VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

JEAN KILBOURNE,

STILL KILLING US SOFTLY

Central Themes

1.  The effects of advertising are cumulative and long term, rather transient and short-term, no one's      beliefs and behaviors are immediately influenced by one advertisement.

2.  The construction of advertising message is strategic. Every element of a message is carefully planned to accomplish the goals of the advertiser.

3.  The media both present and distort reality. The world depicted in advertising is often mythic.

4.  The media do not merely reflect reality they create reality. The virtually unattainable standards for feminine beauty are created by the media to sell products.      

5.  Advertising messages cast or create gender role identities which are often harmful and destructive      to both women and men.

"Each of us tends to believe that we are personally exempt from the influence of advertising". Do you believe that your belief and behaviors are influenced by advertising?

DOMINANT THEME

ADVERTISING IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL EDUCATIONAL FORCES IN OUR SOCIETY

vehicle by which we learn our attitudes   and   our attitudes influence our behavior

     average American spends a entire year of their life watching television

          we are surrounded by advertising and bombarded by images

DOMINANT THEME

ADVERTISING IS STRATEGIC

every detail is planned, nothing is left to chance,

          while our everyday communication is strategic, meaning we construct messages to accomplish our purposes and goals, our never day communication is often tacit, unconscious, and take for granted, we often don't give it a lot of thought

          this is not the case with advertising messages, advertising is pure strategic communication

DOMINANT THEME

ADVERTISING IS THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATION OF THE MASS MEDIUMS OF COMMUNICATION

          the primary purpose of television is to round up an audience to watch commercials

          the fundamental goal of the mass media is to delivery audiences to advertisers

          when people criticize the quality of television programming, they overlook at the primary goal   of the medium is persuasive, to sell products

DOMINANT THEME -
MEDIATED MESSAGES SERVE SIMULTANEOUSLY MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS

1) Belief-Behavior Management - Sell Products, Shape Values

2) Identify Management - Sell Images

     tell us who we are and who we should be

     define what is "normal"

     create gender identity

           link gender identity with products

3) Emotional Management -Sell Love, Fear

          try to create need for products by making us feel insecure

DOMINANT THEME

ADVERTISING MESSAGES SIMULTANEOUSLY PRESENT AND DISTORT REALITY

"Advertising Messages Depict A Mythological World"

Its a world where everyone is white, young, beautiful, heterosexual, healthy, and living in a nuclear family where the man goes out to work and the woman takes care of children who spend their time talking about products.

Advertisers Create Images Of Ideal Feminine Beauty

          you must be thin-"I'd probably never be married now if I hadn't lost 49 pounds"

research suggests that 1 our of 5 college women may experience an eating disorder

and seriously jeopardize their health in a quest achieve this unattainable standard of                          feminine beauty

you must be young-"MoistureWear" -Just what I want, now that I'm over 25"

           older men and women tend to disappear from advertisements

Do you think this will change as the baby-boom cohort reaches middle and old age?

           In 1990 1/3 of the population is between 25 and 44?

To a certain extent the baby boom generation has perpetuated the stereotype "what is young is good", but will the force of their numbers help to combat and eliminate this stereotype?  Chris is optimistic. How do we tend to judge how well a person is aging in our culture?  Often by how young the person looks? How peculiar?  Can you imagine how silly this must seem to other cultures who respect older ("wise and experienced") people?  Why does our culture tend to hold such contempt for older people?  As sure as each of you are reading this you will age, how do you want to be portrayed in advertisements, as a person whose primary goal in life is "regularity"? Perhaps, closer to home do you want teenagers to drive by in cars and yell at your grandmother, "get off the street you old crust".

Adult women are presented as children-potentially harmful both to adult women and                       to children

"Women are considered acceptable only if they are young, beautiful, made-up, sprayed, scented, polished, and of course all unwanted hair removed.  Women who deviated from this ideal are viewed with disgust, which is to say most of us, and eventually all of us."

                                                Jean Kilbourne, Ed.E.

FACTOID

The traditional nuclear family represents only 12% of American households.

When the mythic world of advertising present or distort reality?

DOMINANT THEME

TO BE FEMININE WOMEN MUST TRANSFORM THEMSELVES THROUGH PURCHASING PRODUCTS

the standards used to judge female appearance are artificial and one can only attempt to conform to the standards through artificial means  --  in order to conform one must purchase products

every part of the body must be transformed, the face, the hair, the butt, and so forth in an hopeless attempt to adhere to an unrealistic standard.

