Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

International Baccalaureate Diploma Program

EXTENDED ESSAYS - 2018

Please ... Feel free to browse and read through the full extended essays of our 2018 Year 12 IB Diploma students.

1. James Walsh 2. Tiffany Yuen

- Business Management - English A Literature - Business Management - Language B: Mandarin - History - English A Literature - History - English A Literature - English A Literature - Business Management - English A: Literature - Busines Management

3. Jimmy Li 4. Kathie Xu

5. Cooper Jones 6. Riley Cameron 7. Kyle Moffat 8. Uni Kyeong 9. Evie Didmon 10. Keita Emsden

11. Zack Yogasundrum 12. Esra Cuhadaroglu

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2012.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Program

THE EXTENDED ESSAY

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) is an assessed programme for students aged 16 to 19. It is respected by leading universities across the globe. Somerset offers the IBDP as an alernative to the Queensland Certificate of Education in Years 11 and 12. Through the DP, we aim to develop students who: - have excellent breadth and depth of knowledge - flourish physically, intellectually, emotionally & ethically - study at least two languages - excel in traditional academic subjects - explore the nature of knowledge through the programme’s unique theory of knowledge course.

THE IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME CURRICULUM The DP curriculum is made up of six subject groups and the DP core, comprising theory of knowledge (TOK), creativity, activity, service (CAS) and the extended essay. Through the DP core, students reflect on the nature of knowledge, complete independent research and undertake a project that often involves community service.

WHAT IS THE EXTENDED ESSAY?

The extended essay is an independent, self- directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

THE EXTENDED ESSAY PROVIDES:

One component of the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) core, the extended essay is mandatory for all students.

Practical preparation for undergraduate research an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of special interest to them, which is also related to one of the student's six DP subjects. Through the research process for the extended essay, students develop skills in: - formulating an appropriate research question - engaging in a personal exploration of the topic - communicating ideas - developing an argument.

Participation in this process develops the capacity to analyse, synthesize and evaluate knowledge.

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2012.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Extended Essay - Business and Management:! ! “Effectiveness of social media marketing as seen through Red Bull GmbH”! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !

Contents!

Page Number

Content

1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 9

Research Question

Red Bull and Social Media Marketing

Red Bull’s social media marketing mix: the 7 P’s

Growth Strategies and Risk

Is social media responsible for selling the product?

Responding to changes in the external environment

10 11 12 13 13 14 15 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Limitations of SMM and conflicting perspectives

Conclusion

References

Research Question: To what extent has promotion through social media contributed to the increase in sales of Red Bull GmbH’s products since 2014?! ! ! Introduction to Red Bull and Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Red Bull GmbH, referred to as Red Bull from here forward, is a multinational private

company based in Austria. They are an energy drink company who are known for their

products simply known as ‘Red Bull.’According to their website, over 6 billion cans of Red

Bull were sold in 170 countries in 2016, indicating high levels of success as an energy drink

company. One of the reasons Red Bull is extremely well-known around the world by both

consumers and non-consumers is through their social media marketing campaign. ! Social media marketing is a marketing tool that incorporates the use of technological

concepts and techniques with the aim of growing a business through different media, centered

around creating content that attracts attention and encourages users to share it on their social

networks (Oxford University Press, 2014, p.252). Social media marketing has only recently

been accepted as a form of marketing due to the rapid increase in popularity with the

development of websites and platforms in the past few years. For example, according to

Statista, Facebook had 1276 million monthly active users in 2014, which increased to 2196

million as of 2018. Whether this sources has presented factual information or not cannot be

known, however there appears to be a degree of reliability as this source is a large company

dedicated to market research and business intelligence. Moreover, this growth, and hence

marketing strategy, has been possible due to globalization, where the widespread adoption

and use of information communication technologies has allowed transfer of information to

occur instantaneously worldwide. In the case of Red Bull, their choice to focus on building

