Americas Image

The video that we watched in class, Killing us Softly 3 Advertising's Image of Women regarded an undoubted issue of how the media portrays women in a uncanny way. In the video Jean Killbourne elaborates how the advertising industry in 1979 grew from a $20 billion a year Industry to a $180 billion industry in 1999. There is no doubt that advertising is a key player in Americans Economic and Socioeconomic time line but there is doubt on what all of this mass advertising is doing to peoples self images and how they see themselves in this expanding world.. The average American is exposed to over three thousand advertisement each day which means that the average American will spend 3 solid years of his or her life watching television commercials. Americans are litterally fed image upon image of mass advertisements. Whether its an advertisement on a city bus, a billboard, a television, a movie, or over the radio these ads are everywhere. As said in the video, advertising promotes normalcy and due to this there is a constant need for people to feel that they need to be socially accepted among everyone. 40 percent of adults in American are obese. With that said take in to account of all of the ads you see that promote healthy living, slender figures, and beach body's. The media in a sense tells us who we need to be or what we need to look like in order to be considered normal in this current day and age. I agree with what Jeanne Killbourne is saying in that the media has a growing expecatation of what women "should" look like in order to be considered normal. I do believe that this is wrong. There are so many ads out there that tell women that they need to be skinny, have large breasts, and ultimately be considered an object rather than a human being. Instilling this false image upon women at an early age just sets them up for problems. When young girls see these images of beautiful skinny women on the beach or whatever they may be, they feel as if they need to look like that in order to be socially accepted. Advertising tells women how they should be. Advertising surrounds women with the image of ideal beauty so that women learn from an early age how important it is for a women to be beautiful. Women learn that they need to spend mass amounts of money in order to achieve this "so called" ideal beauty. Ideal beauty is inevitably false and non achievable because the ideal image of what a women should be is flawless and it is impossible to achieve this. I think that the false image of women that is being bestowed upon young girls is a terrible thing that alters how people think and thus brainwashes them in to thinking that they must be perfect in order to be liked.

In relation to men. Obviously there are advertisements out there that picture the ideal man but being a male myself I personally do not think that men strive as hard as women to become this ideal image. I personally do not care what i look like or how i dress or let alone what people think about me. I think that i have a terrible sense of style and have learned to accept this. I wear basketball shorts, sweatpants, and a sweatshirt almost everyday and never really think twice about how i look. I wake up, roll out of bed and stagger off to class. Some girls on the other hand have to make sure that their clothes and hair are perfect before they even consider leaving their room! I believe that this is primarily because of the media and their false representation and expectation of what a women "should" be. I cant say that i have ever met a guy that spent 1 hour getting ready go out to a party or asked me if i thought he looked fat in his new t shirt. The issue of how the media is in a way controlling what the ideal women should like is a bad thing and it is up to people like me and you to stray from this ideal image and be ourselves. I ask to you "Is there a way of fixing this problem? If so how or what do you suggest?