Many British people don't think about clothes very much. In Britain, as well as in the USA, men in offices usually wear suits and ties and women wear dresses or skirts (not trousers). Doctors, lawyers and business people wear quite formal clothes.
And in some hotels and restaurants men have to wear ties and women wear smart dresses. Jeans and open shirts are sometimes not allowed. It is difficult to say exactly what people wear in Britain and the States because everyone is different. It you are not sure what to wear watch what other people do and then do the same. Or ask the advice of a friend or your host. You'll fell relaxed if you don't look too different from everyone else.
British people just like to be comfortable. When they go out to enjoy themselves, they can wear almost everything. At theaters, cinemas and concerts you can put on what you like — from elegant suits and dresses to jeans and sweaters.
In many ways, Americans are more relaxed than British people, but they are more careful with their clothes. At home or on holiday most Americans wear informal or sporty clothes. But when they go out in the evening, they like to look elegant. In good hotels and restaurants men have to wear jackets and ties and women wear pretty clothes and smart hairstyles. But these days most people in Britain and the USA do not wear very formal clothes. But sometimes it is important to wear the right thing.
Текст 2
1. Read the text and answer the questions:
1. What is meant by the term ‗occasions‘ in the article?
2. How many of the greetings cards sent in the USA are Hallmark cards?
3. How many of the cards sold in the USA are non-occasion cards?
4. Where did Hallmark base?
5. What do you think is the strangest type of non-occasion card mentioned?
2. Write if these statements are true or false:
1. Hallmark would prefer people to write each other letters, rather than send cards.
2. The market for cards has grown continuously from 1945 till now.
3. There are cards for people to send a friend whose dog has died.
4. There are cards to help a woman to make a date with a man.
5. There are cards to send people who have suffered any personal disaster you can imagine.
Mid-way between Father‘s Day (June 16th) and Halloween (October 31st) is the worst of times for American publishers of greeting cards. Despite their success in filling the calendar with ‗occasions‘ (Mother-in-law‘s Day is October 27th), people send fewer cards than at any other time of the year. Hallmark Cards, the leader with a 44% share of a market worth almost $5 billion a year, is trying to change that by reviving an old habit.
Just as illiterate people in some countries still pay scribes to write letters for them, Hallmark is trying to persuade today‘s too-busy-to-write Americans to let it express their sentiments for them. That is how this private company, based in Kansas City with 15,000 employees, is getting people to send cards even on days when there is no ‗occasion‘. This latest marketing idea is designed to boost sales in a market that threatens to stop growing for the first time since 1945.
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Some industry insiders trace the birth of Hallmark‘s so-called ‗non-occasion‘ cards to a death-of-a-pet card the firm‘s 700-strong creative staff produced in 1984. Examples of non-occasion cards include a new line of adult-to-child cards, called ‗To Kids With Love‘, which Hallmark introduced in January 1989. The number of cards in this series has grown to 125. They are supposed to help children aged 7 to 14 (and their parents) cope with growing up.
Hallmark is so encouraged by the success of these cards that it has produced a series of 520 non-occasion cards for adults. Some seek to deepen friendships or simply to keep in touch. Others address almost every imaginable calamity, from loss of a job to mental illness.
Hallmark‘s two biggest competitors – American Greetings with 30% of the market and Gibson Greetings with 8% - have followed Hallmark‘s lead. Non-occasion cards now account for more than 10% of the 7.3 billion greeting cards sold in America each year. Nobody knows how big non-occasion cards can become. But they too will eventually reach saturation. Perhaps the industry‘s next marketing frontier will be to get customers to send cards to themselves.
Текст 3
Although the average citizen is usually annoyed by all the advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines and the commercials broadcast on TV, the impact of the whole advertising industry on a single person is immense and plays a very important role in our lives. Advertising absorbs vast sums of money but it is useful to the community. What are the functions of advertisements?
The first one to mention is to inform. A lot of the information people have about household devices, cars, building materials, electronic equipment, cosmetics, detergents and food is largely derived from the advertisements they read. Advertisements introduce them to new products or remind them of the existing ones.
The second function is to sell. The products are shown from the best point of view and the potential buyer, on having entered the store, unconsciously chooses the advertised products. One buys this washing powder or this chewing gum, because the colorful TV commercials convince him of the best qualities of the product. Even cigarettes or sweets or alcohol are associated with the good values of human life such as joy, freedom, love and happiness, and just those associations make a person choose the advertised products. The aim of a good advertisement is to create a consumer demand to buy the advertised product or service. Children are good example as they usually want the particular kind of chocolate or toy or chewing-gum. Being naive they cannot evaluate objectively what is truthful and what is exaggerated and select the really good products unless they buy the goods and check for themselves.
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Thirdly, since the majority of advertisements are printed in our press we pay less for newspapers and magazines, also TV in most countries in cheap. The public advertising seen on street hoardings, railway stations and buildings makes people's life more joyful. Moreover, all those small ads in the press concerning "employment", "education" and "For sale and wanted" columns, help ordinary people to find a better job or a better employee, to sell or to buy their second-hand things and find services, or learn about educational facilities, social events such as, concerts, theatre plays, football matches, and to announce births, marriages and deaths.
Thus despite our dissatisfaction when being bombarded by all the advertisers' information we must admit that they do perform a useful service to society, and advertisements are an essential part of our everyday life.
