PERSONAGENS INFANTIS DO CINEMA NA PROPAGANDA: UMA ESTRATÉGIA NA COMUNICAÇÃO AO PEQUENO CONSUMIDOR

Esta pesquisa tem como foco o varejo de produtos alimentícios que estão em amplo crescimento comercial com o uso de imagens de personagens de cinema infantil na propaganda para potencializar as marcas no mercado. O objetivo é conhecer e interpretar de forma científica, como o uso de imagens de personagens de cinema infantil na publicidade pode resultar no desejo de consumo pelo pequeno consumidor. A metodologia por experimento com crianças de 4 a 6 anos de idade serviu como base para que a questão da pesquisa fosse respondida a partir da aplicação de uma simulação de um ponto direto de venda (PDV). Biscoitos recheados com aplicação nas embalagens de personagens de cinema infantil assim como personagens de publicidade ficaram à disposição de compra do pequeno consumidor. Na conclusão do experimento, observa-se que a questão da pesquisa foi respondida, ressaltando que a publicidade de produtos alimentícios infantis com aplicação de personagens publicitários mantém condições de venda mais favoráveis do que publicidade de produtos alimentícios infantis com aplicação de personagens de cinema infantil, o que cria uma aversão ao discurso do senso comum.(AU)

AS VARIEDADES NO JORNALISMO BRASILEIRO

O que caracteriza o jornalismo de variedades na imprensa brasileira? O que confere identidade aos cadernos e seções culturais que focalizam o lazer e cobrem o entretenimento? São os gêneros e formatos jornalísticos? Ou são os conteúdos temáticos? Quais os parâmetros para compreender de que maneira as pautas de cultura e entretenimento têm sido apropriados por jornais editados no país? Para dar respostas a essas questões, foram observados, sistematicamente, a forma e o conteúdo de cinco publicações regionais Diário do Nordeste, Correio do Povo, Valeparaibano, Agora São Paulo e Gazeta do Tatuapé , além de um periódico de prestígio nacional Folha de S.Paulo. Optando pelo método misto de pesquisa quantitativa e qualitativa , a investigação mapeia, além dos gêneros, a geografia política, a cartografia cultural e as temáticas das matérias vigentes nos espaços já mencionados, a fim de estabelecer comparações. Os resultados sinalizam uma diversidade de produções, as quais respeitam as singularidades das regiões em que se inserem. Em geral, pode-se dizer que, na editoria de variedades, figuram tanto assuntos comuns ao jornalismo cultural música, artes visuais, artes cênicas, cinema, etc. quanto matérias a respeito de atrações televisivas, celebridades, tendências comportamentais e outros assuntos ligados à diversão, ocupando espaço significativo nas páginas dos impressos. Como reflexo da preferência dos veículos por uma produção jornalística voltada à indústria cultural e aos shows midiáticos, a cultura massiva se mostrou predominante em todas as publicações analisadas. Todavia, mesmo que a tônica do jornalismo de variedades esteja na diversão, essa especialidade não se caracteriza como um produto de entretenimento; o que ela faz é orientar como e onde se divertir. Não por acaso, constatou-se que os gêneros jornalísticos do espaço em questão, salvo raras exceções, estão circunscritos ao informativo e ao utilitário. Muito mais do que gerar cultura e entretenimento, as variedades cumprem o papel de guia do lazer.(AU)

