The Role Played By Advertising in Mass Media

Table of Contents Introduction Conventional Role of Providing Consumer Information Critical Theory: Consumerist Ideology The Impact Advertising Has On Program Quality Role of Media in Democracy Development Works Cited Introduction Mass media are instruments that help marketers to pass information, communicate ideas and concepts to general public and targeted audience. They are very important tool that promote marketing goals. However, the use of mass media is can be counterproductive especially when the marketer chooses channels that are not appropriate for their target audience.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Role Played By Advertising in Mass Media specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sometimes, the message delivered maybe too emotional or evoking anxiety or fear or it could be controversial. However, advertising in mass media has its basic role that has conventionally shaped the choice of the channel, the type of message, and the audience to be targeted. Conventional Role of Providing Consumer Information In its basic essence, advertising is defined as the paid communication that is done via the mass media with the main objectives being to inform, persuade and remind clients. Traditionally, advertising usually incorporates crucial information for the customer like price, where to the product, what that product is (description) and benefits. The primary goal of designing and advert is therefore to communicate with the target audience so that the marketer can elicit the purchase behavior. Advertising therefore communicates to potential clients about a new product thus building awareness or supporting continued use of an existing product hence reinforcing the purchase behavior. With the intention to convince and inform and amidst competition for increasing brands of products, advertising has been dynamic and the most innovative business sector. The increasing technology has also propel led the revolution happening in advertisings and great improvements being observed each day. One significant revolution is the didactic advertising montage in the American advertising sector. This form of advertising can as well be referred to as parable advertising not because it has the same meaning as the biblical definition of parables but because of the attempt by the advertisers to give a moral lesson to potential buyers. These lessons are drawn from the everyday incidences and since the advertisers have in mind the goal to convince, they often exaggerate and greatly contrast their massages in dramatized advertisement. Advertisement messages seek to persuade buyers through suggestions rather than coercion and they also seek blunt acquiescence instead of active thinking.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The advertising message hence encourages people to incorporate the products being advertised into their lives by using daily event to accomplish this. After communicating a moral logic, the potential buyer is drawn into the story, carried along and released back to his/her situation in a manner that portrays the parable as the situation and the solution. One famous example of a parable used has been the first impression parable. Briefly, the parable is about a certain family that suffered social crisis and struggled to get of it for a while. Their one day managed to convince their boss to host executive dinner at their place. The wife researched widely on the best food and drinks to offer while the man searched extensively on the best business subjects and stories to keep his guest engaged. They were so carried away with this that they all forgot about their dull and untidy doorway. When the guests arrived, they were disappointed from the touch of the bell and entrance into the house. They were put off by the lack of modernity and dreary environment at firs t sight. In the end, no feat of cooking or exciting chatting could offset their first impression of deficiency in character by the family. Many advertisers have adopted the idea of first impression parable in their ads. The Williams shaving cream for instance has catchy phrases to evoke first impression feeling†¦Ã¢â‚¬ the face that’s fit†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ many people would agree that it’s the ‘look’ that one portrays that he/she will be judged upon. The most effective way of communicating this in advertisement is suggesting that the product builds self-confidence. Advertising on mass media is also ancillary to Programming because media has grown to become a very significant force in the modern culture especially in western nations. The sociologists have even named this new phenomenon ‘mediated culture’ because culture is constantly being shaped by media creations. Individuals and the communities are usually communicated to from a number of m edia sources which bombard information in their minds. All the different mass media tools do not just promote products as in advertisement but also evoke mood, inspire a feeling of what is important and to cause development of attitude among others. Advertising is therefore very important in programming of various multimedia. Its ability to reach thousands of audience across thousands of miles allows the development of celebrities like singers and actors. Besides, the issues of sponsorship emphasize the important role of advertising in ancillary programming. Most of the advertisements on mass media is very expensive and the money obtained from this is used for funding media programs. In order to reach the largest audience possible, advertisers seek to place ads on the bigger television stations or magazines that have wider coverage or any other wide coverage mass media for that matter. This makes the media owners have greater clients when their coverage is wide and hence earn more a s they can charge more as well.