DOMINANT THEME

WOMEN ARE JUDGED AGAINST THESE STANDARDS WHICH CAN ADVERSELY INFLUENCE SELF-IMAGE

If the message of advertising, particularly to women, is that "every single part of your body is in need of improvement" does that have the potential to influence self-image?

MS. magazine has discontinued advertising, because advertisers perpetuate the destructive myth that a woman's self-image is contingent upon their physical appearance and adornment

having to transform your SELF/YOUR IDENTIFY through artificial mean can be dehumanizing

          if one must transform themselves artificially than they may becomes less human

"the underlying message is your ugly, your disgusting, buy something"

          human body is turned into a "thing", a "package"

process of dissolution-where the body is separated from the self-for example, persons who must come with threats to body image due to illness or accidents

each of us have a intrapersonal relationship with our bodiesjust as illness can create body image disturbances-advertisers intentionally create body image            disturbances in order to create need - the need for products

ads focus on only one part of the body, thus dissolution occurs,

           1) the parts of the body are seen an unconnected

           2) body is focused on in isolation form other aspects of identity

           3) body is seen as a machine, with separate parts

the implicit message is a women's self-worth is contingent on her physical appearance and her ability to transform herself in order to adhere to cultural standards of feminine beauty

when the body is divorced from other aspects of one's identity it leads to objectification

          the person in the world of advertising is only a physical object

          not a human being with thoughts and feelings but merely an object

          a machine, which is constantly breaking down, wearing, out and must be

          transformed and fixed.

DOMINANT THEME

THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN BODIES

"turning a person into a thing is almost always the first step in justifying violence against that person"

"women's bodies are a piece of merchandise, not only is the person presented as a "thing" or sex object, but the sex object is for sale"

DOMINANT THEME

THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISING ARE NOT IMMEDIATE AND DIRECT BUT LONG TERM AND CUMULATIVE

messages effect us cumulatively and unconsciously, images register as we flip through magazines, catch glimpses of billboards, watch television commercials

MESSAGES MAY INFLUENCE HOW MEN LEARN TO RELATE TO WOMEN'S BODIES

"Feminine Odor Is Everyone's Problem" - ad ran in  TV  guide - Kilbourne suggests that thisimplicitly teachers fear, loathing, and contempt for women's bodies and it would be unthinkable  for any other group (e.g. ethic group) in society to be cast in this light.

e.g. athletics "jock rot" is everyone's problem;   athletics drug problem is everyone's problem

I remember I went out with a women once, whose EX-boyfriend had dropped by unexpectedly  on Sunday afternoon and wanted to go to the mall. Jill said ok and as she was headed toward the door he said "don't you think you better put some make-up on".

 MESSAGES MAY INFLUENCE HOW WOMEN LEARN TO RELATE TO THEIR OWN BODIES

if you are surrounded by images that constantly remind you of ways in which you don't measure up, this can lead people to dislike their own bodies

 there is the body you have and the body you want, much of the advertising directed toward women implicitly suggests that the body you have is inadequate

perhaps we could do a mini-study asking women and men to describe their relationship with their  bodies and whether they like their bodies or not, in order to get  handle on how people perceive     themselves in terms or cultural standards.

Message Help To Create An Atmosphere When Physical And Emotional Violence Toward Women Is Tolerated

          images do not cause rape or sexual abuse but they do create a climate where:

          it is acceptable to look at adult women as children, and children as sex objects

images do not cause sexual harassment

          but may create an atmosphere where it is tolerated by advertising messages which continually cast women into the role of sex object

          "I'm Black And Blue From The Rolling Stones And I Love It"-billboard

the media does not make us more aggressive or violence but it makes us more tolerant, more callous, and perhaps most important desensitized to the DEHUMANIZING way in which we as a culture often act toward one another.

MESSAGE MAY SHAPE OUR VALUES

if an alien came to earth and exposed to television, film, magazines, and advertisements he would conclude that Americans have a very casual attitude toward sex

          Calvin Klein

          Obsession

FACTOID

The creative force behind the Obsession campaign  was a woman, a former executive with Estee Lauder. Sex sells. But are the costs to women and men worth it?

Does being surrounded by images with a high sexual content contribute to the problem of teenage pregnancy?