O CINEMA COMO RECURSO DIDÁTICO-PEDAGÓGICO NO ENSINO JURÍDICO: QUEBRANDO PARADIGMAS

O presente estudo teve como seu objetivo geral investigar o modelo didático-pedagógico que vem sendo utilizado no ensino jurídico brasileiro, ressaltando a necessidade da busca pela formação integral do futuro operador do Direito, conforme preceitua a Resolução CNE/CES n°09/04. De modo especial, procurou investigar como a utilização do cinema pode ser compreendida como recurso para possibilitar a interação das disciplinas da área jurídica com a de outras áreas do conhecimento, incluindo arte e estética na formação do discente de Direito, visando uma maior eficácia do exercício operacional da inteligência, ampliação de visão de mundo e exercício do pensamento crítico. Os caminhos percorridos nesta pesquisa incluíram um estudo teórico sobre o histórico e os problemas do ensino jurídico no Brasil, discutindo-se as características pedagógicas dos cursos de Direito, bem como as inovações trazidas pelo MEC no que tange à adequação dos currículos e da pedagogia para alcançar o ensino humanístico, de acordo com a realidade dinâmica da sociedade globalizada. Nesta esteira, a pesquisa visou problematizar como o cinema, considerando-o como veículo instrucional, pode ser utilizado como metodologia inter e transdisciplinar nos cursos de Direito. Elaborou-se, também, uma investigação de campo que pretendeu, por meio de questionário estruturado, obter as opiniões de alunos sobre uma experiência de docência na disciplina de Direito Internacional Público onde se utiliza, de forma regular, trechos de produções cinematográficas como elementos contextualizadores de saberes na área lecionada. A pesquisa evidenciou que são poucos os professores de direito que se utilizam do cinema em suas aulas, embora todos os alunos pesquisados entendam ser esta uma prática extremamente válida e dialógica, que os leva à ampliação de conhecimento de mundo e ao pensamento crítico.

USO DE HISTÓRIAS EM QUADRINHOS EM SALA DE AULA: INCENTIVO À LEITURA

Sabe-se que uma grande dificuldade na educação é ajudar os alunos a criarem o hábito de ler. Muitos preferem assistir à televisão (geralmente novelas, filmes ou desenhos), brincar na rua com os colegas ou passear ao invés de ler. Infelizmente, os professores não contam muito com o apoio de alguns pais para ajudar seus filhos a criarem esse hábito de leitura, pois estão tão ocupados com as situações do dia a dia e não participam ativamente da vida dos filhos. Este trabalho consiste em investigar o uso das histórias em quadrinhos como elemento motivador para o incentivo à leitura. Para isso verificou-se compreender a estrutura das HQs, como podem auxiliar o professor em sala de aula e se podem ser usadas no desenvolvimento do hábito de leitura. A pesquisa foi de revisão bibliográfica, com bases nos estudos de Marcuschi (1991 e 2010), Cirne (1971, 1975, 1997 e 2000), Fávero, Andrade e Aquino (2009), Martins (1985), Solé (1998), Vergueiro (2006) e Yunes (1984), entre outros. Verificou-se que as HQs são ótimos recursos para o incentivo à leitura, pois os recursos apresentados por elas auxiliam nessa aprendizagem, dando a sensação de ouvir a história . O gênero histórias em quadrinhos, que os PCN orientam para o uso, é um apoio para se discutir oralidade na sala de aula, tendo um claro interesse no estudo da língua oral, sendo uma de suas características, representar elementos de oralidade. Por meio desses recursos, o aluno se vê parte da história , pois sente que está presenciando o seu acontecimento, enquanto sua imaginação flui livremente.

O LÚDICO VIA FÁBULAS EM ATENDIMENTO PSICOTERAPÊUTICO: UM ESTUDO DE CASO CLÍNICO DE MOBBING

Esta pesquisa verifica a validade da utilização de fábulas em processo psicoterapêutico de paciente de Mobbing acometida de depressão e síndrome de pânico. Desenvolve-se por meio de estudo de caso avaliativo-interventivo evolutivo prolongado, com um total de 116 sessões semanais. Inicialmente realiza o diagnóstico clínico elaborado a partir do desenho da figura humana, extraído do teste projetivo House Tree and Person, de entrevista inicial semi-dirigida, e de coleta de relatos verbais e observações feitas durante os primeiros atendimentos. As sessões são realizadas com utilização ocasional de fábulas, associada ou não a técnicas de relaxamento de Schultz e Jacobson, com interpretação de sonhos e recomendação de filmes. O objetivo é verificar se as fábulas contribuem de forma positiva para o paciente compreender com mais facilidade as interpretações do psicoterapeuta, se diminui sua resistência ao falar dos seus conteúdos e se amplia à consciência simbólica. O primeiro momento interventivo tem a duração de aproximadamente 16 meses, o segundo, de 04 meses, quando é solicitado o segundo desenho e o terceiro processa-se em 09 meses, quando é solicitado o último desenho. No primeiro momento é proporcionado à paciente um ambiente facilitador com sustentação emocional (Holding), buscando resgatar sua ilusão, numa visão winnicottiana. Revela-se uma situação de Mobbing acompanhada de depressão manifesta e síndrome do pânico; com alto nível de exigência pessoal e profissional; grande passividade nos relacionamentos e na dinâmica do casal. Ao final desse momento, já consegue começar a desviar sua auto-agressividade para o meio externo de maneira mais positiva e socialmente aceita. No segundo momento predomina o encontro e aceitação de seu verdadeiro jeito de ser; enxerga o quanto estava se deixando prejudicar; mostra-se mais confiante, comunica-se e enfrenta melhor suas dificuldades afetivas. No terceiro momento demonstra estar segura e feliz. Cuida de sua aparência e sente prazer em ser notada socialmente. Demonstra ter aprendido a se defender em situações de confronto, com maior autonomia e verbaliza estar muito feliz com as mudanças, sorri com freqüência. A análise evolutiva dos desenhos confirmam esta boa evolução. A utilização de fábulas foi muito bem aceita pela paciente, que conseguiu por meio da leitura simbólica contida nas mesmas, aproximar-se de sua problemática e aprender a lidar com ela de forma mais saudável. Os resultados também indicam que a utilização de relaxamento associado à leitura das fábulas contribuiu para sua assimilação mais abrangente e profunda. O estudo ilustra a evolução do caso por meio de 24 vinhetas, devidamente analisadas em relação aos momentos descritos.(AU)