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Role Played By Advertising in Mass Media specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Advertising also influences the programs aired in that a media company that received a lot of revenue from big companies like Nike or any other, cannot air stories of abuse of basic human rights in such firms. This is negative impact of mass media responsibility interaction with the advertisement benefits to the company and to the public. Critical Theory: Consumerist Ideology In marketing in modern world and from the critical discourse assessment’s point of view, Guy Cook argued that advertisement was a discourse in itself. Advertising entails both text which is basically the advert itself and the context which is in essence the customers who respond to the advert (Guy 23). It is usually important to examine the significance of the advertisement based on the manner in which the target customers create meaning from it. The meaning of the product being advertised is often constructed based on their needs, tastes, desired, scope of knowledge, and the type of product. Several components of advertising are very important, however, participants are the basic components. Very important aspects emerge from the assessment of this component, the explanations and intentions, convictions and knowledge, feelings and relationships and attitudes. Uniquely, every participant is an observer and part of the context at the same time and therefore participant are senders and receivers. In advertisement, the person sending the message is not always the one addressing people, but the one relaying it. For instance, a television advert may have an actor, thought it may be sent by an agency. On the same not, the receiver is not always the addressee or target audience because the ads are aired on media which anyone can access. Anyone can therefore see the advert. The f unction of the ad is what it intended to do by the creator and sender or what it was perceived to cause the receiver to do or respond like. The political and economic perception, mass media is a commodity produced on large scale. The goal of advertising through these media is to maximize the profits of the businesses. The main revenue of mass media is advertising and the consumers are usually sold up to the advertising firms who sometimes just represent unspecific needs. Most of the time, the product being advertised could be promoting affluent lifestyle thus helping to promote the consumerist ideology. The mass media companies thus worry less about selling empty messages to the viewers and readers as long as they are being paid to do so and the advertisers are willing to pay the prices being charged for space. The audience is hence kept in safe haven of ideology by these media.Advertising Looking for essay on advertising? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Impact Advertising Has On Program Quality The impact of advertising on program quality especially on television has to do with time and content. The adverts are usually regulated and the regulation covrs the time that the commercial are allotted and the limitation of the products or services to be advertised on certain program based on the target audience. There are stringient laws for what is to and not to be advertised on the children’s programs. Time restrictions, also refered to as advertising caps may not be proper when there is over-advertising. Even so, these caps can decrease the diversity of programs by restricting the revenues for programs. The caps can reduced the overall qulity of the program, which include the direct enjoyment to the viewers. Restriction of advertisement of certisn products and services like cigarettes or fast foods on children program are a reflection of paternalistic altruism, however appropriate taxing rather than restriction could e more efficient. Duration restriction of advertising are perceived to be socially damaging especially when it results in under-advertising, under-advertising is used to describe a phenomenon where there is less advertisement than the social optimal level. Length restriction can be of great advantage if there is excess advertisement in the market. Over-advertising is seen when the nuisance to the readers and viewers more than the benefit it intended to offer. There is however still an ongoing study to assess whether indeed there is such thing as over-advertising and under-advertising and the effect on the market. However, caps can greatly decrease the quality of programs, the diversity of programming and the breadth of it hence affecting the profits. The media industry has a unique economic structure that is very different for other industries. Basically, the media is an entertainment industry used to amuse viewers while at the same time, the broadcasts carry adverts. Viewers are hence exp osed to these adverts just as a side benefit as consumers of entertainment. The advertisers pay for this entertainment content so that they can be able to use intermediary time of the programs to pass messages to their potential clients. In this vein, the media is a platform that is used by both advertisers and viewers for it to generate revenue. This means that the media must deliver the clients to the advertisers and they do this by well thought-out selection of the level of advertising with an attractive program enough to entice potential customers. Role of Media in Democracy Development Across the world, mass media remain the backbone of democracy for every state. The media usually provides political information to the electorate where voting decision are based. The media helps to identify the problems facing the societies and they serve as media for debating and consensus as well as collection of solution suggestions. The media also function as the government’s watchdog, and the people rely on them to uncover mistakes and other wrongdoings by