Blog Entry 8: Respond to "The More You Subtract...."

"Seventeen, a magazine aimed at girls about 12 to 15, sells these girls directly to advertisers in an ad in Advertising Age (the major publication of the advertising industry) that says, 'She's the one you want. She's the one we've got.'"

I chose this quote because I thought it was pretty ironic that a magazine called Seventeen is aimed at girls who are 2 to 5 years younger than that. I also think it's terrible that a magazine acts like it's a girl's best source for advice and fashion, but then sells out to advertisers. Overall, after reading this article, I'm just really glad that I'm not a girl. It seems like they have so much more shit to deal with during adolescence than guys.

" 'you can learn more about anatomy after school,' says an ad for jeans featuring a very young couple pressed against each other. This ad manages to trivialize sex, relationships, and education all in one sentence"

I picked this quote because I thought the idea for the ad was hilarious until I read the next line. It is disturbing that I have so clearly bought into all the illusions offered by advertising. This whole article in fact was riddled with information that left quite disgruntled.

“These days self-improvement seems to have more to do with calories than with character, with abdomens rather than absolutes, with nail polish than with ethics” (Kilbourne, 266).

I chose this quote because I thought that it really clearly depicted the type of world that women are living in now. The majority of people care more about the brand of one’s jeans than the content of her character and that is extremely depressing to me. How did we suddenly become a culture that values fashion and weight over intelligence and having a kind heart? How did we become a culture that makes people who do have a unique look to feel like outcasts because maybe they aren’t a size 2 and don’t wear the name brand clothing? I don’t know, and to even begin to find the answer one would have to examine history century-by-century beginning with the present. The scary thing is that this judgmental beauty consuming society seems to be moving forward at breakneck speed.

"you can learn more about anatomy after school," says an ad for jeans featuring a very young couple pressed against each other. This ad manages to trivialize sex, relationships, and education all in one sentence.

I picked this quote because I laughed at the idea for the ad before reading the next line. It made me realize in some small way just how much I am influenced by the manipulations of advertising. This whole article in fact was riddled with bits of information that left me disgruntled. Examples like the quote above really made me realize how my own attitude is part of the system which perpetuates the unhealthy and unfair expectations which are placed upon women. The difficulty that kept coming up for me as I read this was: how does one change their perception of beauty after years of being conditioned by advertising?

“Before television was available, there was little talk of dieting in Fiji. “You,ve gained weight” was a traditional compliment and “going thin” the sign of a problem. In 1995 television came to the island. Within 3 years, the number of teenagers at risk for eating disorders more than doubled: 74% of the teens in the study said they felt “too big or too fat” and 62% said they had dieted in the past month.” (pg. 161)

The media has the power to influence everyone. We see, for example, the change taking place in Fiji with the introduction of the television. It reformed their values. Being on the weightier side (what was once a good thing) is now something to be ashamed of. The media can be a danger to people; especially in the way it portrays the ideal woman.
I’ve heard, for instance, that the Barbie is in fact an unrealistic model of a woman’s body. If a Barbie were to be proportionately enlarged to a life-sized human being, the legs would be so long and the boobs so big that the Barbie could no longer support itself. The media is giving children the model of a “beautiful” woman, when in actuality it presents a false image.
The media has the capability of persuading people to believe things, even if it’s not true. I remember once, for example, seeing the commercial for moon shoes. As a child, I actually believed these plastic shoes would be like walking on the moon. All I ever wanted was a pair of moon shoes; however, when I finally was given a pair, I realized I had been deceived. The moon shoes were two plastic pieces of junk. They certainly did not feel like I was walking on the moon, and quickly made their way to Goodwill, just like all the other worthless products I had been scammed into believing had value.

"Advertisers are aware of their power and do not hesitate to take advantage of the insecurities and anxieties of young people, usually in the guise of offering solutions." (156)

Even though this article was about advertisers targeting women I feel like another big issue presented in this article was the fact that advertisers are aware of what they are doing. They take full advantage of consumers, especially women and children. This is unfortunate to me that people want to make their friends, family and other people around America feel so insecure that they need these products to live and be happy. I do not understand how people would be okay with doing such a thing. It is so easy to take people's hard working money just by guilting them into it. Even though money needs to be spent to keep the economy going, I believe that advertisers could very easily find a moral way to sell products.

"Advertising clearly does not cause eating problems any more than it causes alcoholism." (161).