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their brand through social media has lead to growth in areas such as sales figures, number of

employees, and the number of sponsorships towards other individuals and groups, among

other areas, proving to be an overall success. ! Through the development of their social media marketing campaign, Red Bull have been able

to create innovative content, such as extreme sport videos, high quality photographs, as well

as provide sponsorships towards other famous brands and athletes, spreading all of this

through social media in order to create brand awareness and perception for themselves, both

positive and negative. Red Bull’s social media marketing campaign is rather significant as it

demonstrates how in today’s business world, major brands can be built on social networking

platforms, which was not possible twenty years ago. However, it must also be considered that

despite Red Bull’s clear sales success through social media marketing, this tactic cannot be

utilized by the majority of businesses, other energy drink companies included, and is not

practical in every business environment. Additionally, there is much more to the marketing

mix than just social media, as social media only covers a few areas within functions of

marketing. Although there can be consequences for companies by not adapting to the rise of

social media, there can also be consequences for abandoning the more traditional means of

promotion. Nonetheless, since 2014, promotion through social media has been the primary

contributing factor toward the increase in sales of Red Bull’s products. Whilst there are

additional factors contributing to the increase, such as promotion through sponsorship and as

well as Red Bull’s high brand value compared to other energy drink companies, the use of

social media has been the strongest influence regarding the substantial increases in Red Bull’s

sales.

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Red Bull’s social media marketing mix: the 7 P’s

Marketing strategies, although having a large variety of approaches, ideas, and motives, all

aim to improve a company’s financial position as well as growth in market share. There are a

variety of marketing strategies used in the world of business today as a result of different

products and services being sold, different long term visions, and different types and size of

the target market. Some of these variations include utilizing a market-oriented versus a

product-oriented approach, as well as adopting a mass marketing approach versus targeting

specific audiences. ! A key part of any marketing strategy is the development of a company’s marketing mix,

which can be described as the key elements of the strategy associated with ensuring

marketing success. These key elements, which from here forward will be referred to as ‘the

seven P’s,’ are: product, place, price, promotion, people, physical evidence, and processes.

Generally, in order to be successful within these elements, they must consistently

complement each other, have clear focuses, consider the degree of competition, and target

audiences appropriately (Oxford University Press, 2014, p.265). Selecting and implementing

an appropriate marketing strategy within a company can have a profound effect on sales

made by that firm, as such, Red Bull’s choice of marketing strategy was to pursue a mass

marketing social media campaign. ! Originally, during their initial years of establishment, Red Bull had a different marketing

approach compared to what is currently in use. Red Bull relied on market segmentation,

wherein a market is divided into smaller groups of consumers in order to meet specific wants

and needs. Red Bull had a much smaller target focus that was based around demographic and

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psychographic segmentation, which divides the market based on people’s features and

lifestyles. Red Bull understood that the ingredients within their product would allow people

to stay up later at night, and hence marketed their products majorly toward young nightclub

goers in Europe (International Directory of Company Histories, Vol.60, 2004). The primary

reasoning for this segmentation being that their financial size as a company and status as a

brand at the time was not large enough to sustain the currently used marketing tactics.

Regarding the seven P’s of Red Bull’s marketing mix during this time, Red Bull was able to

develop a product that satisfied the needs of a target demographic, that being young people in

Europe, and delivered it to locations frequently visited by them. Red Bull also carefully

considered competition when establishing their marketing mix, as there was almost no

competing products in the region giving themselves an advantage regarding marketing and

customer loyalty. According to Red Bull themselves, the 1987 launch of the drink was not

only the launch of a completely new product, it was in fact the birth of a totally new product

category (Red Bull, 2018), however whether this is stated because it is truthful or because

Red Bull is attempting to appear superior to competing energy drink companies is unknown. ! Moreover, as they began to expand further domestically and eventually internationally, Red

Bull reconsidered their marketing mix due to their growth as a company and brand, as well as

changes occurring in the external environment, specifically the advancement of the Internet

and technologies such as computers and mobile phones. With respect to the 7 P’s, Red Bull

kept their product, processes, physical evidence, and prices the same, however, they decided

to implement major changes to promotion and place. What initially began as traditional style

billboard and word of mouth advertising in Western Europe transformed into worldwide

social media marketing, marketing through athletic sponsorships as well as hosting extreme

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sporting events all across the globe in order to build a stronger brand. Since Red Bull held

approximately 40% of the North American energy drink market share in 2015 (Mordor

