An Assessment of Kilbourne’s Ideas on Harm to Women From Sexual Advertisements

¶ … Sexual Advertising Can Hurt Women

Kilbourne, (2012) perpetuates an idea which may be argued as a myth in American culture. Building on the work of past feminists, such as Goffman (1979) and Mulvey (1989), drawing the ideas into the twenty-first century. The underlying context is not only the idea of a patriarchal society where male dominance subordinates women, it places advertising a key influence in that process, where women are portrayed not as people but objects, creating a normalisation of attitudes which normalises the ideas of male dominance and aggression towards women (Kilbourne, 2012). This concept which leads to the idea of a victimised female population, subject to the rules of the patriarchal society has become a myth. However, it may also be argued that this is an over simplistic radical view of advertising. There is little doubt that women are sexualised in advertising images and words, but portraying them as victims may be hypothesised inaccurate, especially when there is clear evidence of the sexualisation of males within the advertising industry (Garner, 2012). To examine this, the article by Kilbourne (2012) will be considered to determine whether the mythology it helps to create, and certainly proliferate, is accurate or inaccurate.

The article by Kilbourne (2012) Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence, presents specific images which sdemonstrate high levels of sexuality in the visual and lingustic content, which it is claimed is pornographic. Examples include a private advertisement with a woman in her underwear, a Calvin Klein advertisement with a naked woman lying across the sofa, and more extreme advertisements, such as a Drakkar Noir image where a man has two women hanging on the shoulder, and a Kikit showing a man apparently subduing a woman, pulling her hair (Kilbourne, 2012). These images clearly have an erotic charge, but it is erotic charge which is argued as dehumanising the women portrayed, and fetishising of the products, so that the erotic images become associated with the product (Kilbourne, 2012). Kilbourne (2012), also argues that the messages contained within the advertisements seek to communicate the idea that where the specific product shown or marketed within the advertisement is purchased, men may believe they will obtain the same result.

Marketing theory does indicate the ability to develop associative messages, including the association of values with brands or images (Banerjee, 2008). Therefore, it is possible the arguments of Kilbourne (2012) may be substantiated not only by anecdotal observation, but by more generalised theories regarding the transference of ideas. In addition, the work of Ussher (2005) supports the ideas of Kilbourne, arguing that the entire social construct of sexuality, and way in which men and women are seen from a page, is undertaken from the dominant male perspective. With these experiences taking place from a young age, the cultural influence invariably impacts not only on images that are created, but the way in which they are interpreted. Applying this to any examination of searchlight advertising, taking place from within a culture, will invariably result in a bias towards the status quo. From the advertising perspective, while the images and text associated with the sexualisation of women continues, marketers will continue to use those images.

Within this argument there is a clear indication that women are hurt in numerous ways, psychologically and potentially physically as a result of male aggression (Kilbourne, 2012). Firstly, their own sexual identity and ideas are stifled, with a significant level of potential female sexuality being stigmatised and marginalised, and devlaued; a m, essage which extended into all areas of life. Where women are seen as less the man, it is not only the second thing, but the way in which they are valued. For example, there is still a gender gap in terms of workplace pay and conditions, the glass ceiling women find difficult to preach, in addition to the valuation contribution to society in other ways (Boston, 2015). Secondly, the message that conceptualises and supports the concept of a dominant and aggressive male helps to stimulate aggressive thoughts, which when combined with other stimuli, including other advertising, may converge and result in physical aggression towards women, including rape (Kilbourne, 2012).