I disagree with this statement. There are advertisements focused in on alcohol beverages, but personally, the majority of pictures i see in magazines are of thin petite Hollywood stars. While standing in line at the grocery store there are always magazines such as "People" or "US weekly" and all through those magazines are pictures of skinny actresses or musicians with titles saying they are too large. This makes people thing poorly of themselves because skinny stars are being put down for being too large, when in actuality, the majority are under weight.

“Girls of all ages get the message that they must be flawlessly beautiful and, above all these days, they must be thin” (pg. 158).
I chose this quote because I see this happening all the time with girls. We girls are always expected to look thin in order to be beautiful. Everything that we see and watch contains females that are extremely thin. Because we watch these women, we in a way hope to become similar to them and thus think that to look good and be as happy as they appear, we must also be thin. Moving to college, girls are more self aware of their bodies because they have many others to compare it to. This can make girls really depressed because men often do not talk to the fatter girls. Many girls eat less and become more depressed when they see that they are not as thin as the girls standing next to them. I think it is horrible that girls have to think that they have to look a certain way to be accepted in society and talked to. Everyone should feel confident in themselves and comfortable in their body they should not have to change it unless they feel uncomfortable with themselves, not because of the other people surrounding them.

"Girls are put into a terrible double bind. They are supposed to to repress their power, their anger, and their exuberance and simply be 'nice,' although they also eventually must compete with men in the business world. They must be overtly sexy and attractive but essentially passive and virginal" (157)

I chose this quote because I have also noticed the double standard of the "good girl" and the "bad girl" in modern advertisements. It is really a shame that these archetypes exist at all. Girls (and boys) should be encouraged from a young age to develop their own strong personalities. I agree with Kilbourne's point that in the end, both the good girl and the bad girl are submissive to men.

“Far from being a passive mirror of society, [advertisement] is an effective and pervasive medium of influence and persuasion, and its influence is cumulative, often subtle and primarily unconscious. Advertising performs much the same function in industrial society as myth performed in ancient and primitive societies: It is both a creator and perpetuator of the dominant attitudes, values, and ideology of the culture, as well as the social norms and myths by which most people live.”
I found this quote to be interesting because advertisement is quite similar to myths. They both showed social situations and showed how people interacted with each other and their surroundings. It just so happens that the majority of the surroundings in advertisements are consumer products. Myths taught people how to behave as well as try to explain phenomena. Advertisements also show people how they should behave and try to explain social norms. Advertisements do reflect the cultures attitudes and values such as by showing society’s ideal beauty and standards.

"Women have long been divided into virgins and whores. What is new is that girls are now supposed to embody both within themselves." (165)

This article talks many times about the bind that girls are in by being told two different images they are supposed to portray. How can a young girl know what is right when she is told to be a nice good girl, but that to attract boys and be powerful she must be sexually active and uncommitted. Also how alcohol is used as a way to achieve this double life which "permit sexual activity at the same time that they allow denial." (167). The part that bugged me the most was how young these girls are that are exposed to these images and ads. Some kids don't have strong adult mentors in their lives so how are they supposed to interpret these messages. Boys want to get in a girls pants, but then if you give in too easily they do not want to date you because you are a "whore" but sometimes when you don't "permit sexual activity" they can lose interest. Boys are influenced by ads to think that way though, so it is hard to discover a simple solution to such a deep rooted issue.

"Although boys were much noisier than girls, the girls were often told to speak softly or to use a "nicer" voice about three times more often." (260)

This quote really brought back to me a feeling of injustice from elementary school that I had forgotten. Although my memory is biased, one of my early teachers in elementary school seemed to always be chastising and punishing my female friends and me for talking, even if we were talking quietly. However, when the boys in our class would get noisy she seemed to tell them much more good-naturedly to "simmer down," without subjecting them to the humiliation of "turning a card," a punishment my friends and I endured for talking. I think this emphasis on female quietness has really molded the way and the amount that girls speak. By the time girls are in middle school and high school they mostly whisper amongst themselves in class whereas boys speak in more normal tones. Girls also seem to speak out in class less than boys, and are more timid in general about voicing their opinions.

"What is new is that girls are now supposed to embody both within themselves. This is symbolic of the central contradiction of the culture--women must work hard and produce and achieve success and yet, at the same time, they are encouraged to live impulsively, spend a lot of money, and be constantly and immediately gratified" (pg 165).