Does our culture (us) have a pornographic attitude toward sex? Is this attitude reflected or created by the mass media? (pornographic in the sense of the objectification. dissolution, and dismemberment of the human body, marketing women's bodies as products)

MESSAGES MAY INFLUENCE HOW MEN RELATE TO WOMEN

the mythological world of advertising is dichotomized into a world of masculine and feminine and the feminine is often devalued

the injunction that you must be dominant and in control, may lead men to devalue the "feminine" side of their personality

human qualities which we all need-ability to love, ability to care, ability to be dependent, ability to trust, ability to nurture, ability to empathize, ability to cooperate,

DOMINANT THEME

MUST BECOME AWARE OF STRATEGIES USED BY MESSAGE DESIGNER TO BECOME MORE VISUALLY LITERATE.

one way to increase our level of visual literacy is to become aware of the bases of influence which messages are grounded in and the specific strategies and tactics which message designers use in attempts to alter your beliefs and behaviors.

1. Message designers use social comparison as a dominant persuasive strategy

   They present a mythological world and invite us to compare our own lives to the make-believe lives     depicted in advertising, and offer us products which will help to bring our own lives more in live     with what is presented as "normal".

   advertising messages invite women to compare themselves to other women in terms of the criteria     for judging feminine beauty-often leads to competition

          "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful"

          "If you are against all womankind, you are against yourself."

                                                Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D.

2. Message Designers Create Gender Identity Through Altercasting

    Virtually Unattainable Images Of Feminine Beauty

          an image of "ideal" feminine beauty is presented

          through altercasting the media create and defines standards for female beauty

ALTERCASTING REFERS TO CONSTRUCTING MESSAGES WHICH CREATE OR CAST AS PERSON INTO A CERTAIN IDENTITY - IN THE CASE OF FEMININE BEAUTY THEY AN "IDEAL TYPE" - AN IDENTITY OF FLAWLESSNESS

Virtually Unattainable Images Of Masculinity

          be strong, be invulnerable, be dominant, be in control

          message is limited to men, and difficult to maintain

          masculinity is linked with ruthlessness, brutality, and violence

          "Put Your Gun Into Something Soft"

          "Some Women Treat Their Boots Better Than Their Women, Not
           Altogether   Admirable, But Certainly Understandable"

            "Men Are Beasts"-Cologne For The Other Man Lurking Inside You."

Adult Women Presented As Children

          "Innocence Is Sexier Than You Think"

           message- don't grow up, don't become a mature sexual being, be passive and dependent

              limiting to adult women, dangerous for little girls

3. Message Designers Engage In Emotional Management By Inducing Fear, Shame And Guilt

          Your too fat.................buy something.

          Your not pretty..............buy something.

          Your hair is not silky.......buy something.

          Your nails are not strong.....buy something

          Your skin is not soft.........buy something

 message designers try to make us anxious and insecure if we don't buy their products

          Your life insurance is inadequate - you don't care about your family.

4.  Message Designers Associate Products With Important Values

Historically, women's communication tends to place a high value on relationships-                        intimate/romantic, friendship, family

     messages often dramatize how relationships may be enhanced or protected through the use of       products

"Your Guy, Another Reason For Midol"-message-if you really care about your guy you will use our product

"My Husband Is Seeing A Younger Women These Days...Me"-message-only my                            cosmetics/products is preventing him from seeing a younger women

5. Message Designers Want Us To Believe That Products Can Help Us Fulfill Our
     Deepest Human Needs Needs Are Often Co-opted And Trivialized-e.g women's need for power and independence

           "To Me Freedom Comes In A Bright Red Package"-message freedom is     
           achieved when you purchase Stouffers frozen dinners

          "You've Come A Long Way Baby"-Virginia Slims

            equates freedom and  with addiction

          women's need to be economically self-sufficient is often trivialized

          "How To Support Yourself In Style"-implicit message depends on your Bra

           "Phoebe chose to work, not because she had to, but because it gave her
             a  place to wear her Braemar sweaters."

6.. Sexual Imagery Is A Pervasive Strategy Which Is Used To Sell

          "Whatever you're giving him tonight, he'll enjoy it more with rice."

           I've heard of Jello, Strawberries, and Chocolate Moose, But Rice?????

           Double Entente

           "Size Has Nothing To Do With Performance"

           "I Don't Judge My Cigarette By It's Length."