Killing Us Softly

            Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly 4 demonstrates, through advertisements, the unhealthy aspects of our culture. She discusses Weight, health, dietary choices, brands, and advertising’s affects on both men and women, and why we need to change what’s being shown to our not only us, but our children as well.

            Personally, I was shocked by some of the content that was being presented and discussed, granted not by some of the newer content (since I’ve been exposed to similar things my whole life), but I was shocked when I was presented with ads like the ‘innocence is sexier than you think’ campaign as well as the use of Photoshop. It truly frightened me to see that they were able to use the body parts of different women to create the face and body of an entirely new woman. It’s no wonder our image of beauty has been distorted overtime. We’ve been exposed to what Kilbourne calls “the same rare body type which has become the norm in advertising”.

            Another thing that stood out to me was the sexualization and taboo nature of food in advertising. We shouldn’t couple digitally enhanced models with a radically different and unhealthy view of food. It leads to a widespread lack of self-confidence, eating disorders, and worst of all depression. These aren’t the messages we should be broadcasting. The compulsive pursuit of an impossible standard of beauty amongst women is a direct result of exactly this kind of marketing.

            After watching this presentation I can actually say that I’ve now more fully understood what we’ve been discussing as well as reading in class. The Beauty Myth tells us the media’s affects on us but Kilbourne shows us. The disturbing yet truthful imagery she shows us is the only way that, as she puts it, we can “increase awareness and lead to global changes”, and I for one completely agree with her.

            The objectification and infantilization of women may not be the direct cause of violence, but it definitely doesn’t help. Not only this, but all these negative sides of marketing industry are only there for one thing, profit. Are we really so blind as a culture that we can’t demand reform or regulation? There is definitely a way, and it is definitely the time, yet even with all the activist groups out there battling against this we still aren’t seeing any change, and to me that’s just wrong.