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An essay on psychology and the media
Media a mirror of society
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“Killing Us Softly” through Advertising
One of the films that struck me the most was “Killing Us Softly”, the documentary on how advertising and the whole media in general can basically run this entire world. Sounds a bit drastic, but I really believe that this statement is true because of the many horrible incidents that happen throughout the world today. The documentary effectively demonstrated how easy it is for advertising to send across many different hidden meanings that can cause tremendous effects like bulimia, rapes, murders, disrespect towards women and vise versa, and several other things like making a weak minded person go crazy. For example, if for decades all the media has been showing is women who barely weigh 110 lbs, don’t you think every girl who weighs over 130 lbs is ...
While watching this film I gained greater insight into the intricate process that goes into the ads in which I come into contact every day. This film revealed the vast amount of advertising that surrounds me every day which I may often miss. I am now more aware that each ad I see from location to color to size has a purpose behind the choices made to create it.
Socialization and the Power of Advertising is an article written by Jean Kilbourne about the influence of advertising. In it, she focuses on the impact advertising has on people, especially young people, to buy. In her film, Killing Us Softly 4, Kilbourne changes gears and talks about advertising’s image of women. In both the article and the film, the message is the same: advertising seeps in to our environment and influences us, whether we realize it or not.
Michael Jordan has star power that bridges age, race, and socioeconomic class. Nike understands this aspect of the popular superstar and decided to give him his own clothing line named Jumpman23. It is the most popular form of sports apparel available and the white logo that adorns each article of apparel is known worldwide. Michael Jordan is arguably the most loved and respected athlete of this generation, thus the ad for this company depicted in ESPN The Magazine takes advantage of his immense popularity. In an attempt to expand the companies influence Jumpman23 uses professional baseball player Derrick Jeter to send its message and promote its apparel. In the essay “Absolution for Sale,” Charity Miller writes, “We live in a world of images. Among the most persuasive and insistent of these images are those directed at us by advertising. These images often do more then simply try to persuade us to buy a particular product or use a particular service. More subtly, they influence us by appealing to our desires or exploiting our emotions.” The image of Jeter training alone in a gym clothed head to toe in Michael Jordan’s clothing line combine with a poem above describing his intentions. This scene portrays the hard work and dedication that will eventually lead to success as things an athlete of any level should expect while wearing the clothing. Michael Jordan takes advantage of his legend on the basketball court and his appeal worldwide to create a line of apparel that demands the same work ethic from those who wear it. Its success is in Jumpman23’s ability to interest buyers no matter what age, race, or sport.
Large-scale education and social consciousness may not be enough, though; even when the government becomes involved and offers a scholarship for Babamukuru and Maiguru to pursue higher education in South Africa, the missionaries feel a sense of entitlement to the natives’ bodies and minds and later coerce this same pair to continue their education in England. This lends itself to a description of “missionary goodwill as a form of benevolent tyranny” that works to alienate individual natives from others and prevent them from taking any sort of united stand (Paustian
The Europeans used their power of law and order to subdue and control the indigenous. They wanted to instill their beliefs, culture, and values onto the natives and used agents of directed culture change to influence the people. Missionaries played a major role in transforming the native communities. Missionaries believed they were helping the inhabitants by “converting and civilizing” the indigenous. They also used their power to exploit any resources they could find to benefit the church and their home land. However, while they worked with authority to take over land and culture, they often had conflict with the brutal treatment that authorities inflicted on the native people. Missionaries had many views on converting. Some thought “that indigenous people were subhuman and should be controlled… others assumed that indigenous people were … capable of intelligent thought and reasoning” (Bonvillain 2013). Missionaries claimed they were enlightening the people and used economic and political arguments to convert them. If the natives were to convert they awarded them with favorable trading and provided guns for their use. Missionaries also encouraged Christia...
In the book Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle uses his collection of lecture notes in order to establish the best way to live and acquire happiness. Aristotle says, “Virtue, then, is a state that decides consisting in a mean, the mean relative to us,.. .It is a mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency.” The virtues that Aristotle speaks about in Nicomachean Ethics are: bravery, temperance, generosity, magnificence, magnanimity, and mildness. According to Aristotle, in order to live a happy life you must obtain these virtues and be morally good. Living a virtuous life is not an activity, but a predisposition. This means that you are genuinely inclined to act virtuously for the appropriate reasons.