(Para)translated ideologies in Simone de Beauvoir's 'Le deuxième sexe': the (para)translator's role

At the beginning of the 80s new approaches to translation were emerging in such a way that, in the global context of postmodernism and poststructuralism, they provoked a reassessment of Translation Studies (TS), acknowledging ideologies as a relevant concept to TS and considering the political and visible role of the translator. This introduction aims to establish a basic theoretical framework in which we can develop an analysis of the ‘alterations’ that, consciously or unconsciously, translators have imposed on Le deuxième sexe (1949, Gallimard) by Simone de Beauvoir for the last fifty years. Furthermore, it is essential to examine the divergences of the censoring attitude adopted by the first male translators (Parshley, Palant and Milliet) who considered this text to be a sex manual, and the one adopted by more recent female translators (Martorell and Simons) who considered it to be a philosophical book on feminism. Nevertheless, despite this tendency to consider that translators are the only professionals responsible for the translation process, it is necessary to bear in mind the work carried out by the paratranslator, who is the real censor and ‘decider’ of the way a work is presented to the translation community. Paratranslators work with paratexts (also known as ‘analysis-spaces’), and this makes it possible to study the ideological adaptation that a cultural object undergoes when it is incorporated into a new culture and society (covers, volumes, tables of contents, titles, iconic or visual elements and so forth). In short, the analysis of the texts and paratexts of Le deuxième sexe, along with its subsequent translations and rewritings into Spanish, Portuguese and English, will help reveal the function of the censoring apparatus and demonstrate the essential role that –without exception– ideologies play in the professional work of translation and paratranslation, since they have a decisive influence on the reception of the cultural (and ideological) object, in both the society in which it is created and that in which it is received.

Development and application of magnetoencephalographic methods in the investigation of the human visual system

This thesis is an exploration of the organisation and functioning of the human visual system using the non-invasive functional imaging modality magnetoencephalography (MEG). Chapters one and two provide an introduction to the ‘human visual system and magnetoencephalographic methodologies. These chapters subsequently describe the methods by which MEG can be used to measure neuronal activity from the visual cortex. Chapter three describes the development and implementation of novel analytical tools; including beamforming based analyses, spectrographic movies and an optimisation of group imaging methods. Chapter four focuses on the use of established and contemporary analytical tools in the investigation of visual function. This is initiated with an investigation of visually evoked and induced responses; covering visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and event related synchronisation/desynchronisation (ERS/ERD). Chapter five describes the employment of novel methods in the investigation of cortical contrast response and demonstrates distinct contrast response functions in striate and extra-striate regions of visual cortex. Chapter six use synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) to investigate the phenomena of visual cortical gamma oscillations in response to various visual stimuli; concluding that pattern is central to its generation and that it increases in amplitude linearly as a function of stimulus contrast, consistent with results from invasive electrode studies in the macaque monkey. Chapter seven describes the use of driven visual stimuli and tuned SAM methods in a pilot study of retinotopic mapping using MEG; finding that activity in the primary visual cortex can be distinguished in four quadrants and two eccentricities of the visual field. Chapter eight is a novel implementation of the SAM beamforming method in the investigation of a subject with migraine visual aura; the method reveals desynchronisation of the alpha and gamma frequency bands in occipital and temporal regions contralateral to observed visual abnormalities. The final chapter is a summary of main conclusions and suggested further work.