the political leaders whom the community has given power. It’s hence sensible to demand that the media should perform certain standard with regard to these crucial roles, and the democratic community is contended that they do. The most democratic role that the society expect the mass media to do is often that of a watchdog because those in power are charged with responsibility of serving with the best interest if the people at heart. The functions attached to this include identification of the burning issues in the society that need address, surveillance of the social and political developments, and to offer a tool for deliberation for a wider range of views and opinions and requiring accountability from leaders. The active involvement of the media in political process and resistance to bowing to pressure from external forces seeking to subvert media independence is very crucial in attaining the democra tic goal of media. The basic human rights are often inalienable and they can be communicated through media for people to understand their right and how to react when these rights are infringed. The freedom of expression right is an elementary value in the modern democracy and without it and the freedom of the press the political development that has been achieved in the contemporary world today, could not have been achieved. This is the basic reason why all right have to be protected. Works Cited Armstrong, Mark. Competition in Two-Sided Markets. London: Mimeo University College, 2007. Print. Barnett, Steven. Will a Crisis in Journalism Provoke a Crisis in Democracy? The Political Quarterly, 73(2002): 400-408 Chomsky, Naom. The responsibility of intellectuals. New York: The New York Review of Books, 1967. Print. Cook, Guy. The Discourse of Advertising . London: Routledge, 2001. Print. Hall, Stuart. Representation: Cultural representation and signifying practices. London: Routledge, 1999. Print. Kellner, Douglas. The Media and Social Problems. In: Ritzer G (ed) Handbook of Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective. Thousand Oak: Sage, 2004. Print. Lin, Panlang. Market Provision of Program Quality in the Television Broadcasting Industry. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis Policy: 11.1(2011). Nesbitt-Larking, Paul. Politics, Society, and the Media. Second edition: Canadian Perspectives. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. Print. Roland Marchand, â€Å"The Great Parables† Advertising the American Dream Making Way for Modernity 1920-1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Print. This essay on The Role Played By Advertising in Mass Media was written and submitted by user Nikolai Mooney to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

What You Need to Know About Returning To Work After Having a Baby

What You Need to Know About Returning To Work After Having a Baby It’s awfully hard taking a leave from work to go and have a baby. It’s even harder leaving that baby behind to go back to work- even if you love your job! So whether you’re going back for monetary necessity, or because you have to keep your place in your career, or because you love what you do, here are a few tips to help ease your transition. 1. Start childcare plans early.If you want in on a specific day care center, get on their waiting list ASAP- sometimes even before the baby is born. Either way, set up who will be caring for your child in advance of needing it. Visit the facility or meet the person in advance. Maybe even do a dry run to make sure things don’t all crash and burn the minute Mommy/Daddy leaves. Having a good, safe option that you and your family feel good about will help ease your jitters.2. Stock up on supplies.You’re going to need a bunch of supplies for whomever is taking care of your kid. Buy things like breast milk bags and nursing pads and diapers in bulk. Make a checklist of all the things your baby needs when going out of the house and make sure to pass it along to your child minder.3. Start out slowly.Don’t go right back into full time. See if you can do part-time the first week or two, just until you iron out all the kinks and get your family settled in the new routine.4. Stay in touch.It’s okay to ask for regular updates throughout the day- a quick text or photo will often do to help you keep from worrying and focus on your work. If you are the type to call in every day, go for it!5. Talk to a lactation expert.If you’re a mom who’s going to keep nursing, talk to a lactation consultant and start figuring out your pumping schedule. Make sure you’re comfortable with your system before you dive into it. Get your baby used to drinking your milk from a bottle- to make sure she takes it- especially from someone else. And make sure to have the pumping conversation with your boss so she’s best prepared to support you. Your HR department should make it very easy on you and find you somewhere private and dedicated for when you need to pump.6. Plan everything the night before.After bedtime is your best friend. Pretend like you’re back in school again: lay out your clothes, pack your lunch, prep breakfast, pack the diaper bag, get organized, etc. This time will be less harried than the morning and will also mean you get more quality time before heading off to work each day when you aren’t running mad with stress.7. Don’t take work home.Your boss should understand that you have a brand new family at home. Leave your job when you come home and don’t pick it up again until you arrive the next morning. Life is too short to be missing your already limited family time being glued to projects or emails.8. Don’t feel guilty.Work is important to sustain your family. Even if you don’t have to work for the money- m aybe your partner makes more than enough to go around- if you’re going back to work because you love your job†¦ that’s important. Either way, you’re setting a wonderful example for your kids.