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo was one of the strongest proponents of violence against the white missionaries. Throughout the book, he advocated for violence while be outnumbered by his fellow natives who objected. Near the end of the book, he had had enough. During a village meeting gathered to discuss what to do about the white missionaries, a messenger for the missionaries arrived to tell them the meeting had been ordered to be stopped. “In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”.3 The man had been killed. Shortly after, Okonkwo hanged himself on a tree. Violence was by far the most disruptive response to to the presence of white missionaries in Africa. It was the only response that led to deaths. Not only was the violence disruptive, it was also ineffective. In the last paragraph of the book, the Commissioner of the missionaries articulated how Okonkwo’s actions would make a good paragraph in the book he planned to write. Violence against missionaries was disruptive and led to death for both the locals and the
The documentary Killing Us Softly 4 discusses and examines the role of women in advertisements and the effects of the ads throughout history. The film begins by inspecting a variety of old ads. The speaker, Jean Kilbourne, then discusses and dissects each ad describing the messages of the advertisements and the subliminal meanings they evoke. The commercials from the past and now differ in some respects but they still suggest the same messages. These messages include but are not limited to the following: women are sexual objects, physical appearance is everything, and women are naturally inferior then men. Kilbourne discusses that because individuals are surrounded by media and advertisements everywhere they go, that these messages become real attitudes and mindsets in men and women. Women believe they must achieve a level of beauty similar to models they see in magazines and television commercials. On the other hand, men expect real women to have the same characteristics and look as beautiful as the women pictured in ads. However, even though women may diet and exercise, the reality...
As civilization grows and the tentacles of mass media stretch into mankind’s mind from every direction, it is important to note the damaging effects of the images being shown to the masses. In a society where the model being used to sell products to the consumer is on average 20% thinner than the demographic of the consumers themselves (Abraham 3), it’s impossible to ignore the influence these marketing campaigns have on individual psyches. This is supported by the Dittmar and Howard Journal statement on the negative effects of media influence:
In a brilliant update of the Killing Us Softly series, Jean Kilbourne explains the dangers of advertisements and how they objectify women. Advertisements intelligently portray women in a sexual and distorted way in order to attract the consumers’ attention. Media sets a standard on how young women view themselves and puts them at risk for developing an eating disorder. Kilbourne’s research has led her to educate those who have fallen victim to achieving the “ideal beauty” that has evolved in today’s society.
4) Kilbourne, Jean. Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women. Dir. Sut Jhally. DVD. Media Education Foundation, 2000.
Brainwashing and Mind Control are “best thought of as a series of techniques that are used over time to shape a person’s perception, cognition, emotions, decision making and behavior to such an extent that they have lost their freedom of choice” (Mind Control Today). These techniques, once in existence within authoritarian and totalitarian governments, are increasingly being practiced by advertising companies and mass media. There are extensive similarities among the political and economic standards that cause negative impacts on society, as a result of adopting these mind control tactics. As Malcom X pointed out, “The media is the most powerful entity on earth, because they control the minds of the masses”.
Nowadays, advertisements are everywhere embedded in our daily life. They are powerful resources that inform people the latest news about a particular product or brand in many different ways. Most of the people are being able to get more information and detail of a product from media, radio stations, newspapers and internet. Even though advertising is a big informative source, it also can be considered as a marketing tool to control the mind and desires of the consumers to manipulate and persuade them to buy things they do not need.
Television advertisement takes an important part of everyday human's life. Everyday millions of people in America and the world watches Television and advertisements. Television advertisements are very common these days. They appear in public where a lot of people can hear and watch. For example, commercials tend to appear on the radio, foot ball game where a lot of people are watching, and in on television. Advertisement is seen many times especially on television. Television is the most efficient way for business industries to use to take advantage of showing advertisement.
Advertising has been defined as the most powerful, persuasive, and manipulative tool that firms have to control consumers all over the world. It is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Its impacts created on the society throughout the years has been amazing, especially in this technology age. Influencing people’s habits, creating false needs, distorting the values and priorities of our society with sexism and feminism, advertising has become a poison snake ready to hunt his prey. However, on the other hand, advertising has had a positive effect as a help of the economy and society.