Intelligence, 2017) in addition to making 6 billion USD in revenue in 2016 (Red Bull, 2016),

it is quite apparent that Red Bull’s market strategy and brand has succeeded, but whether

these figures are completely accurate or not is unknown: Red Bull may be trying to

exaggerate sales to make themselves appear more profitable on top of Mordor Intelligence

potentially having flawed research. ! However, there are also limitations to consider regarding Red Bull’s social media success. As

Red Bull is a private company, there is a lack of extensive financial information regarding

their marketing plans/priorities and the results which they have yielded. This demonstrates a

high degree of uncertainty in regards to proving any exact correlations between their change

to social media marketing and increase in sales. Additionally, there is much more to their

marketing mix than just social media: one possibility explaining the company’s increase in

sales could simply be a global increase in demand for energy drinks with Red Bull ensuring

that its product is more readily available to consumers than its competitors. According to

Research and Markets, a company specializing in market research and data services, the

global energy drinks market was worth 39760.8 million USD in 2013 and it is expected to

reach 61707.5 million USD by 2021, showing that demand for energy drinks has increased

and will continue to do so, however there is no indication that this data is entirely valid.

Considering the data from the previous paragraph, these figures do not correspond properly.

As such, if Red Bull had a 40% market share in a market that is worth at least $39.7 billion,

then that means revenue should be well over $10 billion instead of $6 billion, which points

out the clear unreliability of at least one of these sources.

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Growth strategies and risk

The Ansoff’s matrix is a commonly used business tool which explores the growth potential of

a businesses’ market and product, and considers both the existing and new markets and

products. Ansoff’s matrix demonstrates four different methods of growth potential: market

penetration-where a business increases its market share by selling more of its existing product

in the same market, market development-where a business expands by looking for new

market segments or entirely new markets, product development-where a business focuses on

creating a new product for its current consumers, and diversification-where a business

introduces a new product into a new market (Oxford University Press, 2014, p.51). ! Figure 1 - Ansoff’s Matrix (Oxford College of Marketing, 2018.) ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! When developing their social media marketing strategy, Red Bull’s aim was to pursue market

development to grow, primarily because they recognized that their product had the potential

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to be actively consumed by different groups of people, as a variety of lifestyles and different

demographics could be improved by consuming the product. Essentially expanding from

their one rather small target market, Red Bull began to make their product available to other

various groups of people including construction workers, athletes, and high school/university

students by distributing their product into convenience and grocery stores (International

Directory of Company Histories, Vol.60, 2004). ! Is social media responsible for selling the product?

Although social media is one of the key factors as to why Red Bull was able to succeed in

becoming the world’s largest energy drink brand, there is no guarantee that the large number

of promotions for Red Bull placed across multiple social media platforms is the specific

reason as to why the product is sold today. Contrarily, there are other functions within the

product that make it more likely to sell itself based on those qualities rather than through

social media promotion. One of these functions is the packaging of the product itself.

Although it may seem trivial, Red Bull has considered even the way in which their product is

presented to consumers, in order to differentiate themselves from competing energy drink

companies and even other soft drink products. Not only is the size and shape of every can

different compared to the typical can of other major drink brands, which helps Red Bull’s

products to stand out amongst other brands, but they also place images of athletes local to

each country of sale performing activities on the can. Through this, Red Bull strengthens its

brand awareness by reminding consumers that Red Bull is key in helping them achieve their

maximum potential and that people who have experienced success are associated with the

beverage.

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These ideas of convincing people that their product will help them to achieve maximum

potential as well as associating them with success falls under the fundamental aspects of

marketing. This fundamental aspect relates to connecting with the motivational needs of the

target audience. Red Bull creates continuous customer experiences as well as sponsored

activities associated with the brand quite frequently. Red Bull’s famous tagline “Red Bull

gives you wings,” not only implies its external image of helping customers achieve better

performance, but also formalizes the core ethos of thrill-seeking experiences and adventure

into its own culture (American Marketing Association, 2017). By implementing these tactics

into their marketing strategy, Red Bull creates a desire to purchase their products. According

to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, as well as other motivational theorists, people are

most motivated by feeling a sense of belonging as well as self-actualization, provided that

