unconventional women
Wednesday, 08 September 2010
Home Rewriting Cultural Rules De-Hypnotizing Deadly Persuasion
Deadly Persuasion Print E-mail
ImageWhy Women and Girl Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising
Jean Kilbourne
2000
Chapter excerpt
(Paperback version is Can't Buy My Love)
Buy new or used at Amazon

You knew it was bad, but you probably didn’t know it was this bad! Kilbourne gives numerous examples with pictures of the thousands of advertising messages we are fed. Just thumb through any magazine and count the ads, and then compare the number of ads to the pages of content. Then thumb through again and look at every woman portrayed in every ad--what she looks like, and what her relationship seems to be with the product.

 


She says, "Advertising encourages us not only to objectify each other, but also to feel that our most significant relationships are with the products that we buy. It turns lovers into things and things into lovers…Passion for products is especially dangerous when the products are potentially addictive, because addicts feel they are in a real relationship with their obsessions. . .

Advertiser’s influence on media content is exerted in two major ways—via the suppression of information that would harm or “offend the sponsor,” and via the inclusion of editorial content that is advertiser-friendly, that creates an environment in which the ads look good…Up to 85% of the news we get is bought and paid for by corporations eager to gain publicity.”

 

More resources:

http://jeankilbourne.com/?page_id=59

 

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