I chose this quote because it highlights the struggle that the media poses on girls in today's consumer culture. While the media is constantly telling girls to be thin, sexy, and passive through the use of models who resemble these qualities, they are also trying to sell their product, which will not necessarily help a girl to be any of those things. Advertisements that encourage girls to smoke cigarettes, or binge on food items while still using a slender model (who most likely does not actually eat the food) sends quite a conflicting message to girls, especially young adolescent girls who are simply trying to fit in. These contradictions definitely help to belittle the face value of these advertisements, but when being constantly barraged with the underlying messages in them, it is hard for anyone, let alone a highly sensitive teenage girl, to ignore them.

"...the fact that the girl in the ad is very young and very thin reinforces another message, a message that an adolescent girl constantly gets from advertising and throughout the popular culture: the message that she should diminish herself, that she should be less than she is" (162)

This is fascinating because it is insinuating that not only is advertising sub-consciously telling us to be smaller in size, but smaller in regards to our being as well. In our male-dominated society, it is no wonder that the advertising industry influences women to be less than more. With this image being sold to girls in their childhood, they become helpless victims of both body and self insecurity by the time they reach adolescence.

"When a girl enters adolescence, she faces a series of losses-loss of self-confidence, loss of a sense of efficacy and ambition, and the loss of her "voice," the sense of being a unique and powerful self that she had in childhood."
I found this quote rather ironic. It seams strange that confidence in apparently build within us as children, but is lost during adolescence. We struggle while growing up in those years to retrieve the strength and the individuality we used to possess as children. Life is cruel in a way that we are born what we should be and yet we loose this gift and have to strive to possess it once more.But I can not disagree with this statement. During the teen years a sense of insecurity is present and in order to "fit in" kids try to regain their self confidence, even while they may act unlike themselves. False images are portrayed and soon everyone begins to play this theater of life in adolescence.

“Women have long been divided into virgins and whores”
I chose this quote because I feel most women can relate to a time when they were stereotyped within the category of “virgin” or “whore.” I also always feel frustrated at this concept because there are many more categories within those two that describe most women in the world. There are very few women who can actually define themselves are whores, and likewise as virgins. I believe men have created this divide to make women feel vulnerable and bad about themselves and their sexual attempts. It is a ploy to get women to be more sexual with men by playing with the female emotions. It is also contradictory because men often strive to find a virgin woman. They represent the “unattainable woman,” however this quote gives the impression that being a virgin is bad. Likewise, men are constantly trying to get women to perform sexual favors, however if women agree they are considered a whore.
I think it is the women’s responsibility to take control of her sexuality. Yes, these words can be hurtful, but it also shows how sexuality can take control of men. Many women use their sexuality to get ahead of the game, and although some may argue it being manipulative, it is a god-eat-dog world. If all is fair in love and war, then women should begin to overlook these crude remarks and begin to figure out ways to get women more involved in society.

“These images of women seem to affect men most strikingly by influencing how they judge the real women in their lives.” P. 159

It pisses me off how nowadays boys are worried about how their girlfriends look. They seem to not care about a girls personality, feelings, and intelligence. All they look for are skinny girls who are pretty. This just reminded me of how sometimes my father tells my mother she needs to work out. What kind of husband does that? Your life partner is supposed to make you feel pretty not like crap. My brother used to make fun of our younger sister because she was chubby. It made my sister feel insecure about herself. She would tell me “you’re skinny, I’m fat!” I took it as nonsense but now looking back at it, sometimes little comments like that should be taken serious.

"THe glossy images of flawlessly beautiful and extremely thin women that surround us would not have the impact they do if we did not live in a culture that encourages women to believe that they can should remake their bodies into perfect commodities." (pg. 158)

I chose this quotation because I thought that the second part of it was a really important part to remember and be aware of. It's true that images of thin, beautiful, perfect women constantly surround us, whether it be in magazines or on television ads or on large billboards, but the question is why does it affect us so much? And the answer I believe is found in this notion that we live in a culture where we are easily influenced by this. Women actually believe that they need to be thin to be beautiful. Or that big boobs equal beauty. Or that liposuction, lip injections, and botox all equal beauty. We, women and men, are so quick to do things to fix our bodies instead of embracing them as they are and enjoying them. We want to fake tan so that we have darker, more beautiful skin. We die our hair to remain young and sexy. We go on ridiculous diets to attain the perfect body. It's very sad that we live in a culture that supports this. Where it's actually encouraged to do work on your body so that you can fit in with the ideal body image of America. Women think they have to look a certain way to impress men and men almost don't know any better because they too are influenced by the ads and want women that look like the women in the ads. But to look like these skinny models, many girls develop eating disorders. One of my friends does not have an eating disorder but she hates her body and it's really sad. She is very thin and yet sometimes says things like she can't eat this or can't eat that, and I know that she is heavily influenced from magazines. She is super into fashion so she is always reading magazines and looking online at models so I feel like whether she is aware of it or not she is being influenced by the ads. Even though she just thinks she is looking at their clothing, she can't not notice the women wearing the clothing, and I think she desires to look like them. We should not live in a culture that encourages women to believe that they can remake their bodies into these perfect bodies.