more basic needs such as food and safety are being met. By conveying the idea that their

products will make you feel belonged to a large group of people and allow for self

improvement, consumers should be more likely to want to be associated with the product/

company. ! If a decent level of Red Bull’s sales stem from their fundamental approach of meeting

intrinsic motivational needs, then social media simply acts as a messenger to convey this

information. Essentially, it indicates that if the promotion medium was changed to television

or media articles, there would be no change on the number of sales made. However, rising

popularity in social media amongst Red Bull’s target market would suggest that it is perhaps

the most suitable method of promoting themselves, even if sales are being made primarily for

demand of the product itself rather than advertising convincing people to buy. Perhaps

meeting people’s intrinsic motivational needs through social media marketing has the ability

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to completely change customer perceptions. According to a 2010 survey by Mintel, 74% of

consumers don’t use energy drinks/shots, and 69% of non-users are not interested in trying

them, citing high prices, too much caffeine, and a general feeling they are not good for you.

Mintel is apparently the world’s leading market research company, indicating that this data is

potentially accurate. It is also from a time where social media had much less prevalence in

society. Furthermore, according to Statista, in 2010 there was an estimated 0.97 billion social

network users worldwide compared to 2.46 billion in 2017. Moreover, information from 2017

shows that almost half of participants consume energy drinks occasionally, with only 18%

stating they do not use them at all (Kozirok, 2017). This is quite a significant change in

consumer perception, and perhaps there is a correlation between this and the extreme growth

in social media users post 2010. Perhaps this shows that social media marketing has greater

power in influencing consumer attitudes than other marketing approaches. However, it must

be considered that both of these studies only represent a small sample of the consumer base

and these consumer perceptions are towards energy drinks in general, not Red Bull

specifically. ! Responding to changes in the external environment

The success of the expansion of the Red Bull brand internationally has been a result of how

Red Bull has adapted their marketing strategy to fit the changes taking place in their external

environment, which has allowed them to surpass competitors regarding product and place.

When Red Bull was first established in the 1980s, information-communication technologies

were much less advanced and much less prevalent compared to in today’s society.

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However, the increase in advancement and availability of these technologies allowed for

globalization to occur. Globalization has had profound effects on the entire business world.

The relative ease to expand internationally compared to a few decades ago has increased

numbers of potential consumer, levels of competition in local markets, and has created less

cultural distinctions between nations. Hence, to reach out to larger numbers of customers and

try to stay ahead of the competition, social media marketing is now commonly used by

companies. Red Bull’s choice of using social media marketing is an appropriate selection

regarding the demographics of the majority of their consumers: teenagers and young adults.

Red Bull is aware of this themselves, as they first began by targeting their product towards

young European nightclub goers. Insights into Red Bull’s consumer demographics illustrate

that in 2015, approximately 57% of their consumers were ages 34 or below (InfoScout,

2015). In addition, Figure 2 (on page 11) illustrates how young people have a dominating

presence across social networks.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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Figure 2: Age distribution of active social media users worldwide across different social

networks in 2014 (Statista, 2014.):

As the majority of their consumers are people under the age of 34 and, according to the chart,

since that same age group represents the bulk of social media users, Red Bull’s choice to

develop a social media marketing campaign is quite appropriate based on who they are

targeting: young people with active lifestyles shown from the customer demographics

statistics, plus how they originally marketed towards European nightclubbers. ! In 2015, according to Nielsen, advertisements with themes of high-energy or action were

ranked fifth amongst all advertising themes regarding the number of people that resonated

with its content. For people of ages between 15-34, 28% of them claimed that they are

enticed by themes of high-energy or action in marketing, the most of any age group. Since the

vast majority of Red Bull’s social media advertising falls under this category, Red Bull’s

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advertising theme not only helps to promote the core the function of their product, but also

indicates that they are familiar with how to most appropriately market towards their target

audience. Red Bull themselves are active across the majority of the popular social networks,

including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. All of these platforms are used by Red

