The words "planned obsolescence" were first seen in print in 1932 in Bernard London's pamphlet "Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence". London said the government should tell manufacturers of personal-use items to use planned obsolescence so people would always buy them. However, the phrase became famous in 1954 because of Brooks Stevens, an American industrial designer. Stevens was due to give a talk at an advertising conference in Minneapolis in 1954. Without giving it much thought, he used the term as the title of his talk. From that point on, "planned obsolescence" became Stevens' catchphrase. Stevens said planned obsolescence was "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary."
Other people quickly began to use the phrase. By the late 1950s, "planned obsolescence" had become a common term for products designed to break easily or to quickly go out of style. The idea of planned obsolescence was so widely known that, in 1959, Volkswagen made jokes about it in an advertising campaign. Volkswagen tried to make it look as though it did not use planned obsolescence: "We do not believe in planned obsolescence," the ads said. "We don't change a car for the sake of change." In the famous Volkswagen advertising campaign by Doyle Dane Bernbach, one advert showed an almost blank page with the line "No point in showing the 1962 Volkswagen, it still looks the same."
In 1960, cultural critic Vance Packard wrote "The Waste Makers", which was meant to be an exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals." Packard divided planned obsolescence into two sub categories: obsolescence of desirability and obsolescence of function.
"Obsolescence of desirability," a.k.a. "psychological obsolescence," referred to marketers' attempts to wear out a product in the owner's mind. Packard quoted industrial designer George Nelson, who wrote:"Design... is an attempt to make a contribution through change. When no contribution is made or can be made, the only process available for giving the illusion of change is 'styling!'"
2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The champions were Sweden.
Qualification for the final tournament of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship consisted of two rounds: a group stage and a play-off round. The group stage draw took place on 31 January 2013 in Nyon, Switzerland, and distributed 52 national teams into ten groups of five or six teams. Each group was contested in a double round-robin system, where teams played each other twice, at home and away. The ten group winners and the four best second-placed teams advanced to the play-off round, where they were paired by draw into seven two-legged ties. The play-off winners joined the Czech Republic in the final tournament.
The following teams qualified for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament:
The competition was played at four venues in three host cities: Eden Arena and Generali Arena (in Prague), Andrův stadion (in Olomouc), and Stadion Miroslava Valenty (in Uherské Hradiště).
The match officials of the tournament:
The draw for the final tournament took place at 18:00 CET on 6 November 2014, at the Clarion Congress Hotel in Prague. England, the highest-ranked team according to the competition coefficient rankings, and the host team, Czech Republic, were seeded and automatically assigned to separate groups. The second and third-ranked teams in the coefficient rankings, Italy and Germany, were also seeded and drawn into separate groups, while the four unseeded teams were drawn into the remaining positions of the two groups.
Each national team had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers. If a player was injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's first match, he could be replaced by another player.
The eight finalists were drawn into two groups of four teams. As hosts, Czech Republic were seeded in group A, while England, the best-ranked team in the UEFA coefficient ranking, were seeded in group B. In each group, teams played matches against each other in a round-robin system, and the top two teams advanced to the semi-finals.
The provisional schedule was released by UEFA on 10 November 2014, and confirmed on 2 December 2014. All times are in Central European Summer Time ().
After the conclusion of the group stage, the following four teams from UEFA qualified for the Olympic football tournament.
If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied:
If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still had an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 were reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure did not lead to a decision, criteria 4 to 6 were applied.
If only two teams were tied (according to criteria 1–5) after having met in the last match of the group stage, their ranking would have been determined by a penalty shoot-out.
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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were used to decide the winner if necessary.
The Golden Boot is given to the player who scored the most goals during the tournament.
After the tournament the U21 EURO Player of the Tournament is selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.
After the tournament the Under-21 Team of the Tournament is selected by the UEFA Technical Observers.
Countries who are not covered by a local broadcaster had the matches broadcast on YouTube.
Former Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedvěd was the ambassador for the tournament.
The Truth Is
The Truth Is is the third studio album by English singer and songwriter Alexandra Burke. It was released on 16 March 2018 through Decca Records. Recording for the album started in 2013 and finished in early 2018. The first single from the album, "Shadow", was released on 9 February to BBC Radio 2, and to digital download and streaming on 23 February. The album entered and peaked at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart, spending only one week in the top 100. It is Burke's first album since 2012's "Heartbreak on Hold" and her first album since leaving Syco.
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Heartbreak on Hold
Heartbreak on Hold is the second studio album by British recording artist Alexandra Burke. It was released digitally on 1 June 2012 through Syco and RCA Records, and a physical version was issued three days later. The album marks her final record with both record labels, parting between 2012 and the following year. Burke started working on the album in late 2010, and worked with Cutfather, Erick Morillo, Autumn Rowe, and Ben Adams, as well as other producers and writers. Burke had also worked with RedOne, who previously produced a most of her debut album "Overcome" (2009), but none of their music that they made together were included on the album.
"Heartbreak on Hold" received mixed reviews from music critics.
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2021 UEFA Champions League Final
The 2021 UEFA Champions League Final will be the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament run by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. It is scheduled to be played at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal on 29 May 2021, between English clubs Manchester City, in their first UEFA Champions League final, and three-time finalists Chelsea.
"In the following table, finals until 1992 were in the European Cup era, since 1993 were in the UEFA Champions League era."