“Most teenagers are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even to question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by the media…children are not brought up by parents; they are brought up by the mass media” (156).

This quote tears me into two directions – anger and sympathy. I often wonder who is to blame –the media or the teenagers who believe and desire everything they read and see. The media is cruel, but sometimes teenagers can be naïve. The media constantly sends teenagers the same messages about dating, sex, clothing, bodies, etc. and it makes me feel bad that teenagers are exposed to it so much to the point that it is hard to think about these topics and form personal opinions. Sometimes I get angry if teenagers direct their happiness and base their lives in comparison to the standards shown in TV shows or magazines. I feel like many people are trying to achieve happiness, but happiness in comparison to the media, and this upsets me. Everyone has different backgrounds, cultures, body types, hair styles, clothing preferences, and it is hard to accept, embrace, and be proud of these unique differences when we get narrow views about what’s right and wrong, popular and unpopular, from the media.

Many parents have rules about dating, for example, no boys in the bedroom hinting that until a certain age, sex is not allowed. When the media is constantly giving “sex tips” and sex appeals, it is solely directed towards sexually active people. Parents are more inclined to lose in this battle of abstinence versus sex.

"Advertising does promote abusive and abnormal attitudes about eating, drinking, and thinness. It thus provides fertile soil for these obsessions to take root in and creates a climate of denial in which these diseases flourish" (161).
Advertising in today's market- driven culture has perpetuated feelings of self- consciousness and inefficiency, especially among the young generation. Advertisers manipulate girls emotions to believing they are too fat or ugly or not "feminine" enough to fit in todays society. Advertisers carefully target adolescents insecurities, and pretend to offer them real solutions. These ridiculous messages catered specifically to young girls, that are conveyed on a daily basis are nearly impossible to avoid. We find these advertising tactics implemented in magazines, TV ads, films and media footage, and displayed among our peers on a daily basis, thus girls have no option but to follow the so called accepted "norms".

"As parents we can help our children become media literate, both by fighting for media literacy programs in our schools and by talking with out children about the media using "teachable moments" to ask questions...and raise consciousness." (171)

There were quite a few quotes that I took particular notice of in this article regarding parenting roles. I chose this one because I feel I have personally experienced what its suggesting. I was not easily persuaded by advertisements when I was young for many reasons. One of these reasons, I would contribute to how my dad would watch tv with me & we would play games with the commercials. One of the games involved trying to guess what the commercial was advertising before they said or showed the product. For example if the main focus of the ad was a woman in the shower, one of us would go "watch this be an ad for jeans...". Another thing we do is if a commercial is particularly ridiculous we'll sarcastically make fun of it. A razor ad with a woman all over the mans freshly shaven face: id go "yea dad, if you use that razor, women will come out of nowhere and be all over you just like that." At a young age these games in particular brought to my attention how absurd commercials can be. Even sexualized and scandalous shows like Jerry Springer, my dad would watch them with me to show me what NOT to do, making them into an entertaining & unorthodox educational experience. My point being that yes, the media can easily influence & corrupt children with their messages, but its just as possible for parents to do simple things like how my dad made games from commercials to teach me how stupid they are. No matter how influential the media gets, it will always be the parents (or someone else of equal or similar influence) who can have the biggest effect on growing children; their methods of influence just need to change along with the media.

"Advertising performs much the same function in industrial society as myth performed in ancient and primitive societies: It is both perpetuator of the dominant attitudes, values, and ideology of the culture, as well as social norms and myths by which most live by." (Page 156)

I find it rather interesting how the author compares advertising to myth, it's an analogy I would have never thought of but I find suiting. In ancient times, myths were used to explain how the world functioned as well as give life lessons on a variety of different things. Advertisements do just that but their effect on people hasn't been exactly the same. Whether or not advertisement has a direct effect on us to purchase that which it advertises, it still leaves some sort of residue on our minds in a sense. Collectively, mass media and advertisements create our superficial culture which, as young adults, we can't escape. Most of our beliefs and attitudes are products of the world around us and no matter how much our parents try to shield us from its wrath, we will always be subdued to its will.

