“Alright people let’s get this photo shoot going! Makeup fix the model’s hair; it looks too natural. The lighting is off here; I can see her freckles; I need porcelain skin! Design, come fix the model’s dress, there is not enough leg showing here! I’m trying to do a photo shoot for a magazine, not a family portrait! Come on people let’s get this model looking perfect!” This is what happens during a typical photo shoot for any high-fashion magazine. The model is treated as an object that can be altered in any way. Women’s advertising depicts the perfect woman as a young, thin, blonde, white woman. In Jane Kilbourne 's documentary “Killing Us Softly 4” she makes a persuasive argument with the use of several examples about how women are constantly
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This leads to serious violence against women, as Kilbourne states, “... turning a human being [into] a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person” (Killing Us Softly 4). She uses examples like the Michelob beer advertisement to prove that women are being turned into objects for society to scrutinize. By turning women to objects such as bottles of beer, men’s feelings towards women changes dramatically. Most men see women as something they can control because many advertisements depict women under a man 's control or trying to please a man. The Michelob beer advertisement turned the model into a beer for a man to take into his hands and consume, giving the man full control of the woman. This image represents an inaccurate image about how women want to be treated. By using this advertising Kilbourne strengthens her claim that today’s media is harmful to women. Whether the advertisement was trying to advocate violence against women or not, it allows society to accept these advertisements.
Kilbourne’s documentary is not completely persuasive because most of her arguments are based off of white models in a high-class society. She does not have many examples of how women of color are depicted in the modeling world. She mostly talks about how white women are objectified in advertising; however, this is an accurate depiction of the advertising agency because they are not accepted in the modeling world. Most agencies prefer to use white models because that is what society deems as the “ideal”
This leads to serious violence against women, as Kilbourne states, “... turning a human being [into] a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person” (Killing Us Softly 4). She uses examples like the Michelob beer advertisement to prove that women are being turned into objects for society to scrutinize. By turning women to objects such as bottles of beer, men’s feelings towards women changes dramatically. Most men see women as something they can control because many advertisements depict women under a man 's control or trying to please a man. The Michelob beer advertisement turned the model into a beer for a man to take into his hands and consume, giving the man full control of the woman. This image represents an inaccurate image about how women want to be treated. By using this advertising Kilbourne strengthens her claim that today’s media is harmful to women. Whether the advertisement was trying to advocate violence against women or not, it allows society to accept these advertisements.
Kilbourne’s documentary is not completely persuasive because most of her arguments are based off of white models in a high-class society. She does not have many examples of how women of color are depicted in the modeling world. She mostly talks about how white women are objectified in advertising; however, this is an accurate depiction of the advertising agency because they are not accepted in the modeling world. Most agencies prefer to use white models because that is what society deems as the “ideal”