourage people to buy CD albums companies have started to lower CD prices as well as include extras. Still, musicians are the ones that are artistically and financially injured by this. Accordingly, for celebrities to generate more profit as well as market themselves, many celebrities are opening themselves up to other markets other then the music industry.

Going from the music industry to the movie industry seems like the logical step for numerous stars. Beyonnce, Jennifer Lopez, and even Queen Latifah have decided to attempt their luck in the movie industry. Queen Latifha’s movie “Bringing Down the House” was a great step for her career. Like many others, this opened up various opportunities for Queen Latifah for the movie as well as music industry. For instance, she is now being offered more roles in films. Additionally, Music Label Company are promoting her album because she is being marketed in a film, which will help sell her album and generate profit. So far the outcome of these celebrities’ efforts have been extremely well. Furthermore, many of these celebrities have also decided to participate in the movie’s soundtrack or have their own album released during the week their movie is also released. For example, when Jennifer Lopez’s movie the “Wedding Planner” was released, her album was also release during that week. As a result, both the movie and her album were successfully number one on the billboards.

Additionally, many celebrities also promote themselves as well as gain proceeds by being a spokesperson. For example, Beyonnce is Loreal’s spokesperson for products such as Loreal Feria hair dye. Her endorsement contract with Loreal is for five years where she will be required to take pictures, make promotional and personal appearance for ten days out of the year. In exchange, Beyonnce has received a $4.7 million dollars for this endorsement deal with Loreal. Moreover, this gives Beyonnce a chance to appear on television to market not only the product but herself as well to boarder audience. Other celebrities are also following this route, such as Jennifer Lopez who is the spokes person for Louis Vuttion.

On the other hand, many celebrities have decided to open their own clothing line. Stating this grants the public such as their fans a possibility to dress similar to their favorite celebrity. To help promote this there is always the celebrity’s signature symbol on the outfits. For instance, P.Diddy has a clothing line named Sean Paul and his outfits bear this name as a symbol. Jennifer Lopez’s clothing line has her signature icon of J.Lo. for her name. Alternatively, others have decided to try out the cosmetics industry. Instead of endorsing another’s products such as perfumes, some celebrities now offer their own merchandises. For instance, Beyonnce advertise the fragrance True Star for Tommy Hilfiger, however, Britney Spears offers her own fragrance called Curious. Jennifer Lopez offers other products in addition to perfumes such as Glow and Still. For example, “Glow by J.Lo. Sexy Body Bronzing Body Moisturizer” and “Glow by J. Lo. Sexy Body All-Over Shimmer Brush.”

It is true that celebrities have to generate proceeds to sustain their elaborate lifestyles and as a result celebrities have learned to go beyond their respected industries in today’s technological world. Additionally, going to other industry offers celebrities a chance to advertise themselves to a broader audience. Overall, for a celebrity to be publicized in so several industries provides them with the opportunity to constantly be in the public eye. By becoming a household name, the public will always be familiar with their names and faces. Thus their merchandises ranging from albums, movies, cosmetics, or whatever it might be at the moment; will have higher prospect of success.

Byzantine Empire

2004-12-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

The Byzantine Empire was established around the year 300 A.D. and lasted until the city of Constantinople was finally conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1453 A.D. The Byzantine Empire was formally recognized when the ancient Roman Empire was divided into an Eastern and Western part. The Eastern Empire’s capital was at Byzantium, which is also known as Constantinople. The term Byzantine is therefore used in refers to the survival of the Eastern part of the ancient Roman Empire.

During the spring of 2004 the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a special exhibit on Byzantine artworks. Numerous artworks created during the Byzantine era depicted the Christian religion in a proper style. If the artist of the work portrayed Christianity in any other manner during the Byzantine era they would be frown upon and would have been persecuted. Nevertheless, the artist’s passion and respect for the Christian religion could still be seen through its many symbolisms portrayed in the works. In addition, each painting was done in the artist’s perspective and depicted his thoughts. For example, the “Virgin Psychosotriat Annunciation” (early 14^th century) shows the archangel Gabriel along with Virgin Mary who is holding the Christ Child and Crucifixion. This painting shows the crucifixion in Byzantine manner with a nail in each foot. It also shows the virgin pointing to her son as a path to salvation.

Additionally, art can also be represented as an icon to its audience. The purpose of an icon or symbol through art is to bestow the opportunity to the viewer to observe the world through the artist’s perspective. An artist can successfully accomplish getting their message across to their audience; however it can be very difficult. For example, during the Byzantine Empire for an artist to portray religious art as icon would have been complicated because of the public’s perspective on religion at that time. Many people were concentrated on religious faith as an extremely important part of their daily lives.

Furthermore, countless people did not know how to read or write during this time. So this was a means in aiding the public to learn the Christian faith through the art that was produced during the Byzantine era. For instance, “Christ Pantokrator” (14^th Century) is represented as an icon to the uneducated population as a prayer of redemption for donor’s sins, which is taught in the Bible.

In conclusion, the Byzantine Exhibit was an immense opportunity to experience historical art. As an artist myself, it was interesting to see how religious art was depicted in the past along with delivering its message. It is highly recommended that the next time the Byzantine Exhibit is shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you should go see it.