"It's more than a magazine. It's her life." In another similar ad, Seventeen refers to itself as a girl's "Bible" 158
By allowing the association of a magazine in reference to something like the Bible, we are basically saying that to a teenage girl magazines are an ultimate type of religious authority. We are giving the magazines and their mostly inappropriate teachings the will and power not unlike god. They have complete manipulating to control and these magazines can be seen as a masked smiling, cherry lipsticked, puppeteer(sp?) pulling the strings behind adolescent girls insecurities. By giving so much power to something so trivial, no wonder advertisements have so much of an effect on young girls and hold so much sway and power in today's society.
"I was at the beach and was in my bathing suit...my uncle told me I had fat legs in front of all my cousins and my cousins' friends..." 160
I chose this quote because it hit home a bit for me. I am a bit of an unexplained occurrence/phenomenon in my family. Both sides of my family are quite small, my mother's side her mom and dad were tiny people, and she herself never had much of any curves and besides being pregnant with my sister and myself, my mother has never wieghed over 116. On my father's side the men are usually about 5'5", if not shorter, and during family visits I always look like amazon woman. Growing up was difficult at times in terms of my different appearance. I am 5'8" curvy (don't take this for me saying I am fat, I love my curves) and have not weighed 116 since I was ah, perhaps 12-13. My mom's favorite thing to do to me when I was younger, no bad intentions meant, was to stare at my boobs, hips, etc and ask me where they came from. She liked to look at my legs and comment on them. Now that I am older I am more comfortable with my appearance, then it was a bit hard hearing those things from my own mother, no matter how kind or nice she was being. She and I have talked about it and I every once in awhile lightly remind her that her comments(she never means anything bad by them), although true, I do look different, sometimes they are not the best way to tell me I am unique. I feel that just this as an example shows that everyday parents are making mistakes around their young girls that are affecting their views towards their bodies. In a world that causes so much uproar about our thighs and hips, how tall we are etc... it needs to start with our parents own respect to help out our daily insecurities. Without having parents understand that those funny comments are actually encouraging our spiraling mess of confused ideals on our bodies, we can never try to break free from the hold that the mass media has blanketed over us.
"Powerful women are seen by many people (women as well as men) as inherently destructive and dangerous."162 "Women who are "powerful" in advertising...treat men like sex objects...elusive and distant" 167
I want to comment on this last idea. In many cultures the only way to make a woman powerful is to have her embody an attitude not dissimilar to a man. I just wonder, if our identities as powerful women are always based upon gaining attributes of a man, what does a powerful woman, without any of the already prescribed attributes look like on her own? What does a powerful woman look like? Seriously though, lets take men completely away for this one question, what does a powerful woman look like on her own? Is she more compassionate, and perhaps from that compassion comes her power because through compassion and because of compassion she is listened to and heard? I might just be waving some kind of brightly coloured flag in the air here and be completely off base and wrong, but I have no idea what a truly powerful woman is supposed to look like and be without what we are shown in advertising. I feel like mother Teresa could be an example of a powerful woman, Joan of Arc as well, but do either of them embody what we are shown should be the identity of a powerful woman in the media? (Perhaps Joan a bit like a man, but she was not seductive and manipulating...) Hollywood actress's are made up identities that have been painted and dressed up, they are not true people so we cannot look to those women as examples. I guess what I am simply trying to say here is I can't see that many examples of true, powerful, and respectable role models for young women today, if any at all.

"Women have long been divided into virgins and whores. What is new is that girls are now supposed to embody both within themselves (165)."

I chose this quote because it's so true. It's sad how many contradictions and roles girls seem to play now, or are made to act out. Like the article describes, women must do it all to succeed and still somehow maintain a jot of dignity. I think the same is for everyone in society, both male and female. It's sometimes unfair to just concentrate on the female side when males are feeling cultural pressure as well, though not as bluntly or harshly. Men must be powerful, strong, rich, etc. in cases in order to succeed. Society, mainly the U.S.'s, should remember that there are different sexes, and though one is significantly discriminated, there's still the others, their needs and troubles, to tend to at times.