Disaster Response Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Disaster Response Plan - Research Paper Example The generic term used for risk management techniques is the disaster control plan or DCP. Out of these early attempts to help lessen the adverse effects of a disaster led to forming of the so-called incident command system (ICS). This system was originally used by cities as a fire-management tool because it was found to be effective. This effectiveness was based on a proven organizational structure that used descriptive terminology that is both comprehensive and powerful but still easy to understand by most people (Woodworth, 2010, p. 1). However, the ICS was expanded and integrated into the national incident management system (NIMS). Although more comprehensive, the NIMS is still largely centered on operationalizing of ICS at the time a disaster strikes. The big purpose is to avoid chaos and confusion that can lead to more serious consequences during and after a disaster. Another key part of the NIMS is the emergency operations center (EOC) that takes care of details such as putting a logistics center, emergency medical services team (EMS) or the triage area (Hogan & Burstein, 2007, p. 147). The EOC will be tasked with activating the emergency operations plan (EOP). With today’s terrorist threats hanging over the horizon, the idea of the NIMS is to give local emergency personnel the training and knowledge to treat emerging or potential disasters an all-hazards context. The idea is to treat each disaster as a worst-case scenario so that local responding emergency personnel are not caught flat-footed when arriving at the scene. Taken in another perspective, it is better to be fully prepared for the worst than arrive unprepared for the sheer scale or magnitude of a disaster if one underestimates the scope of the disaster. Even a minor disaster at first glance should be treated as a potential major disaster if mishandled as things can easily escalate and maybe even get out of hand. The lead agency

Actue MI (RE Write) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Actue MI (RE Write) - Essay Example Through this experience, I am able to indicate the various problems that were experienced by my patient as a result of their illness, specifically as they relate to the three primary issues of blood glucose level, anxiety and pain, which has been exacerbated by the patient’s new physiology. It has been widely recognised that holistic care is of increased interest within the nursing profession as understanding is gained regarding the complex cyclic relationship between a person’s physical health and psychological health (Messer & Meldrum, 1995). While the interest is increasing, this is not a new discovery as the World Health Organization, as early as 1946 (cited by Roper, Logan and Tierney, 1998), defined health as a â€Å"state of complete mental and social well-being† rather than the generally accepted definition of the absence of illness or infirmity. Clearly, there is a real need for recognition and support for more than the patient’s physical well-being within the nursing profession. A holistic approach to nursing would include caring for the obvious physical needs of the patient, but also providing assistance and caring for their spiritual, emotional, social and cultural needs as well. In discussing the care of my selected patient, it will be demonstrated how these holistic considerations were a part of the overall care provided, especially within the context of the registered nurse’s role. For the purposes of this study, I will refer to my selected patient as Mrs. Harris (patient profile, appendix 1). This is in direct accordance with the confidentiality codes listed in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2004) Code of Professional Conduct. In addition, I will not refer directly to any client, colleague or Trust with which I was engaged while making this study. Mrs. Harris, 75, was brought by ambulance to the Accident and Emergency department accompanied by her husband and two grown daughters

Gangs in Rio Essay Example for Free

Gangs in Rio Essay Gangs have always been a challenge to a states government. In Rio de Janeiro slums have always been dangerous because of the amount of the amount of gang members going around with guns, knives and many other weapons. There are many ways to understand these gangs; many believe that they do it for respect while others believe they do it because they have no other choice. In the movie â€Å"City of God† we can see the lives of many gang members that live in the slums. With many different sociologist perspectives we can comprehend various aspects of these gangs. Symbolic interactionist, Conflict theorist and Feminism theory are all different sociological perspective that will be discussed in this essay. First of all, Rio de Janeiro is known for their dangerous slums. Many would automatically think violence when It comes around that neighbourhood. To begin with, Symbolic interactionist focus on the subjective aspect of the social life, they base their perspective on the image they have of humans rather than the image they have on the society. One of the key aspects of the perspective is; we are influenced by culture and social processes, such as social norms. In the movie â€Å"City of God†, we can see that many people join the gangs because it has almost become part of their culture to be gang members. Symbolic interactionist would be interested in the way the gang grows very quickly. We can see in â€Å"City of god† or even in â€Å"News from personal war† that kids join the slums army at a really young age because of the amount of people that are part of it. Taking example on the Runts in the â€Å"City of God† movie, we can see that these young kids are mostly influenced by the older dealers fame and money. I believe that symbolic interactionist would be interested in how the kids from the movie