Advertisement Case
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Over the past eight years, I have been consumed by the medias portrayal of women. I am like most women who look over to magazine ads and see what feminine and flawless looks like . I lived in New York , the number one ranking fashion capital in the United States, and saw first hand that most women care about their physical appearance. Being thin, attractive and in the latest fashion designer clothes is often the most important aspects in a womens life. Jean Kilbournes technique of objectifying and dismembering women, made me realize how manipulative ads can be. Ellen Goodmans article and “Reshaping America”, not only confirms the power of advertisements, but also how unconsciously they alter the way we perceive what normal women should look like and the strives we take to attain it.
Kilbourne speaks about the normalcy of how women are suppose to look and how advertisements set up these impossible standards of flawless. According to Kilbourne, ads suggest that the ideal women is small, takes up little space and has no voice. To demonstrate the power of advertisements, Kilbournes “Killing Us Softly 3” shows ads in which women are dismembered, only parts of the body parts are focused on. Kilbourne is a creator of many award wining documentaries, such as, “Killing us Softly,” “Pack of Lies” and “Slim Hopes.” One particular ad on the presentation, the Armani Exchange ad, shows a young thin girl sitting in a close position, looking as if shes hiding and in text letters the ad reads, ” The more you add, the more you subtract.” Another ad, Lee Jeans, has a women leaning on her side and focuses on her rear end and in text reads, “He said, he fell in love with my personality, he lied.” Implying that her significant other fell in love with her physical appearance and not her inner beauty. Most of the ads are similar. For the most part, the ads show women being passive, thin, sexy yet innocent and have their mouths being covered, women have no voice. Men are shown as tall, aggressive, masculine, active. For example, in a Calvin Klein ad, there is a young girl and a boy, the girl is smiling, being passive and looking up and the boy is looking down at the girl and is standing tall and aggressive. Kilbournes rhetorical appeals are based on ethos and pathos. Her interest in the medias portrayal started over 30 years ago when she clipped offensive ads and posted then on her refrigerator. Her extensive research and knowledge helps convey the message about the negative affects of the media.
Ellen Goodmans article, “The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji”, is another example of how the media affects the perception of women. According to Goodman, The Fijians before 1995 use to compliment one another for being full figured and robust. Within 38 months of having television and only one channels, the eating disorders more than doubled to 29 percent. It ranged from teenage and or high school girls inducing vomiting and other forms of dieting because they felt “too big or fat”. There isnt any prove that introducing television and