“Most teenagers are sensitive to peer pressure and find it difficult to resist or even to question the dominant cultural messages perpetuated and reinforced by the media…children are not brought up by parents; they are brought up by the mass media” (156).

I picked this quote because in some ways I disagree with it. I definitely agree that the media enforces and perpetuates many cultural messages but I also think that parents can teach their children right from wrong and how to be strong enough to know what to take into consideration or what to disregard. We shouldn't think of the media as this all-powerful force that has all the control and there's nothing we can do about it.

"To not be influenced by advertising would be to live outside of culture. No Human being lives outside culture." Although this is true this may not be as bad as this author may suggests. I am a born and raised child of L.A and living there all my life i am well aware of ads and their ploy to trap me into there products and good advertising strategies. Everyday I was surrounded by ads and advertising on billboards, buses, cars, T.V, computers. Its hard to open your eyes and not see some form or another an advertisement. But living in L.A my whole life i got used to the constant submersion into the culture and i don't think its a bad thing. My parents were strong and taught me well, and when it came to buying things i didn't need it wasn't and still isn't hard to look away. The power of advertisers prey on the weak and if your not strong your going to fall into a trap, survival of the fittest.

"Girls clearly are not just influenced by images of women, because they learn from these images what is expected of them, what they are to become. They see these images again and again in the magazines they read, even those magazines designed for teenagers, and in the commercials they watch."(163)

This portion of the article was a bit of a shock for me. The argument seems to be very logical and I can find no cause to doubt its validity or soundness, but the fact is that the implications of such an argument put advertisers in a place of much more responsibility than I think even they know at this point. These images are surrounding all of us constantly, and, whether we like it or not, we are thus hugely impacted by what we see. Does this mean that there needs to be some sort of regulations for the industry? Or, perhaps we can rely on the invisible hand of the free market to self regulate this industry. Either way we need to first acknowledge the power that they have over our thought process in regards to how we perceive ourselves in relation to our direct social networks.

The culture, both reflected and reinforced by advertising, urges girls to adopt a false self, to bury alive their real selves, to become feminine, which means to be nice and kind and sweet, to compete with other girls for the attention of boys, and to value the romantic relationships with boys above all else" (157)

I chose this quote because i believe it is very true. In junior high and high school especially, girls become very self conscious of everything. As a result, they believe that in order to be socially accepted, they must conform to whatever society says is "in". Advertisers are aware of these self-consciousnesses and continually exploit them. Although I do not believe this is morally or ethically right, I will acknowledge the fact that it is strategic advertising.

“Today our children are not brought up by parents; they are brought up by the mass media”

This quote is interesting to me because it is kind of true these days. We pay more attention to the media and what they think instead of our parents. We look to magazines for outfits and fashion advice instead of our own mothers. With parents spending more time at work kids are brought up in front of the t.v. watching “what not to wear” or “Fashion police.” We constantly view the skinny actresses we see as what we should look like and use them as our role models. The Media plays such a massive role with our children today that they look to that more then they look to their parents for advice and information.

"One of the many double binds tormenting young women today is the need to be both sophisticated and accomplished, yet also delicate and childlike. Again, this applies to mostly middle-and upper class White women."

I chose this quote because I was a bit tentative to what the author was imposing specifically towards"white women". I believe that all women despite their income and age variation, torment themselves by giving double or even multiple personalities towards certain people. Not only do I believe that all women act this way, however, I also do believe that men act and respond differently towards one another as well. I agree that women do tend to change their personalities towards female and male relationships but to I think everyone male, female, child, adolescents, grandparents; they all act and show their various personalities and attitudes towards certain people.

“To not be influenced by advertising would be to live outside of culture. No human being lives outside of culture. – Sut Jhally

This quote really stuck out to me because human beings have never been absent from culture. Culture has been ever present since the first humans. However, culture has a tendency to take different forms and grow immensely. As we have seen in recent years culture has shifted from the past values of character into a powerful emphasis on what advertisements portray. Advertisements tell us what we should be and therefore shape who we become. The new culture of today is largely based on the media and the advertisements that aid it.

"Another study of young men and women found that a preoccupation with one's appearance takes a toll on mental health"

When I read this quote it quickly made me realize that this is true for myself and my girlfriends. Everyday I think about my body image. I always want to lose a few more pounds, want to be tanner, have a whiter smile, and have cuter clothes. The physical image I present is constantly on my mind. My girlfriends are always talking about the same things too. Saying things like, "I want to lose 5 pounds", or "I want to buy crest white strips because my teeth need to be whiter", or "I can't need to go shopping next weekend to get a new dress for the banquet because I already wore the one I have". A large percentage of the time my girlfriends and I spend talking has to do with our body image. Also a majority of my day is spent working on or thinking about my body image. I never realized it before reading this quote, but it does take a toll on my mental health I'm sure. My mental health would probably be a lot better off if I didn't think about my image so much.

