Women Studies: Advertising and the Body

Order Description
Assignment Requirement: (MAKE SURE you read the Lesson 1 to Lesson 4 notes and BETTER TO USE NOTES to complete the assignment) please read the requirements carefully

For this assignment, you are asked to watch the video Killing Us Softly 4 by Jean Kilbourne. After viewing the video, look through recent popular magazines, hardcopies
or on the Internet, and see if you can find advertisements that objectify women in order to sell a product. Or watch some TV commercials or browse the Internet or
YouTube for some current ads. You can look for beer commercials; commercials for food, chocolate; detergents or any house cleaning products, etc. Study these images
(or image) in the context you have chosen, then write a short paper (about 2-4 pages, double spaced) about how advertising objectifies women in order to sell products,
and how this objectification creates “the sexualization of culture.” Please remember to use a formal academic structure: introduction, thesis, main body of argument(s)
and conclusion.

This assignment asks you to go one step further, by examining the influence of advertising on you personally and your self-worth, but also how you believe advertising
affects other women and men. Include your ad with your essay. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO USE ASSIGNED COURSE READING(LINKED ARTICLES) TO SUPPORT YOUR ARGUMENT.
Detail requirements:

Look through recent popular magazines, hardcopies or on the Internet, and see if you can find advertisements that objectify women in order to sell a product. Or watch
some TV commercials or browse the Internet or the YouTube for some current ads. You can look for beer commercials; commercials for food, chocolate; detergents or any
house cleaning products. Study these images in the context you have chosen, then write a short paper (about 2-4 pages) about how advertising objectifies women in order
to sell products, and how this objectification creates what Gill calls “the sexualization of culture.”

In the Study Guide to Killing Us Softly 4, there are some helpful questions that might assist you with this assignment. I selected a few below, and modified some to
pertain specifically to our lesson. Others can be found at the following online address: www.mediaed.org/assets/products/241/studyguide_241.pdf

1. What effect(s), if any, do you think the objectification of women’s bodies has on the Western culture? Do you think the effects are different in the Canadian
multicultural context? Explain.
2. Jean Kilbourne states “turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against that person.” What do you think she
means by this? Do you agree with her reasoning? Why or why not? How does the ad you have chosen relate to Kilbourne’s reasoning? Explain.
3. Why do you think that women are objectified more often than men are? Kilbourne explains that the consequences of being objectified are different – and more serious
– for women than for men. Do you agree? How is the world different for women than it is for men? How do objectified images of women interact with those in our culture
differently from the way images of men do? Why is it important to look at images in the context of the culture?
4. How is sexuality depicted in relation to race, class, age, ableness? Who is made to feel more desirable, powerful and superior? How are other races depicted?
5. What language does usually accompany the ad? What stories does the ad tell about women and their current role in society?
Throughout your written analysis, be sure to make clear and specific reference to the images you selected, the approximate timeframe in which they appeared /
broadcasted, and please submit these images (or links to them) with your paper. You can refer to 1 or all 5 questions listed above, or others found in the online Study
Guide, and/or you can add other questions to answer to, as long as you use your feminist understanding to reflect on your ad.