8/10/2019 Killing Us Softly

1/2

Killing Us Softly is a harsh term, one that gives a clear description of the situation thatis being talked about in the movie. Kills are swift and are hardly ever considered soft. Killingus softly implies a subtle death over a prolonged period of time. The person saying killing us

softly knows that they are being killed, but cant very much about it. Jean Kilbourne titled

her video killing us softly because that is exactly what is being done. In her video she explainsthat she began collecting ads in the late 60s, and as she collected these ads, she began to see apattern in them, a statement of what it meant to be a woman in American culture. As shecontinued to see more and more ads over the years, she concluded that advertising tellswomen that what is most important in women is how they look, to always strive for ideal imageof female beauty; and in longing to have that ideal image; womens bodies are turned intothings and objects. Kilbourne titles her movie Killing Us Softly because the identity of womenis being violently changed from who women really are and who they can become to an identitythat has been molded for them; an identity that is unhealthy, unrealistic, and unachievable.This isnt a problem for female children, but once girls hit adolescence, they hit a wall becausewomen are only acceptable if they are young, thin, white or light-skinned, perfectly groomedand polished, and plucked and shaved. Of course advertisements dont put it in such a harsh,blunt way, but advertisements that promote this ideology are everywhere. According toKilbourne, advertising is a 250$ billion a year industry in the united states and we Americansare exposed to over 3,000 ads every single day, and will supposedly spend two years of our liveswatch ing commercials on television. She also states that most people feel personally exemptfrom the influence of advertisin g. But according to the editor in chief of Advertising Age, only8% of an ads message is received by the mind while the rest is worked deep within the brain.Jean Kilbourne adequately titled her movie killing us softly because advertising companies sellmore than products. When advertising companies put up an ad on television, schools, internetvideos, billboards, and other public places, they put up values; they sell images, morals, andconcepts of love, sex, success, and normalcy. These ads tell us who we are, the many faults wehave , who we should be, and how its only possible to achieve perfection through buying orbelieving in their product that the company is advertising. This is how she also relates all of thisto the concept of symbolic annihilation. Symbolic annihilation is the absence of representationof a certain group of people in the media. The group of people that is underrepresented isoften because they are not the correct race, sex, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.And when people of a different status that isnt of the norm, make it to advertisements, theyare generally considered beautiful if they approximate the white girl ideal; light skinned,straight hair, and has Caucasian features. An example of this that Jean Kilbourne uses is thatblack women are often features in a jungle setting wearing leopard skins like exotic animals.This form of media vilifies the identity of people, making members invisible through changingthe skin color and hair types of women who are not of the right skin color and hair type.Women lose their identities as special individuals this way, symbolically annihilating some

8/10/2019 Killing Us Softly

2/2

cultures in the process. Kilbourne also addresses many more issues in her movie like howadvertisements objectify women and how consumerism causes men and some women to havea negative and distorted image of women, affecting how men feel about women, leading mento reject qualities like compassion, cooperation, empathy, intuition, and sensitivity. The

obsession with thinness, the tyranny of the ideal image of beauty, and violence against womenare public health issues that affect everyone in one way or another. Kilbourne believes weneed a lot of citizen activism, education, discussions, and media literacy, and that we need towork together to change the standards and attitudes. We need to think of ourselves as citizensrather than just consumers.