“Boys are generally shown in ads as active and rambunctious whereas girls are more often passive and focused on their appearance” (164).

I chose this quote because I think it reflects an idea that girls should be insecure and subservient to men. By representing them as passive while men are having fun, it shows that women are not supposed to enjoy the same activities men do. In today’s culture, girls are encouraged to be delicate and childlike, according to the figures of women in ads. I think this is a terrible way to portray women because it makes them insecure and less likely to stand up against weightism, sexism, and racism. These advertisements are false realities that try to change how women view themselves in order to sell a product. So many girls today feel that their appearance is their most important aspect and will do whatever it takes to be “beautiful”, even if that means living an unhealthy lifestyle. Unless there is a drastic change in media education and in advertising, where perhaps “normal” people are the models for magazine spreads, I doubt women will change their idea of beauty anytime soon.

These days self-improvement seems to have more to do with calories than with character, with abdomens rather than absolutes, with nail polish than with ethics. (266)

This quote exemplifies our modern materialistic society and is straight to the point. American women, including myself, have been targeted by advertising companies of all kinds by their focus on perfecting one's appearance. In every magazine made for women, you can find at least one article on dieting or tips to lose that extra flab for summer. Here in California women go nuts over their body and daily workout routine and diet. I know some friends who will actually throw fits and start screaming uncontrollably after missing a day at the gym since they had too much homework to do. It is really sad that our world has transformed into such a shallow society and that if a woman doesn't resemble and obtain Barbie's unrealistic assets, she is not beautiful. The majority of people have lost themselves in the process of perfecting their appearances, and at the same time destroyed their regard for the character inside that once served the most importance in defining someone.

“No wonder it is hard to find a woman, especially a young woman, in America today who has a truly healthy attitude toward her body and toward food” (160).

The media culture is now exploiting advertisements by showing women’s insecurities, and women are psychologically depressed from this. Advertising, “promotes abusive and abnormal attitudes about eating, drinking, and thinness” (161). Most women that I know are unsatisfied with more than one part of their bodies and it affects their personality, and self esteem. Reading this article, it stated some serious facts about surveys that were held, and the majority of 4th graders are on a diet is shocking. Girls feel like they need to be accepted by their peers and by doing so, if anorexia is the case then so be it. But for this problem to be starting so young is horrible. This problem with self-image is causing problems not only in dieting but also with the low self-esteem that breaches alcoholism as well. The way that advertisers are cutting women down is their wording. They cut women down by saying, “ Soon, you’ll both be taking up less space,” by promoting a treadmill. Being thin is supposedly an ideal in which it creates more freedoms for women.

"Even girls who are raised in loving homes by supportive parents grow up in a toxic cultural environment, at risk for self-mutilation, eating disorders, and addictions." (157)

This quote held particular significance to me as a man because I feel like I am able to look at the situation as an unbiased outsider (even though I have been exposed to the same environments). The conflict this author describes about the "virgins" vs. "whores" is absolutely accurate, and it takes a girl of strong mental fortitude and a strong support system to combat these social pressures. The way this article articulates the issues women have to deal with from a young age makes me appreciate being a male that much more than I already did.

“Today our children are not brought up by parents; they are brought up by the mass media”

I believe this quote is very true. I feel that many children use ads and celebrities as their role models instead of their parents nowadays. In addition, television affects how people, especially children and teenagers decide to live their lives. Maybe they have no decision on how they want to live or choose to live. Instead, maybe they're brainwashed into living certain life-styles, looking and acting in certain ways that are portrayed in magazines and television.

“Advertising clearly does not cause eating problems any more than it causes alcoholism. Anorexia in particular is a disease with a complicated etiology, and media images probably do not play a major role... Advertising does promote abusive and abnormal attitudes about eating, drinking, and thinness. It thus provides fertile soil for these obsessions to take root in and creates a climate of denial in which these diseases flourish.
The influence of the media is strikingly illustrated in a recent study that found a sharp rise in eating disorders among young women in Fiji soon after the introduction of television to the culture.”

