Killing USftly 4: Advertising's Image Of Women

Beauty may lie in the eye of the beholder; however, it appears that in the modern day, beauty is less about any one individual’s attraction, and more about a unified idea of perfection. In Jean Kilbourne’s film Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women, Kilbourne presents the viewer with a comprehensive look at women in the media, in which she explores practices exercised in the media that defame and depower women. Kilbourne asserts that, the portrayal of women as objects in advertisements, and the morally bankrupt practice in which the media manufacture naturally unattainable beauty standards with the end goal of selling more products has a detrimental effect on the moral well-being of women, and the regard with which other members of society hold them, (Kilbourne). For those capable of …show more content…
This form may not be ideal in attraction or health, but it is ideal in making corporations money, (Kilbourne). The media, slave to their corporate sponsors does whatever it can to force such unnatural expectations upon the consumer. Kilbourne asserts that less than five percent of Women have what society deems the ideal female form, and yet this is still what people strive for, (Kilbourne). I find in my own experience that the media’s ideal female form is not itself attractive, rather it is the idea that the media associates these women with that merits attraction. The media tells you that these women are desirable, this in turn kicks off the inner dialogue that, “hey, maybe I’ll be desirable too, if I can look like that,” or, “I can confirm that I am desirable if I can get with that.” I find that in my own life, this formula that the media uses to manipulate consumer desires fails to manipulate me to the same extent as the typical