Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women [Trailer] - Available on DVD

Correction: This video contains the image of Giselle Bundchen incorrectly identified as Ana Carolina Reston. An updated video is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWKXit...

http://www.mediaed.org

In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes -- images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence.

Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising and for her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. In the late 1960s she began her exploration of the connection between advertising and several public health issues, including violence against women, eating disorders, and addiction, and launched a movement to promote media literacy as a way to prevent these problems. A radical and original idea at the time, this approach is now mainstream and an integral part of most prevention programs. Her films, lectures and television appearances have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. Kilbourne was named by The New York Times Magazine as one of the three most popular speakers on college campuses. She is the creator of the renowned Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women film series and the author of the award-winning book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel and co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.

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[imfantasyparade]

Also I think you've confused women sexualizing themselves with women "objectifying" themselves. There's a huge difference. No woman wants to be objectified (be stripped of her personhood) and that's not what she's trying to accomplish when she's dressing up.

[HaNaBiUcHiHa92]

This is not only about being fit or extremely thin. It's also about having great skin, perfect hair, shaving your legs, doing your nails, putting makeup...how many times in your life did you use concealer because you were self conscious about your skin? How many times did you shave your legs? Body image issues can and do affect men too, but a lot less.

[brendabravo93]

I'm a victim of society. I won't let my future daughter feel like an object. Save the innocence

[Wallylex]

Do you have ANY idea of how naive you sound?

[Rachael Yates]

I totally hear what she's saying. But at the end of the day, advertisements are just make believe. The day we stop taking them seriously and letting them dictate our self esteem will be the day this nonsense stops.

[Trey Yeoman]

This is one of the best analysis of feminism and its distortion of body images and such :D Great message.

[JayNettieEmm]

Is this speech written in text?

[müge Ayal]

Unfortunately I've seen many photos of women of colour given lighter skin on photoshop. So in order to look beautiful you have to not only alter your weight and bone structure but skin colour as well. Disgusting.

[adamdabester]

While i agree that this is a problem i am always disturbed that feminists always ignore the other side of the coin so to speak. there is an equally big pressure on men to be just as unrealistically perfect. yes makeup and such is not pushed on men because it isnt seen as masculine but go into any GNC or any supplement store and look at the massive array of product pushed to men with the aim of completely transforming our bodies, or raid any gym locker room and i bet you will find steroids.

[Sasha Perard]

"girls are getting this message really young; that they need to be hot, sexy..."

*resumes to show images of white women*

does this not discomfort anyone? no, i don't want the objectification and over-sexualization for any woman of any colour, but why is it that the common representation of a sexy woman is a white woman? what does that do to women of color if the ideal we are shown since birth is the white woman being the ideal?

[AllTimeIsRelative]

Are these outcomes in how people think actually what the advertisers intended to happen though? I wouldn't be surprised if they never intended to have this effect on people. I mean, clearly, that's their intention now after doing it for so many years. But, when they started this type of advertising with perfect, skinny women, is this the result they were really looking for? I think that may not have been their intention at all, and what happens now is just a result of societies reaction to it.

[Linnea F]

this.