I chose this quote from the reading because while I was reading the article it seemed like there were sections like the quote above which contradicted its self. In this quote it seems like the author says advertising does not promote eating problems but later it states that a study was done proving that television and commercials do promote eating problems. My opinion on this is I do believe that advertisements cause girls to try to become like the models in the magazines or television and they may take dangerous measures to look like them. A problem with this is that there is no solution to stopping these advertisements. Models are always going to be in magazines and on television. The average American teen needs to look past this and not allow it to effect their life.

"At no time are we more vulnerable to the seductive power of advertising than during adolescence"

This quote reflects how influential advertising is on adolescents who are inexperienced and are in search for their identity. At this stage in life, it is important to be cool, and being cool is defined by the media. Knowing this, advertisers persuade adolescents that something is "in" and the only way they can be cool is if they buy it. Physical appearance begins to have a bigger impact in life as one transitions from their childhood to teen years. With this in mind, adolescents believe that certain products can help them overcome physical traits they do not like about themselves, or use products that can help cover them up. Girls start using makeup and hair products, and buy "new and improved" items that are not any better than the version before it. Although, advertisers convince them that they will live a happier life and possibly rid themselves of their insecurities with their new product. As we mature, we realize that some things just won't work. For example, there are diet pills that say they can help you shed 10 pounds in just two weeks. During adolescents, we may believe this is possible. Become an adult, we know this is outrageous!

"The big success story of our entertainment industry is our ability to export insecurity: We can make any woman anywhere feel particularly rotten about her shape" (161)

I thought this quote was particularly striking. Kilbourne quotes Ellen Goodman, who I assume is some kind of advertiser or advertising expert by the use of "our," i could be completely wrong though. It's a pretty blatant statement about an ads ability to produce insecurity, and even suggests that it is profitable to do so. However! I don't think that this is necessarily entirely evil. Before I get my head bitten off let me clarify! haha. What I mean is that the FOCUS is just skewed. The emphasis is on a materialism and an objectivism that is plain old unhealthy. We focus on our outward appearance, because it is the easiest thing to appeal to, to market and produce. However, if it were to focus on real personal progress, then, under a certain regulation, it could really be a beneficial force. FOR EXAMPLE, i will admit that some of the army ads I see, about determination, vigor, well being, and strength, it makes me want to join the army for a brief moment! Not because of the bullshit of killing and dying for politics, which they never show, but because I want that strength. I want the experience of hardship and trial, so that I can test and temper myself, to fashion myself into a better, more efficient person. Now, i do disagree that the army uses this for their own means, but if someone like the Peace Corps had a similar campaign, imagine the good that could be done? Just imagine if ads just existed to urge you to be better? urged you to do your best? Not like those STUPID motivational posters with the cats, but for true progress. What if a higher standard was set for personal well being, unassociated with material goods? i know it's fanciful, but it is a positive use of advertising in my eyes. IN this case it isn't ads, but our OBSESSION with the excess, with materialism, with the objects we seek to define ourselves with.

"Somehow girls are supposed to be both innocent and seductive, virginal and inexperienced, all at the same time."

I picked this quote because it reveals how contradictory the messages of our culture can be. It seems like advertisers like to exploit the confusion that mixed messages create. They hope to create fear and insecurity through non attainable perfection. They trickily offer the solution to a problem they created. And if a product is bought that represents these conflicting messages, it is surprisingly revealing how powerful paradoxes can be in advertising.

"Readers and viewers of these ads clearly do not take them literally. We do take them in, however--another grain of sand in a slowly accumulating and vast sandpile."

I like the analogy used here as it is very fitting. Advertising works mainly through the unconscious and shapes our world by affecting how we look at things. It works best when we aren't fully aware of the hidden meaning behind them and infiltrates the time and space around us. Even if we try to ignore it and shut it out, grains still get blown in, and end up in every crack and crevice in our modern, industrialized world.

“At the same time that there is relentless pressure on women to be small, there is also pressure on them to succeed, to achieve, to ‘have it all’” (p 163, Kilbourne)
I could relate to this statement and found it interesting that I wasn’t the only one who noticed this in society. I know that it isn’t just here in America where women’s roles have generally been more submissive, and in fact woman in America have a lot more freedom that women in other areas of the world. However, these cultural ideals of women being “feminine” by being fragile and small, still impact the image of the ideal woman in America. This image and the image of an independent and sexy woman somehow seem to be blended in our culture and often are conflicting ideals among growing woman.