Representational modes of thinking employed by children aged thirteen and fourteen, and their relationship to performance in standardised tests of ability, measures of creativity and personality

This thesis proposes that despite many experimental studies of thinking, and the development of models of thinking, such as Bruner's (1966) enactive, iconic and symbolic developmental modes, the imagery and inner verbal strategies used by children need further investigation to establish a coherent, theoretical basis from which to create experimental curricula for direct improvement of those strategies. Five hundred and twenty-three first, second and third year comprehensive school children were tested on 'recall' imagery, using a modified Betts Imagery Test; and a test of dual-coding processes (Paivio, 1971, p.179), by the P/W Visual/Verbal Questionnaire, measuring 'applied imagery' and inner verbalising. Three lines of investigation were pursued: 1. An investigation a. of hypothetical representational strategy differences between boys and girls; and b. the extent to which strategies change with increasing age. 2. The second and third year children's use of representational processes, were taken separately and compared with performance measures of perception, field independence, creativity, self-sufficiency and self-concept. 3. The second and third year children were categorised into four dual-coding strategy groups: a. High Visual/High Verbal b. Low Visual/High Verbal c. High Visual/Low Verbal d. Low Visual/Low Verbal These groups were compared on the same performance measures. The main result indicates that: 1. A hierarchy of dual-coding strategy use can be identified that is significantly related (.01, Binomial Test) to success or failure in the performance measures: the High Visual/High Verbal group registering the highest scores, the Low Visual/High Verbal and High Visual/Low Verbal groups registering intermediate scores, and the Low Visual/Low Verbal group registering the lowest scores on the performance measures. Subsidiary results indicate that: 2. Boys' use of visual strategies declines, and of verbal strategies increases, with age; girls' recall imagery strategy increases with age. Educational implications from the main result are discussed, the establishment of experimental curricula proposed, and further research suggested.

A systems and cybernetic perspective on complex problem solving

This thesis is concerned with Organisational Problem Solving. The work reflects the complexities of organisational problem situations and the eclectic approach that has been necessary to gain an understanding of the processes involved. The thesis is structured into three main parts. Part I describes the author's understanding of problems and suitable approaches. Chapter 2 identifies the Transcendental Realist (TR) view of science (Harre 1970, Bhaskar 1975) as the best general framework for identifying suitable approaches to complex organisational problems. Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between Checkland's methodology (1972) and TR. The need to generate iconic (explanatory) models of the problem situation is identified and the ability of viable system modelling to supplement the modelling stage of the methodology is explored in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 builds further on the methodology to produce an original iconic model of the methodological process. The model characterises the mechanisms of organisational problem situations as well as desirable procedural steps. The Weltanschauungen (W's) or "world views" of key actors is recognised as central to the mechanisms involved. Part II describes the experience which prompted the theoretical investigation. Chapter 6 describes the first year of the project. The success of this stage is attributed to the predominance of a single W. Chapter 7 describes the changes in the organisation which made the remaining phase of the project difficult. These difficulties are attributed to a failure to recognise the importance of differing W's. Part III revisits the theoretical and organisational issues. Chapter 8 identifies a range of techniques embodying W's which are compatible with .the framework of Part I and which might usefully supplement it. Chapter 9 characterises possible W's in the sponsoring organisation. Throughout the work, an attempt 1s made to reflect the process as well as the product of the author's leaving.

