A Reflection on Jean Kilbourne's "The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women"
- Jan 26, 2018
- 2 min read
Jean Kilbourne has a fantastic TED Talk on the ways that recent marketing campaigns have viewed women. She has studied primarily advertisements directed towards women since the late 1960s. She reminisces on the difficult ways that modeling for ads had affected her in the past, and caused her to desire to study the ways these ads can affect women. She notes the ways that ads are "the influence of advertising is quick, cumulative, and for the most part, subconscious. Ads sell more than products." This is significant. If most people believe they are unaffected by ads, but are actually more influenced by ads than by the products they are trying to sell, then the messages of these seemingly "ignored" ads have a great impact on us.
We are constantly surrounded by advertisements that send a message, and we are introduced to them at a young age. I know that a significant number of young women are subconsciously affected as a result of unrealistic expectations set by the advertisements around them. The older ads above are much more direct with their messaging, but the images in today's ads speak volumes about the way that a woman should look like, despite the fact that most of the women in these ads have been significantly photoshopped.
I feel that advertisements significantly affect the ways that women look at themselves and each other. As a Catholic, I was raised under the notion that I have dignity, worth, and I deserve respect and love, simply by the fact that I am a human being. The Catechism states "The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God" (CCC 1700). This is really important, particularly in understanding ourselves and each other, sans the detrimental message of modern advertisements. We are made in the image and likeness of the Creator, the One who holds it all together, and even more, the One who died that we might have life. And, even further, if we are made in His image and likeness, shouldn't we try to look less like this:
And a little more like this:
Welcome to my little corner, I hope it brings you some truth.
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