Bull to upload content relating to their product, more specifically, videos and images of

famous and ordinary people alike playing sports or doing extreme stunts. From the content

which they have produced, Red Bull is attempting to connect with players and fans of all

sports, including niche activities ex. skateboarding. ! Over the past four years, Red Bull has amassed immense following numbers across their

social network accounts. By June 2014, Red Bull had already accumulated the largest

following on Instragram of any energy drink and even soft drink company at 1.4 million, had

the third most Facebook followers of any drink company at 4.6 million, had the third most

Twitter followers of any drink company at 1.6 million, and the most YouTube video views of

any company at 906 million over a total of 4,215 videos (Twitonomy, 2014) (Rudd Center,

2014) (Social Baker, 2014) . Clearly, even in just 2014, Red Bull had already experienced

social media marketing success with the large number of followers that they accrued even

against the likes of other extremely well known brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Part of

this success stems from how Red Bull was able to effectively predict and adapt to changes

occurring in their external environment. Red Bull recognized the rise in functionality and

popularity of the Internet, technology, and social networks in the early 2000s, and ultimately

decided that social media marketing would help increase their market share. These social

network followers held by Red Bull would continue to snowball into the future. A few years

later, as of April 2018, Red Bull has 47.8m followers on Facebook, 8.3 millions followers on

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Instagram, as well as 7 million subscribers on YouTube with 2.14 billion total views

(RedBull’s YouTube channel, 2018) (Red Bull’s Facebook page, 2018) (Red Bull’s Instagram

page, 2018). ! Limitations of SMM and conflicting perspectives

These social media statistics regarding Red Bull demonstrate a strong indication that

promotion through social media has developed their growth as a brand. Due to how social

media allows Red Bull to promote their products and strengthen brand awareness toward

their entire target market, it can act as additional explanation as to why sales have increased.

However, this is based entirely on assumption as there is no evidence which shows an exact

correlation between an increase in Red Bull’s sales and an increase in their social media

followers. Also, there are some important limitations to consider regarding the statistics of

Red Bull’s social media followers. Although they may have dozens of millions of followers

across multiple platforms, this does not mean that all of those people will be constantly aware

of Red Bull’s activity and uploads. Obtaining a follower on any of these platforms only

requires one effortless click/tap from them. Therefore, having a follower does not guarantee

that any of them will absorb any of Red Bull’s future promotive content. ! This is evident in the number of views on their most recent content. For example, the

majority of YouTube videos uploaded by Red Bull in the month of April 2018 have less than

100 thousand views despite having 7 million followers. However, the majority of Red Bull’s

Instagram images and videos uploaded within this same time frame were more promising

despite having over 8 million followers, with views hovering between 300 and 800 thousand.

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Even with these figures, this does not guarantee that the conveyed information was absorbed

by each viewer. ! On the other hand, it is fair to assume that social media marketing has been the primary cause

of Red Bull’s increase in sales. Red Bull’s other marketing tactics, including sport team

sponsorships and hosting athletic events, are minute regarding the amount of awareness that

they spread compared to that of social media. Not to forget, these statistics on their own bear

great significance regarding the ever-changing world of business. Although this cannot be

said for every company, this shift towards technology and networking demonstrates how

marketing (amongst other business functions) has changed over the past few decades. With

numbers of consumers worldwide active on the Internet increasing everyday, there is bound

to be greater changes made by companies regarding how they approach marketing. Red Bull

can act as an example for other firms wishing to implement a social media marketing

strategy: in order to gain followers and build brand awareness, you need to put resources into

creating exciting and innovative content on social media, but the fact is the majority of it will

be ignored. ! Despite their overall success through social media marketing, there are conflicting

perspectives in relation to the general use of social media as a marketing strategy. Mark

Ritson is a marketing professor who has a PhD in marketing from Lancaster University and

has had his research published in the Harvard Business Review (MBS, 2018). Ritson believes

that social media marketing is being highly overrated by firms, suggesting that people are

more likely to trust and absorb the information conveyed by traditional advertisements. He is

heavily against digital marketing, as he believes that it is not a strategy or tactic, but rather a

