#killingussoftly

In the beginning of the film, I thought I would disagree with a lot of what Jean Kilbourne was going to say because she was talking about the basics of women in advertising. Although, most women who are used in advertisements advertisements advertisements advertisements advertisements advertisements advertisements advertisements and airbrushed, do to a degree set unrealistic standards for women and men; but, I thought it was naive for anyone to think brands wouldn’t use perfectly groomed models to best advertise their product. I simply thought it just wasn’t a big deal. 

Midway through the film, I realized I was overlooking many ads that were serving as gateways to further thoughts or underlining problems. For example, she talked about an ad that pointed out everything that could be wrong with a women’s breast and pointed out that the same ad would never be done featuring a male’s part. Also, she pointed out ads that featured violence against women, kids, and extremes such as bondage and fetishes. 

Media has a serious influence on body image and it makes people feel pressures to look a certainway. The media tells people that their value is based on how they look on the outside. Society tells people that they need to be thin or in shape in order to be loved, accepted and successful in life. How people perceive themselves can become distorted which could lead them to engage in detrimental behaviors when they feel they don’t measure up to the impossible goal that is set in front of them. These risky behaviors could be anything from eating disorders, cutting, drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, and even sexual addictions.

It’s been proven in studies that media is a huge contributor to negative impact on self image. There are different TV shows, movies, magazines, and websites on the internet that bombard teens with images about how their bodies should look. The big issue is that these expectations are unrealistic. All of these images are photo shopped and air-brushed versions of models. Sadly, teens believe the lies and begin to take unhealthy measures in order to try to try and make them selves look the way the media tells them they should look.

All of the ads shown in Killing Us Softly were terrible and very degrading to women. I was disgusted to see how the media make woman look especially compared to men. I don’t understand why that is allowed or socially acceptable at all but it really needs to stop.