The video “Killing Us Softly 3” with Jean Kilbourne was a really interesting video and opened my eyes to some differences in gender in the media. I like when she showed the example of women’s breast size for a hair product where the company pointed out all these things that could be wrong with a woman’s breasts and how the hair product will fix this. It’s crazy how marketing people can put women down with all these discrepancies that involve breasts. She showed the Calvin Klein ad with a man basically naked just covering his groin region with a cloth. She said that a lot of people said that marketing people were finally making it equal with bringing men down etc. but she pointed out that it wouldn’t be equal unless it pointed out “your penis may be too small, too narrow, too pale, too pointy or just two inches..but at least you can have a good pair of jeans.” I thought that was a good representation of how men aren’t nearly as scrutinized about their body as women are. Jean also said how she doesn’t want marketing to put men down like that, she just wants it to stop for women.
I also liked when she pointed out the ad with the girl and it saying the more you subtract, the more you add. Its crazy that’s what we teach young girls in this country because its only creating more eating disorders for the young girls in our society. I’ve said this many times before, people need to be judged for who they are and our media is only putting women down and silencing them.
Another ad that Jean showed that involved race was when there was a young black male looking up at a white girl at the beach. She is viewed as bigger solely because of race, when both the boy and girl are white the male is bigger looking down on the girl and is viewed as powerful. Race in marketing shows that race is still an issue and needs to be addressed.
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ReplyDeleteThis video also really opened my eyes to some of the ways gender differences in the media. I also thought her comparison of males and females by replacing words the described 'breasts' with 'penis' was a good representation how male and female scrutiny is conjured much differently in the media and advertisments based upon gender. Although I was always aware that women have been posing in bikinis for years, I never really thought that we hardly ever see men, much less than women to say the lest, as being objectified in the media and somehow aren't characterized the same ways in which women are when using their body to sell a product.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post. I think the video Killing Us Softly makes you realize how many difference there are in the media when it comes to gender. The same things that had an impact on you had an impact on me-the Calvin Klein ad and the more you subtract the more you you add ad. I even laughed out loud at the Calvin Klein ad when she was talking about men, but I knew looking at the bigger picture it really isn't funny. I agree with you that people need to be judged for who they are and not for how close they come to meetingthe almost impossible standards are society has for males and females.
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