May the contact lens force be with you

FULL TEXT: Like many people one of my favourite pastimes over the holiday season is to watch the great movies that are offered on the television channels and new releases in the movie theatres or catching up on those DVDs that you have been wanting to watch all year. Recently we had the new ‘Star Wars’ movie, ‘The Force Awakens’, which is reckoned to become the highest grossing movie of all time, and the latest offering from James Bond, ‘Spectre’ (which included, for the car aficionados amongst you, the gorgeous new Aston Martin DB10). It is always amusing to see how vision correction or eye injury is dealt with by movie makers. Spy movies and science fiction movies have a freehand to design aliens with multiples eyes on stalks or retina scanning door locks or goggles that can see through walls. Eye surgery is usually shown in some kind of day case simplified laser treatment that gives instant results, apart from the great scene in the original ‘Terminator’ movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger's android character encounters an injury to one eye and then proceeds to remove the humanoid covering to this mechanical eye over a bathroom sink. I suppose it is much more difficult to try and include contact lenses in such movies. Although you may recall the film ‘Charlie's Angels’, which did have a scene where one of the Angels wore a contact lens that had a retinal image imprinted on it so she could by-pass a retinal scan door lock and an Eddy Murphy spy movie ‘I-Spy’, where he wore contact lenses that had electronic gadgetry that allowed whatever he was looking at to be beamed back to someone else, a kind of remote video camera device. Maybe we aren’t quite there in terms of devices available but these things are probably not the behest of science fiction anymore as the technology does exist to put these things together. The technology to incorporate electronics into contact lenses is being developed and I am sure we will be reporting on it in the near future. In the meantime we can continue to enjoy the unrealistic scenes of eye swapping as in the film ‘Minority Report’ (with Tom Cruise). Much more closely to home, than in a galaxy far far away, in this issue you can find articles on topics much nearer to the closer future. More and more optometrists in the UK are becoming registered for therapeutic work as independent prescribers and the number is likely to rise in the near future. These practitioners will be interested in the review paper by Michael Doughty, who is a member of the CLAE editorial panel (soon to be renamed the Jedi Council!), on prescribing drugs as part of the management of chronic meibomian gland dysfunction. Contact lenses play an active role in myopia control and orthokeratology has been used not only to help provide refractive correction but also in the retardation of myopia. In this issue there are three articles related to this topic. Firstly, an excellent paper looking at the link between higher spherical equivalent refractive errors and the association with slower axial elongation. Secondly, a paper that discusses the effectiveness and safety of overnight orthokeratology with high-permeability lens material. Finally, a paper that looks at the stabilisation of early adult-onset myopia. Whilst we are always eager for new and exciting developments in contact lenses and related instrumentation in this issue of CLAE there is a demonstration of a novel and practical use of a smartphone to assisted anterior segment imaging and suggestions of this may be used in telemedicine. It is not hard to imagine someone taking an image remotely and transmitting that back to a central diagnostic centre with the relevant expertise housed in one place where the information can be interpreted and instruction given back to the remote site. Back to ‘Star Wars’ and you will recall in the film ‘The Phantom Menace’ when Qui-Gon Jinn first meets Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine he takes a sample of his blood and sends a scan of it back to Obi-Wan Kenobi to send for analysis and they find that the boy has the highest midichlorian count ever seen. On behalf of the CLAE Editorial board (or Jedi Council) and the BCLA Council (the Senate of the Republic) we wish for you a great 2016 and ‘may the contact lens force be with you’. Or let me put that another way ‘the CLAE Editorial Board and BCLA Council, on behalf of, a great 2016, we wish for you!’

A working memory bias for alcohol-related stimuli depends on drinking score

We tested 44 participants with respect to their working memory (WM) performance on alcohol-related versus neutral visual stimuli. Previously an alcohol attentional bias (AAB) had been reported using these stimuli, where the attention of frequent drinkers was automatically drawn toward alcohol-related items (e.g., beer bottle). The present study set out to provide evidence for an alcohol memory bias (AMB) that would persist over longer time-scales than the AAB. The WM task we used required memorizing 4 stimuli in their correct locations and a visual interference task was administered during a 4-sec delay interval. A subsequent probe required participants to indicate whether a stimulus was shown in the correct or incorrect location. For each participant we calculated a drinking score based on 3 items derived from the Alcohol Use Questionnaire, and we observed that higher scorers better remembered alcohol-related images compared with lower scorers, particularly when these were presented in their correct locations upon recall. This provides first evidence for an AMB. It is important to highlight that this effect persisted over a 4-sec delay period including a visual interference task that erased iconic memories and diverted attention away from the encoded items, thus the AMB cannot be reduced to the previously reported AAB. Our finding calls for further investigation of alcohol-related cognitive biases in WM, and we propose a preliminary model that may guide future research. © 2012 American Psychological Association.

