Advertising influences us more than we want to admit, warned author Jean Kilbourne, who encouraged students to challenge cultural attitudes that have become unconsciously accepted in the last three decades. Kilbourne addressed a near-capacity crowd Tuesday in the Wisconsin Union Theater as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.
A noted author and filmmaker, Kilbourne demonstrated how magazine ads subtly influence our attitudes.
\Most people say, 'I tune out ads, so they don't affect me,' but they're usually wearing an Abercrombie T-shirt,"" she said. ""The more logos they're wearing, the more they deny any effect.""
Individuals see 3,000 ads a day across television, radio, billboards and the Web, Kilbourne said. When people continually see photographs of thin females with large breasts and unblemished skin, women feel compelled to match this unrealistic standard, she said, showing ads with models so skinny as to appear dangerously unhealthy.
Advertisers also rely on seduction to sell, juxtaposing traditional stigmas by encouraging us to feel intimate with products instead of people, she said.
""Now when a woman says she was bad, it doesn't mean there was a sexual indiscretion, it means she broke her diet. The m??nage ?? trois we're made to feel ashamed of was with Ben and Jerry,"" she said.
Men also suffer, she noted, but not nearly to the same extent. While ads objectify men as bigger or stronger than usual, women appear more frail and vulnerable. Men don ot live in fear of being attacked or raped, so the issue is not as urgent for them.
Kilbourne emphasized that while advertising does not directly lead to violence, it creates an atmosphere in which violence against women is accepted. By changing this climate through citizen activism, education and public discussion, citizens can change the perceptions advertisers force upon us, as people have already done with the cigarette industry.
UW-Madison senior Christina Thuli said changing our perceptions renders advertisers powerless.
""Even if the ads stay the same, the approach to how we view them can change,"" she said.
Kilbourne inspired an impassioned Amanda Gino, a UW-Madison sophomore who now wants to follow in Kilbourne's footsteps.
""Her words really struck a chord with me. She showed me I could have a meaningful and successful career that makes a difference,"" Gino said.