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brainless way of responding to the external technological and social environment, stating "If

any marketer comes to me with a social media marketing budget I know they are an

idiot.” (AANA, 2016) (SMH, 2016). Considering his background in marketing, Ritson’s

perspective regarding social media marketing is valuable. There is a degree of logicality

regarding marketing in general, businesses should consider all of the areas of the marketing

mix, the likely outcomes of different options, as well as possible changes in the external

environment. However, the apparent contempt towards those in favor of social media

marketing indicates potential bias against social media marketing. Nonetheless, Ritson’s

beliefs may be factual if the vast majority of companies who rely on social media marketing

do not experience any market share or revenue increases, with Red Bull simply being one of

few exceptions. ! Conclusion

Ultimately, promotion through social media has contributed a healthy amount to the increase

in sales of Red Bull GmbH’s products since 2014, proving their marketing strategy to be a

success for them amongst other factors. Through repeatedly sharing and spreading

information about the product and how it improves quality of life, Red Bull has been able to

increase their brand awareness and build an enhanced brand image for themselves. This in

turn leads to more sales, as consumers generally feel the need to be associated with a more

well-known company. However, these conclusions are based on statistics that do not show an

exact correlation between increase in social media marketing and sales, as well as

assumptions regarding Red Bull, their products, and their consumers. Red Bull could have

high level of sales simply because of consumer need for energy drink products. The qualities

within Red Bull’s energy drinks complements a lot of the busy and enduring lifestyles of Red

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Bull’s primary audience, with Red Bull ensuring that their product sells itself rather than the

social network promotion. Not all companies will experience the same success through a

social media marketing campaign as Red Bull. For a company to be successful within their

marketing, they need to consider all aspects of the marketing mix and not underrate certain

areas in favor of social media. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

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References:

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Market-Oriented Organization [online] Available at: https://www.ama.org/resources/Pages/

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282665879_Evaluation_framework_for_social_media_brand_presence/links/

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Traditional/ Digital Divide [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

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(Accessed October 25th 2017)

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The Telegraph, 2014. $13m lawsuit proves Red Bull doesn't give you wings [online] Available

at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11155731/13m-lawsuit-

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faculty.darden.virginia.edu/farrisp/jnjcourseii/general/documents/

redbullm-0663_condensed.pdf (Accessed March 10th 2018) ! W., Kozirok, 2017. Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Energy Drinks. p.226. The

Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. ! ! ! ! !

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The control of intimacy in Brave New World and 1984 How do Huxley and Orwell utilize their representations of sexual relations and marriage to critique aspects of totalitarian control in Brave New World and 1984? English A: Literature Candidate Number: 001161-0005 Word Count: 3467

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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 3

Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 5

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 13

Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 14

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Introduction Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984 , present readers with disturbing depictions of futuristic worlds. Huxley and Orwell both witnessed the excesses of communism and fascism during their lifetimes and the fictional worlds they created provided readers with an ominous warning about the disturbing trend towards totalitarianism that took place in Europe in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Orwell (1946, p.394) himself stated in his essay “Why I Write” that “[e]very line of serious work that [he had] written since 1936 [had] been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism”. In the respective dystopian worlds Huxley and Orwell created, every aspect of life is controlled, including sexual activity. Huxley’s dystopian novel, Brave New World , takes place in the year 2495 in the World State. The fictional society is governed by ten World Controllers that administer the whole planet. In this totalitarian state, humanity has been robbed of all free choice and is ironically forced into ‘happiness’ by the World Controllers through the manipulation of genetics and psychology. Human-beings are genetically conditioned to be incapable of reproduction and babies are produced in an embryo factory. Promiscuous sex is promoted as a virtue and the sex act is deliberately dissociated from intimacy, romance and human connection. The World Controllers believe that stability in society can be maintained if the citizens are allowed to indulge their most primal instincts in a controlled environment. 1984 is set in the year 1984 in the fictional nation of Oceania. In this totalitarian state, a political party known as Ingsoc rules and the party’s figurehead is Big Brother. The dehumanization, endless intimidation and anti-intellectualism that besets every person living in Oceania highlights the tyrannous nature of the government. The society is separated into the

