RA3 Kilbourne

    “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt”: Advertising and Violence, by Jean Kilbourne is an article with the purpose to display the writers knowledge of today's marketing advertising and to convince the audience to take action against these pornographic like ads, for she illuminates the power and dominance it brings primarily to men by showing sexual images of women as being sex products. Kilbourne explores deeply into the provocative settings of different ads like perfume, jeans, alcohol beverages, and many other product ads. She finds the same setting lying within their advertisements which is the female victimization being used as a hook for men. For example, Kilbourne states “Men conquer and women ensnare, always with the essential aid of a product.”(575) The author believes advertisements like these are being used to an erotic extreme point and shall be observed more closely to the dangers they might bring.

    The mode of exemplification is highly used by the author. There is a significant amount of examples of images in advertising with erotic behaviors. One example demonstrated by the author is an image of a flock of sheep with a wolf in the middle representing women as sheep and the wolf as a sexual predator.(582) This ad is from the alcohol beverage of Smirnoff which could stimulate the mind to a point where a woman could get taken advantage of against her awareness by a man's sexual violent mind due to the dominance and power they may feel . Another good example she uses is the image of a pretty young woman dressed provocatively in an elevator. The young lady in the ad says “Push my buttons, I am looking for a man who can totally floor me, who won't stop till the top”(582) and the author states “And she is literally asking for it.”(583)

    Cause and Effect is another mode being used in this article by the author. Advertising happens because product company leaders want to see a rise in consumers of their product, so company leaders believe that by advertising provocative images of women they can make that happen. Kilbourne believes this causes men to believe they overpower women, and they see women as power less and victims of their believed dominance. The effects of these ads are men being force full and aggressive towards women, for sexual assaults, rapes, and harassment of women by men occur. For example, Kilbourne addresses “According to a 1998 study by the federal government, one in five of us has been the victim of rape or attempted rape, most often before our seventeenth birthday.”(588)

    My Response: I agree with Kilbourne's claim because I do believe this can cause aggression in men towards women, or even children due to the amount of pedophiles our nation has, and I also agree with this having the most impact on women rather than men; however, I believe the women being contracted for the advertisements should be more aware of what the effects come out to be. The models being photographed may not know what these ads really cause, and I believe that even if they did know some of them won't really care since their getting paid a fair amount for it “Money Talks” in my opinion.