â€Å"News from the personal war† don’t see anything wrong in their violent acts. They believe that they are doing nothing but positive for their society. By bringing back medicine, food and clothes to the population they picture themselves as Hero’s and has great citizens. The society encourages them to continue with these violent and dangerous acts by praising them because of the things they give back to their people. This is a major fact of the gangs growth in these low class countries. In this perspective there is also an important aspect that says; we act towards other based on the meaning that those other people have for us. For example, if we look at Knockout Ned’s murderer, he was just an innocent boy that was trying to get revenge for his father’s killer. Not knowing the consequences that this would have on his life he joined a gang to give honour to his father. Symbolic interactionists believe that our social structure is based by our social interactions with others. In other words, symbolic interactions would believe that hood boys had reason and justifications to why they were part of a gang. The crew tremendous growth is because of the social structure that they have in Rio de Janeiro. Secondly, conflict theories would portray the situation in Rio de Janeiro completely differently. Conflict theorists believe that societies are composed of groups in power, status and influence. For example, in the film Lil Ze and his crew would be considered as the group in power, status and has influence on kid. In the movie, Lil Ze makes a rule of no hold ups or anything in the slums by runts. This proves that Lil Ze has complete control on the community because he sets any rule that he desires, we can basically call him a president. Conflict theorist would also argue that the powerless are more prone to break the rules. We can take example on the Runts once again; they robe stores knowing that it is against the societies rules. In the film, Lil Ze seems to blame victims when he would commit violent crimes. He was convinced that people that break rules should pay for their actions. He found happiness in killing people for no absolute reason. Most times, the neighbourhoods and societies are the subjects of study, the battle between rich and poor. Poor people seem to not be able to escape the streets of the city of God, the opportunities to get out of the slums are really slums. In the beginning of the movie you see homeless people walking on the streets and the narrator mentions that these people have nowhere to but to stay on the streets. It is really hard for the poor to avoid doing crimes because of their low level of education, money and opportunity. At last, Feminist theory is known to discuss the importance of gender inequality. For the movie, I believe that the women are experience all the stereotypes we can imagine. In the movie we can see that women are completely used as object and are not respected. In the scene where Lil Ze rapes Knockout Ned’s girlfriend we can see that it is just because to show how he can get whatever he wants, whenever he wants from any women. He uses the girl as an object as if she wasn’t worth anything. This could be considered as gendercide in other words, he raped her as a war crime. The feminist theory also argues the fact that women are completely ignored in societies. Looking at the â€Å"City of God† film, the scene where the two women are talking about their sex experience and one of them mentions how her husband would beat her for asking such things. This shows how women do not have their word to say about anything in the movies. That same women get beat and barried alive because of her unfaithfulness towards her husband but yet, police are more preoccupied into catching Shaggy. This shows us how important the women’s death is to people. Women are mistreated and ignored from society because they are considered to be housewives by stereotype. To conclude, there are different ways of looking at the movie â€Å"City of God†, Symbolic interactionist can look at it has the subjective aspect of the social life, the look at people’s image instead of people image on society. However, Conflict theorist are interested in the people who basically run the streets, the people in power with status and influence. Finally, Feminism theorist are mostly interested in the gender inequality that we can see in societies. All these theories help us have different opinions of people who live in slums like the movie â€Å"City of God† and may bring to and understanding the people who actually live in them

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Description of Research "Multidisciplinary investigations using state-selected atoms" We are a (largely) experimental atomic physics research group. We apply atomic physics techniques to a wide range of problems, including: * precise tests of physical laws and symmetries; * the development of atomic clocks; * biomedical and materials science investigations using laser-polarized noble gas nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); * laser spectroscopy of coherently-prepared atomic media, with applications to quantum information; * low-energy atomic collisions; and * theoretical investigations of Bose-Einstein Condensates. Abstracts for recent research results Group bibliography Some ongoing projects are described at the following links: * The 129Xe/3He dual noble gas maser * The 21Ne/3He dual noble gas maser * The cryogenic hydrogen maser * The double-bulb rubidium maser * The coherent population trapping clock * Trapping light in coherently-prepared atomic media * Probing porous media with gas diffusion NMR * Low-field MRI of the lung gas space * Gas exchange in the lung * The dynamics of shaken and flowing granular media * Studies of vortices in Bose Einstein Condensates Some past projects are described here: * Polarized xenon in rat lungs and body tissues * Xenon uptake calculations