QR codes as a marketing tool

For those of you wondering what those strange looking square boxes containing black and white pixels that seems to be popping up in magazines and advertisements, let me solve the mystery. They are known as QR codes or Quick Response Codes to give them their full title.

QRcodes are similar to the standard barcodes that have been around for many years and appear on packaging all over the world; however, QR codes can hold a lot more information than the standard twenty line horizontal barcode. These QR codes have been used in Japan and Europe in the past few years and are now starting to become more and more popular in the United States as well, especially within the marketing and advertising sectors.

Just think of a QR code as a hyperlink in paper form that allows your mobile or tablet to connect to the internet without the need to type out the web address. QR codes allow businesses to advertise their wares as well as their websites, and these codes can be located anywhere, such as billboards, posters, clothing, bus shelters, packaging, flyers and much, much more. This integrates the print world with the virtual world and is an affordable means to advertise products and services as everyone can use these from the small business owner to multi-national companies.

You access the information by simply using the camera on your phone or tablet to scan the QR code, providing you have an application that allows the device to decode the information contained within the QR code. These QR code reader applications are usually free to download and can be found for most iPhone and Android enabled devices.

There is a whole host of practical uses for QR codes as a marketing and promotional tool. QR codes can be used on a whole host of different printed materials such as, event and conference banners and displays, flyers, business cards and posters.

The QR code can link you to a number of different things, not just websites but also email, SMS messages, a social media profile or it can even get your phone to dial a specific telephone number.

Our Fascination with Body Modification

padaung woman (Photo credit: gianluca_cozzolino)

One quite peculiar facet of our society's way of life and also the culture of several communities all over the world is body modification. Body modification has been happening for thousands of years for many different reasons. Very early modification had something with regards to cultural importance most of the time but in some cases it was merely as a result of vanity. Individuals from cultures all over the world all through time have been focused on their personal appearance and would go to fantastic measures to enhance it.

body modification (tattoo, piercing, implant) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The very idea of beauty would appear to be one that was exactly the same through the entire world and all through time but that is certainly simply far from the truth. Within a particular African culture extended necks are thought beautiful. It is actually regarded as so significant that girls have long necks that they can place metal bands around their throat beginning at a young age and gradually increase the amount of bands to force their neck to extend into unusually long proportions. This modification can be so extreme that if the metallic bands ended up being taken from their neck, these ladies would be unable to keep their heads up.

At one time tiny feet ended up being regarded as attractive and incredibly essential for ladies to have in Japan. It had become regarded as extremely important for ladies to possess little feet that beginning in early childhood, Japanese girls had their feet bound in tight ribbons to stop their feet from developing.

More serious types of body modification which are currently in practice, include things like branding. When an individual is branded, an incredibly hot metal device is heated to extremely high temperature ranges and this piece of equipment is held against the epidermis for a few seconds to result in a serious burn. Once the burn heals it actually leaves behind a raised scar of the specific pattern that the person selected. This specific kind of body modification is pretty hazardous as burns very easily become infected. One really unusual body modification which is getting into style with the underground popular culture is implants. A stainless-steel or Teflon item is inserted underneath their epidermis to create protrusions on the exterior of your skin. This really is fairly uncommon still however it is increasing in popularity.

No matter what type of body modification a person decides on, whether it is tattooing or getting metal implements inserted beneath the skin, the reason why are usually extremely personal nature. Even though it is becoming a lot more common to see individuals with unusual body modifications a number of these body modifications continue to be fairly taboo. The only exemption could be obtaining a tattoo. This really is one specific kind of body modification that is certainly rising in popularity and is pretty socially acceptable.

Related articles

• Where Does Body Modification End And Mutilation Begin?
• What Is Body Modification?
• Body Modification Through History
• Body Modification and Business
• Preconceptions of Body Modification