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effectively governed Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles who are an apolitical class. The government in 1984 explicitly discourages romantic sexual activity amongst its citizens. Instead, sexual activity is for purposeful procreation determined by the Party. Unlike Brave New World , pleasure is discouraged by the government as the Party believes it is the generation of focused hatred towards Oceania’s enemies that best provides stability for the nation. It unites the citizenry against a common enemy and keeps them devoted to Big Brother. In both novels, sexual activity is controlled by the governments but this control manifests in different forms. In Brave New World , children learn to be promiscuous as the World Controllers believe that this will prevent people from having an intimate connection with just one person, which could undermine loyalty to the state. Contrastingly, citizens in 1984 are taught that sex is repulsive. The Party through the control of the citizens, eliminates intimacy in marriage. In Brave New World , marriage does not exist as an institution, whereas in 1984 , the Party chooses the partner and the marriage is loveless. Both governments attempt to prevent love for another human being. The only love tolerated is the love for the nation and Big Brother. Despite both novels being written more than 70 years ago, the messages about the dangers of governments that have too much control still resonate in today’s global political climate. The research question for this essay encourages a consideration of how Huxley and Orwell utilize their representations of sexual relations and marriage to critique aspects of totalitarian control in Brave New World and 1984 . Both authors envision totalitarian societies in which individual liberty has been usurped by an all-powerful state. However, Orwell’s novel, 1984 , presents the rather more conventional vision of totalitarianism, in which the government maintains power through ruthless oppression. In contrast, Huxley seems to

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suggest that the most powerful totalitarian state would be one that does not overwhelm and frighten its citizens, but instead convinces them to love their slavery. In both novels, the ultimate goal of the governments is to discourage exclusive relational unions that could destabilize the established allegiance to the state. Discussion Both authors portray the totalitarian governments in their novels as all-powerful and the control of sexual relations as central to societal stability. In Brave New World and 1984 , the government’s control over their citizens’ sexuality begins at an early age. In Brave New World , young children are deliberately trained to be sexually curious. Early in the novel, the Director of the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre leads a group of older students to a garden where hundreds of naked children are playing a “rudimentary sexual game” (Huxley, 2014, p. 29). Through the promotion of early sexual encounters, the Director ensures that promiscuity is fostered as a societal norm. Huxley forwards the notion that education is a key element of control in a society, by placing babies into an educational facility, a “conditioning center” (Huxley, 2014, p. 1). The conditioning center represents a contrived ‘Garden of Eden’ and reveals a society where humans are the experimental product of a laboratory; emotion and love are entirely absent in this process. In this world the government takes on the role of God as they tightly control the artificial environment and citizens are little more than puppets being encouraged to act on primal urges. The educational facility has a garden where the children play “naked in the warm June sunshine” (Huxley, 2014, p. 23). Erotic play is encouraged and is observed by scientists. One young boy in the nursery is considered to have psychological issues because he “seem[s] rather reluctant to join in the ordinary erotic play” (Huxley, 2014, p. 26). He is seen as a threat to societal stability and is taken “to see the assistant superintendent of Psychology” (Huxley, 2014, p. 26). Huxley presents the reader with the idea that both stimulating and satiating the sexual instinct is

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synonymous with societal stability. If the primal needs of citizens are satisfied, it will prevent them from desiring any greater human connection. High culture and art are removed as later in the novel, one of the World Controllers, Mond explains to the central male character John that there is "no leisure from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think" (Huxley, 2014, p. 47). To the citizens, sexual pleasure is a full-time job; Huxley's aim here is to suggest that when a person is encouraged to live a base hedonistic existence then they are less likely to rebel. The hedonism of Brave New World is contrasted with the sexual austerity of 1984 . In Oceania, sex is taboo and the pent-up sexual energy that results is transformed into war hysteria and nationalistic fervour and patriotism towards the nation and Big Brother. Children in Orwell’s 1984 are taught that sex is an abhorrent act. The government manipulates how the children think and uses them as a tool to remind the adults to remain loyal to the state. To this end, the Party establishes an organization called the ‘Junior Anti-Sex League’. The symbol of sexual prudence is the Junior Anti-Sex League “scarlet sash… [which is an] aggressive symbol of chastity” (Orwell, 2008, p. 16). The uniform becomes the motif for an oppressive society that condemns its citizenry to life without love. This organization “advocate[s] complete celibacy for both sexes” (Orwell, 2008, p. 49). Members of the Junior Anti-Sex League are taught to view sex as a “slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema” (Orwell, 2008, p. 62). The members’ chastity is reminiscent of the sexual abstinence expected of medieval monks and nuns. For the monks and nuns, sexual abstinence was meant to engender greater devotion to God. In the case of Oceania’s citizens, it is meant to engender devotion to their metaphorical God, Big Brother. It is through society’s youth that both texts embed teachings around sexual intimacy. Both authors indicate that propaganda given to the most impressionable members of society will eventually be disseminated amongst the general population. In 1984, the teaching of sex as repulsive is “never put into plain words, but in an