for humans * Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of laser-polarized liquid xenon and gas-liquid exchange Description of Research "Multidisciplinary investigations using state-selected atoms" We are a (largely) experimental atomic physics research group. We apply atomic physics techniques to a wide range of problems, including: * precise tests of physical laws and symmetries; * the development of atomic clocks; * biomedical and materials science investigations using laser-polarized noble gas nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); * laser spectroscopy of coherently-prepared atomic media, with applications to quantum information; * low-energy atomic collisions; and * theoretical investigations of Bose-Einstein Condensates. Abstracts for recent research results Group bibliography Some ongoing projects are described at the following links: * The 129Xe/3He dual noble gas maser * The 21Ne/3He dual noble gas maser * The cryogenic hydrogen maser * The double-bulb rubidium maser * The coherent population trapping clock * Trapping light in coherently-prepared atomic media * Probing porous media with gas diffusion NMR * Low-field MRI of the lung gas space * Gas exchange in the lung * The dynamics of shaken and flowing granular media * Studies of vortices in Bose Einstein Condensates Some past projects are described here: * Polarized xenon in rat lungs and body tissues * Xenon uptake calculations for humans * Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of laser-polarized liquid xenon and gas-liquid exchange Description of Research "Multidisciplinary investigations using state-selected atoms" We are a (largely) experimental atomic physics research group. We apply atomic physics techniques to a wide range of problems, including:

Personality psychology Essay

The person I am choosing to describe is my best friend, Matt Wotring. We first started talking near the end of July of last year, but didn’t really become friends until we hung out at a mutual friend’s birthday party at the beginning of October. Over the course of the past year, he and I have continued to grow closer and spend as much time together as possible. He has one of those charismatic personalities that is hard to find in the present world. He is very close with all of his family – and believe me, he has a lot of family living nearby – and is probably closer with his cousins than he is with any of his friends. He is currently a senior a Calvary Christian Academy and plans on continuing his education at Frostburg State University, majoring in Computer Science. One thing that I’ve always admired about Matt is his perseverance. Even though his father died when he was only four years old, and the person he calls â€Å"Dad† now is merely a step-father, he still continues to always look on the bright side of things. Many people that go through something like that become depressed and withdrawn, or just never really recover fully. But because of Matt’s cheery disposition, you would’ve never known he’d ever gone through so much at such a young age. Even today, he has this uncanny ability to let things roll off his back and keep smiling – a character trait I’ve always thought highly of, but was never able to adapt in my own life. Matt is a fairly tall person – somewhere between 5’10† and 5’11† – so it’s always a challenge for me to give him a hug. His black hair is almost always disheveled, and he generally keeps it cut short due to the dress code policy at his school. During the summer, however, he grows it out longer and shaggy. Although he’ll sometimes have a 5’oclock shadow, he never purposely lets any facial hair grow. He has beautiful eyes that are dark brown around the pupils but become lighter as they move toward the edges of the iris, and have specks of darker brown in them. He has an amazing smile – in addition to having sparkling white teeth, he has one of those warm, inviting smiles that instantly make a person more comfortable around him. He’s pretty self-conscious about his shorter legs and large feet, in addition to his weight. He isn’t what a doctor would classify as â€Å"thin† – to be honest, he’s slight overweight – but I always say, â€Å"The bigger the person, the bigger the heart,† and Matt is no exception. Matt’s lifestyle greatly reflects the Christian upbringing he has received. Not only does he have good morals, but he has a very loving personality as well. He is one of the most caring people I’ve met – he almost always puts the needs and feelings of other people above his own needs and feelings. He won’t hesitate to loan you money, or take your shift at work, or even just to rake your lawn. He is also very generous, both with his time and his money. He always buys his friends video games (or anything else they want), and he will schedule his day around a person if he has to. He is probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met – even if he has a problem with somebody, he can still face them with a smile, and ignore the urge to say something rude and unnecessary to them. He’s pretty hard working most of the time, and he strives to make every effort his very best – especially on the soccer field. Matt’s number one passion in life (aside from his girlfriend, I’m told) is soccer. He is the main goalie, as well as one of the team captains, of his school’s soccer team, and his passion for the sport is evident in the effort he puts into it, and the look of enjoyment on his face. He is also very intelligent, and teaches me something new almost every day. The most attractive parts of his personality, though, are his remarkable sense of humor and listening abilities. No matter how bad of a day I’ve had, he will always stop what he’s doing to listen to me vent, and then bring a smile to my face again. Matt is honestly someone who I not only look up to, but also try to model my own personality and attitudes after. .++. And, by the way.. I love him very much. 🙂