8 steps for managing green innovation in the automotive industry

The car is dead, long live the car! We are about to celebrate 100 years of Ford model T, the most iconic symbol of the popularisation of cars as the means of personal mobility. The automotive industry is going through an incredible journey of redefining its purpose and the traditional characteristics of its products. More than ever, car manufacturers will need to develop and effectively implement a meaningful green innovation strategy if they want to survive in the new automotive era.

Margetinggeschichte:Die Genese einer modernen Sozialtechnik, Hartmut Berghoff

Book revew: Marketinggeschichte: die Genese einer modernen Sozialtechnik [Marketing history: The genesis of a modern social technique], edited by Hartmut Berghoff, Frankfurt/Main, Campus Verlag, 2007, 409 pp., illus., [euro]30.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-3-593-38323-1. This edited volume is the result of a workshop at Göttingen University in 2006 and combines a number of different approaches to the research into the history of marketing in Germany's economy and society. The majority of contributions loosely focus around the occurrence of a ‘marketing revolution’ in the 1970s, which ties in with interpretations of the Americanisation of German business. This revolution replaced the indigenous German idea of Absatzwirtschaft (the economics of sales) with the American-influenced idea of Marketing, which was less functionally oriented and more strategic, and which aimed to connect processes within the firm in order to allow a greater focus on the consumer. The entire volume is framed by Hartmut Berghoff's substantial and informative introduction, which introduces a number of actors and trends beyond the content of the volume. Throughout the various contributions, authors provide explanations of the timing and nature of marketing revolutions. Alexander Engel identifies an earlier revolution in the marketing of dyes, which undergoes major change with the emergence of chemical dyes. While the natural dyestuff had been a commodity, with producers removed from consumers via a global network of traders, chemical dyes were products and were branded at an early stage. This was a fundamental change in the nature of production and sales. As Roman Rossfeld shows in his contribution on the Swiss chocolate industry (which focuses almost exclusively on Suchard), even companies that produced non-essential consumer goods which had always required some measure of labelling grappled for years with the need to develop fewer and higher impact brands, as well as an efficient sales operation. A good example for the classical ‘marketing revolution’ of the 1970s is the German automobile industry. Ingo Köhler convincingly argues that the crisis situation of German car manufacturers – the change from a seller's to a buyer's market, appreciation of the German mark which undermines exports, the oil crises coupled with higher inflation and greater frugality of consumers and the emergence of new competitors – lead companies to refocus from production to the demands of the consumer. While he highlights the role of Ford in responding most rapidly to these problems, he does not address whether the multinational was potentially transferring American knowledge to the German market. Similarly, Paul Erker illustrates that a marketing revolution in transport and logistics happened much later, because the market remained highly regulated until the 1980s. Both Paul Erker and Uwe Spiekermann in their contribution, present comparisons of two different sectors or companies (the tire manufacturer Continental and the logistics company Dachser, and agriculture and trade, respectively). In both cases, however, it remains unclear why these examples were chosen for comparison, as both seem to have little in common and are not always effectively used to demonstrate differences. The weakest section of the book is the development of marketing as an academic discipline. The attempt at sketching the phases in the evolution of marketing as an academic discipline by Ursula Hansen and Matthias Bode opens with an undergraduate-level explanation on the methodology of historical periodisation that seems extraneous. Considerably stronger is the section on the wider societal impact of marketing, and Anja Kruke shows how the new techniques of opinion research was accepted by politics and business – surprisingly more readily by politicians than their commercial counterparts. In terms of contemporary personalities, Hans Domizlaff emerges as one fascinating figure of German marketing history, which several contributors refer to and whose career as the German cigarette manufacturer Reemtsma is critically analysed by Tino Jacobs. Domizlaff was Germany's own ‘marketing guru’, whose successful campaigns led to the wide-ranging reception of his ideas about the nature of good branding and marketing. These are variously described as intuitive, elitist, and sachlich, a German concept of a sober, fact-based, and ‘no frills’ approach. Domizlaff did not believe in market research. Rather, he saw the genius of the individual advertiser as key to intuitively ascertaining the people's moods, wishes, and desires. This seems to have made him peculiarly suited to the tastes of the German middle class, according to Thomas Mergel's contribution on the nature of political marketing in the republic. Especially in politics, any form of hard sales tactics were severely frowned upon and considered to demean the citizen as incapable of making an informed choice, a mentality that he dates back to the traditions of nineteenth-century liberalism. Part of this disdain of ‘selling politics like toothpaste’ was also founded on the highly effective use of branding by the National Socialists, who identified their party through the use of an increasingly standardised image of Adolf Hitler and the swastika. Alexander Schug extends on previous research that criticised the simplistic notion of Hitler's charisma as the only explanation of the popular success and distances his approach from those who see it in terms of propaganda and demagogy. He argues that the NSDAP used the tools of advertising and branding precisely because they had to introduce their new ideology into a political marketplace dominated by more established parties. In this they were undoubtedly successful, more so than they intended: as bakers sold swastika cookies and butchers formed Führer heads out of lard, the NSDAP sought to regain control over the now effectively iconic images that constituted their brand, which was in danger of being trivialised and devalued. Key to understanding the history of marketing in Germany is on the one hand the exchange of ideas with the United States, and on the other the impact of national-socialist policies, and the question whether they were a force of modernisation or retardation. The general argument in the volume appears to favour the latter explanation. In the 1930s, some of the leading marketing experts emigrated to the USA, leaving German academia and business isolated. The aftermath of the Second World War left a country that needed to increase production to satisfy consumer demand, and there was little interest in advanced sales techniques. Although the Nazis were progressive in applying new marketing methods to their political campaign, this retarded the adoption of sales techniques in politics for a long time. Germany saw the development of idiosyncratic approaches by people like Domizlaff in the 1930s and 1940s, when it lost some leading thinkers, and only engaged with American marketing conceptions in the 1960s and 1970s, when consumers eventually became more important than producers.