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indirect way it [is] rubbed into every Party member from childhood onwards” (Orwell, 2008, p. 62). Under the regulation of ‘Newspeak’, children in Oceania do not learn language associated with intimacy and feelings as the Party has completely removed these from people’s vocabulary. Without the language to express love and intimacy, the Party is hoping such feelings will eventually cease to exist. In Brave New World , the World Controllers help to ensure the total devotion of citizens by removing marriage as an institution. Marriage is forbidden because it leads to monogamy and emotional intimacy which threatens loyalty to the state. The influence the government has on people’s attitude to marriage is evident in the differing responses to it by John, who is raised on a reservation beyond the control of the state, and Bernard, who has been raised by the state. Towards the middle of the novel, John falls in love with Lenina, another individual who has been raised by the state. Prior to making advances towards her, he seeks to clarify the relationship between her and Bernard. John asks Bernard if he is married to Lenina and Bernard “couldn’t help laughing” upon hearing the words “married” (Huxley, 2014, p. 120). The effectiveness of the World State’s indoctrination process is revealed through Bernard’s response. Love and emotion is a foreign concept to the citizenry of this totalitarian state. As the novel progresses, John becomes increasing infatuated with Lenina and confesses his affection for her. She is overjoyed by it, but when he mentions marriage, she is “genuinely shocked” and thinks it is “a horrible idea” (Huxley, 2014, p. 168). Everyone in World State society is programmed to have sex with anyone they meet without emotional commitment. Contrastingly, John the Savage, who is raised in the Indian Reservation, believes wholeheartedly in the institution of marriage and remaining pure for his future wife. His version of marriage is based on the values of Elizabethan England which he acquires through reading Shakespeare. When Lenina makes sexual advances towards John, he is terrified by her

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actions and condemns her as a “damned whore” and an “impudent strumpet” (Huxley, 2014, p. 170). The contrasting characterization of Lenina and John highlights the impact of an authoritarian government on citizens. There is no conditioning in the Reservation so the people there believe in the importance of marriage as an institution. The fact that this fundamental institution of modern civilization no longer exists in the World State reinforces how comprehensively totalitarian control can change societies. In 1984 , Orwell depicts marriage as an institution intended solely for reproduction. Marriage is not a union that is based on love. The government maintains control relationships and the ability to predict outcomes of its citizens by determining whom they marry. It only grants approval for couples who do not show any signs of being emotionally or physically attracted to each other. The relationship between the male protagonist, Winston, and his wife, Katharine, demonstrates the government’s control over its citizens. Winston’s observation that Katharine was “without exception the most stupid, vulgar, empty mind that he had ever encountered” (Orwell, 2008, p. 63) reveals that the objective of Oceania’s totalitarian government is to deliberately mismatch couples so there is little chance of develop loving relationships. Katharine believes that sexual intercourse with Winston is “[her] duty to the party” (Orwell, 2008, p. 64) and commands Winston to attempt this once a week, though she would “simultaneously push him away with all her strength” (Orwell, 2008, p. 64). Katharine’s rejection of Winston reinforces the lack of emotional connection in this marriage. After fifteen months, the couple separate because they cannot have a child. The Party “does not permit divorce, but rather encourage[s] separation” (Orwell, 2008, p. 63). So, Winston can never free himself from his much-disliked wife. Ideally, the Party wants babies to be produced by “artificial insemination… and [raised] in public institutions” (Orwell, 2008, p. 62) avoiding the need for marriage and families altogether. Both Huxley and Orwell use their respective