The world we live in is complex and many-sided. Therefore, many people find it rather hard to tell right from wrong and they are ready to be guided by those they trust. Somehow, it happened so, that mass media in general and advertising in particular belong to the “trust category”. The majority of people are deeply sure that what is shown on television or depicted on a magazine picture is true. Subconsciously, people accept the values and norms mass media imposes and what is surprising, very few of us are able to apply critical thinking skills while accepting those values. That is where danger silently and patiently hides.
Jean Kilbourne is admittedly one of those who pay a very close attention to the effect of advertising on social thinking and behavior. Her article “Two Ways a Woman Gets Hurt” may seem too harsh and grossly exaggerating the power of advertising, but this is a feeling I got while having a cursory look at the article. When I started reading, though, that feeling slowly but irreversibly went away. The disappointment and indignation came instead.
It became clear that Jean Kilbourne was not just another author obsessed with feministic ideas. Moreover, when I finished reading the article I literally felt guilty for being that shallow.
The main point of Kilbourne’s article is that we are greatly underestimating the power of advertising and it is really so. The majority of pictures used in the article looked so familiar and usual to me, but reading and looking made it clear that we have no idea how overwhelming the effect of advertising is. We are used to seeing half-naked women, men, and children in magazines and on billboards and we hardly ever bother to think about the inner message of the advertisement. We see what advertisers want us to see and do what they expect us to.
Undoubtedly, not a single advertising campaign is conducted without the help of professional psychologists who know how to manipulate with people’s fears and desires. They use that knowledge while creating an advertisement and profits of advertisers prove that it turns out to be very effective.
We are facing many problematic social issues nowadays. Sexual violence and all sorts of addictions are at the top of the list. At the same time, advertisers “do their best” at aggravating current public problems. In advertisements, they create an image of an aggressive, domineering, hot-looking man, while women are passive, submissive, silly, and, at the same time, seductive creatures. The most dangerous thing here is that young people and children are exposed to such advertisements on a regular basis.
The advertisements contribute significantly to shaping young minds, and, as a result, we have very young girls who are suffering from different emotional and physical disorders tightly connected with their striving to look like models and assuredness that they are inferior. We have young men seeking sex with different partners and demonstrating inclination to sexual abuse of women. Healthy relationships with loyal partners are rarely depicted in …