Future of contact lens usage

I was recently part of a small committee looking at higher qualifications in contact lens practice and the discussion turned to future technologies. There was mention of different materials and different applications of contact lenses. Drug delivery with contact lenses was discussed as this has been talked about in the literature for a while. The first paper I could find that talked about using contact lenses for drug delivery dates back over 40 years. There was a review paper in CLAE in 2008 that looked specifically at this too [1]. However, where are these products? Why are we not seeing them in the market place? Maybe the technology is not quite there yet, or maybe patents are prohibiting usage or maybe the market is not big enough to develop such products? We do have lenses on the market with slow release of lubricating agents but not therapeutic agents used for ocular or systemic conditions. Contact lenses with pathogen detectors may be part of our contact lens armoury of the future and again we can already see papers in the literature that have trialled this technology for glucose monitoring in diabetics or lactate concentration in the tear film. Future contact lenses may incorporate better optics based on aberration control and we see this starting to emerge with aspheric designs designed to minimise spherical aberration. Irregular corneas can be fitted with topography based designs and again this technology exists and is being used by some manufacturers in their designs already. Moreover, the topography based fitting of irregular corneas is certainly something we see a lot of today and CLAE has seen many articles related to this over the last decade or so. What about further into the future? Well one interesting area must the 3-dimensional contact lenses, or contact lenses with electronic devices built in that simulate a display screen. A little like the virtual display spectacles that are already sold by electronics companies. It does not take much of a stretch of the imagination to see a large electronic company taking this technology on and making it viable. Will we see people on the train watching movies on these electronic virtual reality contact lenses? I think we will, but when is harder to know.

What's new pussycat? A genealogy of animal celebrity

Animal celebrity is a human creation informing us about our socially constructed natural world. It is relational, expressive of cultural proclivities, political power plays and the quotidian everyday, as well as serious philosophical reflections on the meaning of being human. This article attempts to outline some key contours in the genealogy of animal celebrity, showing how popular culture, including fairground attractions, public relations, Hollywood movies, documentary films, zoo attractions, commercial sport and mediatised moral panics - particularly those accompanying scientific developments such as cloning - help to order, categorise and license aspects of human understanding and feelings. The nature of [animal] charisma and celebrity are explored with assistance from Jumbo the Elephant, Guy the Gorilla, Paul the clairvoyant octopus, Uggie the film star, Nénette the orang-utan and Dolly the sheep. It argues that the issue of what it is to be human lies beneath the celebritised surface or, as Donna Haraway noted, the issue 'of having to face oneself'. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.