Killing Us Softly 4, By Jean Kilbourne - 970 Words

According to Newman, sexism refers to â€Å"a system of beliefs that asserts the inferiority of one sex and that justifies discrimination based on gender.† This sexism has a large impact on the daily life of a women through things like social interactions, power differentials, and violence against women. Institutional sexism refers to the â€Å"subordination of â€Å"women that is part of the everyday workings of economics, law, politics, and other social institutions.† The media is one institution that communicates gender norms both directly and indirectly. Understanding gender role expectations and how they are reinforced through social institutions like the media is necessary in order to explain things such as the wage gap, segregation in the workplace, and how women are devalued on a global scale. Jean Kilbourne’s film, Killing Us Softly 4, depicts the way the females are shown in advertisements. She discusses how advertisement sell concepts of normalcy and what it means to be a â€Å"male† and a â€Å"female.† One of her main arguments focuses on how women aspire to achieve the physical perfection that is portrayed in advertisements but this perfection is actually artificially created through Photoshop and other editing tools. Women in advertisements are often objectified as weak, skinny, and beautiful while men are often portrayed as bigger and stronger. Advertisements utilize the setting, the position of the people in the advertisements, and the products to appeal to the unconscious aspectShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of `` Killing Us Softly 4 `` By Jean Kilbourne918 Words   |  4 Pagesads but as objects for people to look at, use, abuse, and more. In her fourth installment in a line of documentaries, â€Å"Killing Us Softly 4,† Jean Kilbourne explains the influence of advertising women and popular culture, and its relationship to gender violence, sexism and racism, and eating disorders. For women, advertising exemplifies the ideal female body. According to Kilbourne, young girls are taught from a very early age that they need to spend lots of time and money to achieve this â€Å"physicalRead MoreAnalysis Of Jean Kilbourne s Video, Killing Us Softly 41485 Words   |  6 PagesIn Jean Kilbourne’s video, Killing Us Softly 4, Jean expresses how advertisements have been portraying women as a sex symbol or even as just a typical housewife. She talks about how the advertisements have sold various products by not necessarily selling the product itself, but by using women or men to sell the product for them. Ad agencies have used sex and body image to create a type of selling factor for their product. These selling strategies have shaped the way society views women and how womenRead MoreAnalysis Of Jean Kilbourne s Killing Us Softly 4 Discussion At The Tedxlafayette Conference Essay1549 Words   |  7 Pagessociety has periodically been up for debate. From the era of corsets and Virginia slims to lip injections and breast implants, the media suggest women change their natural born selves into desirable displays. In this analysis, I examine Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly 4 discussion at the TEDxLafayette Conference and the advertisement views presented in her speech. In Kilbourne’s presentations she suggests the prominence of how we look and that from adolescence â€Å"we must spend numerous amounts of timeRead MoreThe Impact Of Advertising On The Portrayal Of Women977 Words   |  4 Pagesanalyze and change the portrayal of women. I recently viewed an advertisement from Glamour magazine November 2013 issue, which I believe indeed is viewed as offensive. According to my sources â€Å"Beauty and the Beast of Advertising† and â€Å"Killing Us Softly 4† both by Jean Kilbourne, there many forms of offense in advertisements. The name of the advertisement I found is called â€Å"Josie Marian† which is named after an American model, actress and entrepreneur and it is quoted â€Å"What kind of nut puts oil on her faceRead MoreKilling Us Softly 4 : The Advertising s Image Of Women983 Words   |  4 PagesJean Kilbourne is an advocate for women and is leading a movement to change the way women are viewed in advertising. She opens up the curtains to reveal the hard truth we choose to ignore or even are too obtuse to notice. Women are objectified, materialized, and over-sexualized in order to sell clothes, products, ideas and more. As a woman, I agree with the position Kilbourne presents throughout her documentary Killing Us Softly 4: The Advertising’s Image of Women (2010) and her TEDx Talk The DangerousRead MoreEssay about American Sexploitation1653 Words   |  7 Pagesnew shoes and goes for a run in them, he will come home to find a gorgeous woman waiting on the couch for them. The man that purchases these shoes views the attractive woman in this advertisement as a sexual pr ize. As Jean Kilbourne explains in her video, Still Killing Us Softly 3, the woman no longer appears as a subject, but an object that comes with the product. Consumers, and society in general, may dismiss this advertisement as a ridiculous equation of A+B=C, but subconsciously, they internalizeRead MoreThe Documentaries Killing Us Softly 4 Essay1252 Words   |  6 Pagesunderstand the norms of each gender, but these forces also shape children and adolescent’s perception of the self. The documentaries Killing Us Softly 4 directed by Jean Kilbourne and Dream World 3 directed by Sut Jhally explore the distorted and fallacious ideals of femininity and sexuality expressed in contemporary media. The documentaries Dream World 3 and Killing Us Softly 4 examine the exploitation of women within the media. The media, such as advertisement and the music video industry, relies heavilyRead MoreAd Takeover. Jim Fowles’ Advertising’S Fifteen Basic Appeals1371 Words   |  6 Pagesshows why Fowles is correct , it displays how advertisements have an emotional appeal to the consumers. I know this , let’s take a look on lingerie advertisements, Victoria’s Secret. When women like me see a commercial of the semi – annual sale, some of us tend to lean one way or another, either we’re excited for the sale or we want to look like the model in the commercial. This is how fowles unfilled urges and motives comes to play and the ad itself wedges into our minds, therefore the consumer cavesRead MoreEssay about Women and Advertising2280 Words   |  10 Pagesspent on marketing products to consumers (Killing Us Softly 3). Along with products, the advertisi ng industry sells the intangible: â€Å"Ads sell a great deal more than products. They sell values, images, and concepts of success of worth, love and sexuality, popularity, and normalcy. They tell us who we are and who we should be. Sometimes they sell addictions† (Kilbourne, Beauty and the Beast). When the average person is bombarded by 2,000-3,000 ads a day (Kilbourne, address), it is impossible to remainRead MoreEthics in Advertising Essay1263 Words   |  6 PagesAn American unnoticeably views three thousand advertisements in a day, many of which use women and sex appeal to get consumers’ attention (Kilbourne). Advertisements subconsciously affect our lives, and often times not in a good way. Also, women and young girls are usually the ones that compare themselves to thin models featured in ads. Advertisements not only impact how women view each other, but also how they view themselves. Women and girls strive to look like the retouched and Photoshopped