978-0073403267 Chapter 21 Appendixes

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Part 3:

Appendix 21-A: A Student Proposal Example

February 26, 2005

To: Kitty O. Locker

From: Brittany Anderson, Laniece Coleman, Jennifer Kozora

Subject: Proposal to Write a Recommendation Report to Change Sexist Beer Advertising

Created by Hal Riney & Partners

It seems that every day there is a new beer ad out that portrays women as sex objects to sell a product.

With women holding equal positions in society, this type of advertising belongs in the stone age. We

plan to recommend whether Hal Riney & Partners Inc. should voluntarily change to less sexist

advertising.

Problem

The portrayal of women in beer advertising no longer meets the needs of society in the 1990s. In an

Old Milwaukee beer ad, “Things couldn’t get any better than this” until five voluptuous blondes clad

in matching bikinis come bounding out of nowhere to serve beer to lonely sports-men. Old

Milwaukee is not the only brand using sex to sell beer. “Wouldn’t it be great if” Rachel Hunter, an

international model dressed in tight shorts and a low-cut blouse, built every man a beach house and

drank Keystone beer with him? Finally, “Why ask why?” men prefer blondes? According to Bud

Dry, all blondes are large-chested, long-legged bombshells. What man could resist? We are not

talking about subtle sexism here such as women being portrayed in subordinate working roles, but

overt, explicit sexism in which women are blatantly portrayed as sex objects with no personality or

individuality.

Sexist advertising hurts women who work in the companies sponsoring the ads. A sexual harassment

suit has been filed against Stroh Brewing Company by the women workers in its brewery charging

that they have allegedly been harassed by male co-workers in the factory, and the incidents have been

linked to the company’s “Swedish Bikini Team” ads.

It would be in the best interest of Hal Riney & Partners Inc., Stroh Brewery’s advertising agency, to

make a change to less sexist advertising voluntarily to improve its public image, as well as that of its

product Old Milwaukee beer, especially in the eyes of women. Besides being more socially

responsible, nonsexist advertising is becoming increasingly important in the brewing industry because

women make up 25-30% of the beer market. Many beer companies have already attempted to

eliminate sexist ads. No company can afford to turn away 30% of its potential market.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-B:

A Student Proposal Example

Kitty O. Locker 2 February 26, 2005

Feasibility

We can readily imagine a recommendation that would solve the problem: Hal Riney & Partners Inc.

could voluntarily phase out sexism in its ads. Since Hal Riney & Partners Inc. creates the ads for The

Stroh Brewing Company, it could make a positive change to less-sexist or non-sexist advertising.

Topics to Investigate

We will look in detail at the sexism in the ads Hal Riney & Partners has created for Stroh’s and at the

problems The Stroh Brewing Company is facing as a result of the “Swedish Bikini Team” ads. We

will also look at the changes that Anheuser Busch & Company has made in its advertising campaign.

We’ll examine the following questions more briefly:

• In what ways do sexist ads hurt women?

• Are sales for the beer companies that use sexist advertising declining?

• Are sales increasing for the beer companies that are phasing out sexist advertising?

• What percentage of the beer market do women comprise?

• How do other advertisers feel about companies that use sexist ads?

• How does sexist advertising hurt the beer industry’s public image?

• How do sexist ads hurt the ad agency’s public image?

• What are the advantages to the agency and the beer company of making a change to

non-sexist advertising voluntarily?

Audience

Our primary audience will be Hal Riney & Partners Inc. of San Francisco. We will direct our report

to Hal Riney, a partner of Hal Riney & Partners Inc. He will have the power to decide whether or not

to implement our recommendation. He will also serve as a gatekeeper because he will decide if the

recommendation deserves his partners’ consideration.

Our secondary audience will be The Stroh Brewing Company, which has paid for the ads.

Presumably Stroh’s thought the ads were good or executives would not have approved the campaign.

However, no company wants to be sued, especially for sexual harassment which is widely regarded as

unacceptable. Company executives may resist our recommendation to change the ads, but they will

like the benefits that voluntary change could bring.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-C:

A Student Proposal Example

Kitty O. Locker 3 February 26, 2005

You will serve as our initial audience. You’re interested in our research methods, our logic, and our

writing style. We feel that with your feminist values, you will support our recommendation.

Methods

We are using library research to answer our questions. The following materials in The Ohio State

University Libraries and the City of Columbus Main Library have been useful:

Anonymous. “Brewers Can Help Fight Sexism.” Advertising Age 28 October 1991, p. 28.

Child, Charles. “Back to Basics: Stroh Boosts Old Milwaukee.” Crains Detroit Business 29 April

1991, sec. 1:3.

—–. “Overseas Market Has Thirst for Stroh’s.” Crains Detroit Business 13 May 1991, sec. 1:29.

—–. “Stroh Plans Ad Campaign for Minnesota.” Crains Detroit Business 4 February 1991, sec. 1:4.

Cortex, John P. and Ira Teinowitz. “Stroh’s Back: New Products Set for 1991.” Crains Detroit

Business 25 March 1991, sec. 1:3.

Fitzgerald, Linda. “Beer Commercial Saloons vs. Reality.” Advertising Age 24 September 1990, pp.

30-32.

Freytag, Arny. “The Swedish Bikini Team.” Playboy January 1992, pp. 78-85.

Galen, Michele, Keith H. Hammonds, and Joan Hamilton. “Ending Sexual Harassment: Business is

Getting the Message.” Business Week March 1991, pp. 98-100.

