Killing Us Softly – The Dehumanization of Women in Advertising

A friend shared this presentation with me as we were considering materials to present and discuss for an event during Eating Disorder Awareness Week. We ultimately ended up going with something else but I’m still incredibly fond of this lecture. However, one of the reasons we decided not to show it is that during the lecture, she discusses women in advertising and provides many, many examples of how women are used in advertising. This means a sometimes excessive amount of advertising imagery as she makes her points concerning the representation of women in the media.

We had reservations showing the video to a potentially diverse group of people at a public eating disorder awareness event. At a public event, if someone feels uncomfortable with anything, there sometimes is a desire to not draw attention to oneself by getting up and excusing oneself. But, since this is the internet and you can stop watching at any time, plus I can write up a long disclaimer like this one, I think the lecture still holds it’s merit and challenges us to recognize the more subtle objectification of women and the impact it has on how women (and men) think of women and their bodies, often dividing the person from the body or at least placing value (or lack thereof) on the person with regard to the body. I think her lecture stands fine on it’s own and the visual accompaniment really isn’t necessary for most of it, so if you prefer, I encourage you to just hit ‘Play’ on the video and listen to it like a podcast while you do other things.

The author/filmmaker, Jean Kilbourne, has updated this lecture series through the years since the original she put together in the 1970′s (you’ll here her reference the original presentation a couple of times). There’s a more current one from 2010 which I haven’t seen but intend to – I’d very much like to see how it compares to this one from 1987.

I had originally subtitled this ‘The Objectification of Women in Advertising’ but went with another word in place of objectification – dehumanization. I think that’s a stronger and clearer word of what’s happening. ‘Objectification’ is almost a cliche these days, however accurate it might be. To me, dehumanization touches on a deeper sense of the violation of a person and their self-determination. After watching/listening, I’m curious to see if you agree with me:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

I must provide a disclaimer for this next portion. She mentions an advertisement in which they were implying that female consumers were so excited about shopping at a store that they were dying at the chance to buy shoes. The printed ad actually went so far as to show a woman who appeared to BE dead, clinging to her recently purchased shoes. The imagery is incredibly disturbing on multiple levels. It’s presented during her section on violence against women being normalized and even glamorized as something sexy and acceptable. Entirely relevant but entirely disturbing. I generally dislike ‘shock’ media because it’s never about an individual statistic, case, or advertisement, but the more overall theme and cultural issues which generate such things. In this case, I do feel it’s worth discussing. If you don’t wish to see it, stop watching around 7 minutes 50 seconds and just go on to the last section, you won’t miss much.

Part 4:

What’d you think? Discuss in the comments below!