Текст 4
Although the average citizen is usually annoyed by all the advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines and the commercials broadcast on TV, the impact of the whole advertising industry on a single person is immense and plays a very important role in our lives. Advertising absorbs vast sums of money but it is useful to the community. What are the functions of advertisements? The first one to mention is to inform. A lot of the information people have about household devices, cars, building materials, electronic equipment, cosmetics, detergents and food is largely derived from the advertisements they read. Advertisements introduce them to new products or remind them of the existing ones. The second function is to sell. The products are shown from the best point of view and the potential buyer, on having entered the store, unconsciously chooses the advertised products. One buys this washing powder or this chewing gum, because the colorful TV commercials convince him of the best qualities of the product. Even cigarettes or sweets or alcohol are associated with the good values of human life such as joy, freedom, love and happiness, and just those associations make a person choose the advertised products. The aim of a good advertisement is to create a consumer demand to buy the advertised product or service. Children are good example as they usually want the particular kind of chocolate or toy or chewing-gum. Being naive they cannot evaluate objectively what is truthful and what is exaggerated and select the really good products unless they buy the goods and check for themselves. Thirdly, since the majority of advertisements are printed in our press we pay less for newspapers and magazines, also TV in most countries in cheap. The public advertising seen on street hoardings, railway stations and buildings makes people's life more joyful. Moreover, all those small ads in the press concerning "employment", "education" and "For sale and wanted" columns, help ordinary people to find a better job or a better employee, to sell or to buy their second-hand things and find services, or learn about educational facilities, social events such as, concerts, theatre plays, football matches, and to announce births, marriages and deaths. Thus despite our dissatisfaction when being bombarded by all the advertisers' information we must admit that they do perform a useful service to society, and advertisements are an essential part of our everyday life.
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Текст 5
Television, also called TV, is one of our most important means of communication. It brings moving pictures and sounds from around the world into millions of homes.
The name "Television" comes from Greek word meaning "far", and a Latin word meaning "to see", so the word "tele-vision" means "to see far".
About three-fourths of the 1 500 TV stations in the US are commercial stations. They sell advertising time to pay for their operating costs and to make profit. The rest are public stations, which are nonprofit organizations.
Commercial TV stations broadcast mostly entertainment programs because they must attract larger numbers of viewers in order to sell advertising time at high prices. These programs include light dramas called situation comedies; action-packed dramas about life of detectives, police officers, lawyers and doctors; shows featuring comedians, dancers and singers; movies; quiz shows; soap operas; cartoons. Commercial TV broadcasts also documentaries and talk shows. Documentary is dramatic, but nonfictional presentation of information. It can be programs about people, animals in faraway places or programs on such issues as alcoholism, drug abuse, racial prejudice. On talk shows a host interviews. politicians, TV and movie stars, athletes, authors. There are also sport programs and brief summaries of local, national and international news. Advertising is an important part of commercial TV. Commercials appear between and during most programs. They urge viewers to buy different kinds of products - from dog food to hair spray, and from cars to insurance policies.
Public television focuses mainly on education and culture. There are programs on wide range of subjects - from physics and literature to cooking and yoga. Public TV also broadcasts plays, ballets, symphonies as well as programs about art and history. Public TV attracts less viewer than commercial TV.
Текст 6
It goes without saying that all of us are influenced by adverts, commercials, brochures, bright pictures, sample sales and free gifts that are used to advertise goods and service. In fact adverting has become part and parcel of our every day life. Advertisements are all around us, not just on TV, radio and in the press, but also at sports grounds, in shop windows, and on posters, carrier bags, badges, T-shirts, trams and buses and even hot air balloons. Whether we like it or not, advertising is a powerful force that controls us.
Many thousands of people believe, that when we watch TV we only relax and don’t think about anything. But it isn’t true. We also get information about what to do or not to do, what to buy or not to buy. And our decision depends on advertising. There are different advertising techniques. For example, bandwagon, testimonial, catchy words, comparison and product slogan. All companies use different styles of advertising, thus the result is different. For istance, the company “Donone” with the product slogan:”Mmm... Donone!” is very famous in our time, though the words are simple to memorize. Another very famous company is “Tide”. The style of their advert is comparison: ”Simple washing powder has the same price like our but the result is different!”. I think that the most effective advertising technique is,of course, product slogan, because the text of slogan is short and easy to memorize, besides it sounds good. So the style of advertising is very important, as the success of any product depends on it.
Some people think, that advertising in general is a useful way of finding out about products and there are several reasons for that. Firstly, when we watch any ad, we get information about new things that we can buy or can see. Secondly, If we try to find any thing, that we want to buy, advertisement can help us to do it. And finally, it is a way to be informed about new inventions of our time.
Other people think, that advertising is very dishonest and a waste of time when we watch it on TV. And I can give some arguments for it. Firstly, when we see beautiful people in beautiful clothes we want to buy these beautiful clothes. Adverts make us buy things we don’t need or can’t afford, thus we are all in debt. Secondly, some companies use thought-provoking and touching advertisements. It is very dishonest because they usually use disabled people to show us that they can do something so you can do it too. And finally, for some companies advertising is a waste of money, because the advertising technique and the quality of it may be not good.
As for my attitude to advertising, I think that it is a type of art. And there are several reasons for that. Firstly, people who make ads are very educated and know all cunnings that can persuade a person to buy anything. Secondly, not all people
can do it very effectively, thus the result may be not good. Of course, like any person in the world I have got my favourite advertisement too. It is the advert for ski-fi serial Star Gate about the group of people that travel around the whole galaxy and protect our planet from other civilizations. As for the advert I hate, it is,of cause, the ad of house 2.This ad is about a TV-programme where people try to find their love and where they always cry and kick each other.
So, there are a lot of points of view about advertising. Some think that it is a real helper in finding out about products. Others think, that it is a real way to be all in debt. But I think that it is invention that helps to influence us.