Gest, Ted, Alicia Mundy, Joseph Galloway, Don Boroughs, Kenneth Sheets, et al. “The Sexism

Watch.” U.S. News & World Report 27 March 1989, p. 12.

Hammers, Sara. “Dealing With Sexual Harassment.” Fortune 4 November 1991, pp. 145, 148.

Hayward, Susan. “Men (Finally) Beginning to Redefine Roles.” Advertising Age 18 November 1991,

p. 20.

Jaffe, Lynn. “Impact of Positioning and Sex-Role Identity on Women’s Responses to Advertising.”

Journal of Advertising Research June 1989, p. 115.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-D:

A Student Proposal Example

Kitty O. Locker 4 February 26, 2005

Morgensen, Gretchen. “May I Have The Pleasure. . . .” National Review 18 November 1991, pp.

36-41.

Neuborne, Burt. “Misplaced Concerns.” Hispanic August 1990, p. 66.

Shapiro, Laura. “Why Women Are Angry.” Newsweek 21 October 1991, p. 41.

Teinowitz, Ira. “Brewers Fight Back.” Advertising Age 25 November 1991, p. 67.

——–. “This Bud’s For Her.” Advertising Age 21 October 1991, pp. 1, 49.

Teinowitz, Ira and Bob Geiger. “Suits Try to Link Sex Harassment, Ads.” Advertising Age 18

November 1991, p. 48.

Tiffl, Susan. “A Setback for Pinups at Work.” Time 4 February 1991, p. 61.

Zinn, Laura. “This Bud’s For You. No, Not You–Her.” Business Week 4 November 1991, pp. 86, 90.

Qualifications and Resources

As women, we each have our own opinions about sexist beer ads. As unbiased as we try to be, we

realize that our feelings will guide our research. We have all done previous library research and are

familiar with business reference materials.

Work Schedule

The following work schedule will enable us to complete our report by the due date:

Activity Total Time Completion Date

Gathering Information 20 hours February 28

Analyzing Information 10 hours March 1

Organizing Information 8 hours March 3

Writing Performance Appraisals 5 hours March 10

Writing the Draft 10 hours March 5

Revising the Draft 10 hours March 7

Editing the Draft 6 hours March 8

Proofreading the Report 2 hours March 9

We will write and revise on a computer, so we will not need separate typing times.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-E:

A Student Proposal Example

Kitty O. Locker 5 February 26, 2005

Call to Action

We would like to discuss our proposal with you and would appreciate any comments or suggestions to

help us improve our report. Please approve our proposal so we can continue our work.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-F: A Group Progress Report

Example

February 23, 2005

To: Kitty O. Locker

From: Denise Hargatt DH

Subject: Progress Report for Group Project (Fronista, Miller, Hergatt)

We are on schedule and should be finished with all segments of the report by the due date March 2.

All data has been collected and the project is near completion. The results of the interviews appear to

support our proposed hypothesis. We have all invested comparable amounts of time, although it has

been necessary to work around our three already-cluttered schedules. Overall, I am pleased with the

project.

Work Completed

We’ve met five times.

Wednesday, February 5—The three of us held a very informal brainstorming session for about 45

minutes. All ideas were considered—and we found that we all have similar beliefs, likes, and

dislikes (which made the choice of topics to pursue a little more exciting). We agreed upon two or

three similar hypotheses we might pursue, and decided to finalize our direction on February 7. Also

mentioned at this point were places to interview our subjects. I offered to print up a draft of a

possible questionnaire on my computer so we could see what information we would have to prove

our hypothesis.

Friday, February 7—Due to a prior engagement, I was unable to attend the group meeting held after

class at 3 p.m. I dropped off the tentative questionnaire before class and left to catch a 4 p.m. flight.

Eleny and Jonelle discussed possible revisions for the questionnaire and narrowed the hypothesis to

a more specific statement. Eleny agreed to draft the final questionnaire.

Wednesday, February 12—Eleny brought the revised (and very much improved) questionnaire, and

we fine-tuned and finalized the hypothesis after discussing all the questions on it. We made minor

revisions, and I suggested a potentially important question that we had overlooked. We agreed on a

meeting time (10 p.m., Thursday, February 13) and place (Bernie’s Bagels) to begin interviews. I

offered to print up and make 45 copies of the final questionnaire to use Thursday night. We decided

to interview 15 people at nine different drinking establishments on North High Street (OSU campus

area) for a total of 135 interviewees. Each of us suggested several bars where we would get a

reasonably varied sampling of people and we whittled this number down to 9 bars. I offered to

cover the 3 north area bars, Eleny took the 3 middle-to-south area bars, and Jonelle said she would

cover the 3 south area bars.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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Module 21 – Proposals and Progress Reports

Appendix 21-G: A Group Progress Report

Example continued

Kitty O. Locker

February 23, 2005

Page 2

Thursday, February 13—At 10 p.m., we met at Bernie’s Bagels for about 10 minutes. We made

tentative plans to meet again during the weekend to total the results. I passed out the

questionnaire forms and we went our separate ways to gather data.

Sunday, February 23—I created a near tabular way to present the data so the trends would be

easily spotted. Eleny and I met for an hour, entering our data into summary charts for each bar

and computing averages and totals for each establishment as well. We divided up the three

written sections for the final draft, and set a date for proofreading and revising each other’s

material

Work to Be Completed

The final draft will be written in three sections. Jonelle will polish the purpose and procedure, I will

present the results (with visuals), and Eleny will prepare the discussion section. On Thursday,

February 27, the three of us will meet to proofread and make final revisions to copy. Our report will

be ready for you by 2 p.m. on Monday, March 2.

in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

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