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Rating: 
Summary: Boy, do I feel stupid...
Review: Deadly Persuasion is one powerful book, and I certainly will never look at advertisements the same way again. This is a very well-thought out, well-supported account of how advertisers sell products by appealing to the socially-consctructed insecurities of girls and women, as well as the habits and patterns of addicts. She also clearly expresses her hypothesis that while she doesn't think that ads turn people into addicts or completely shape society, they do have an effect on how we see the world and on how addicts can maintain a state of denial.One of the best aspects of the book is her use of real ads that illustrate without question the points that she makes. And looking at many of those that I've seen hundreds of times, I felt quite dumb for not really picking up the subtext or looking critically enough at them. The blatant manipulation in many of them is enough to turn me off any number of products for life. Although I unhesitatingly give this book the highest rating, I must admit that in her conviction Kilbourne is sometimes repetitive, sometimes taking a point ever so slightly too far. But all in all, I find it a quite fair indictment of the advertising industry and its influence on consumers. As a former addict herself, Kilbourne is qualified to judge some aspects of advertising in a unique way, and her most frightening insight is that alcohol and tobacco advertisers understand addiction too, and use this knowledge to create and keep consumers from a very young age (their consumers have a nasty habit of dying off and they need to continuously create new buyers - internal communications from tobacco companies shows this to be a conscious act). For anyone interested in a look into our current social climate, and the ways in which our thought processes and even beliefs can be influenced by external forces, this is a fascinating read. My eyes were opened in unexpected ways, and I learned a great deal from the book. I have a fantasy - perhaps a result of advertisements I've seen - that everyone will read it and start battling the messages we're sent... but that's just a dream.
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Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: Jean Kilbourne does a very good job in drawing our attention to the fact that advertising influences us more than we think. Advertising is part of our environment. Most of us, however, dismiss the influence of advertising on our life because we often consider ads to be silly, trivial, fun, ridiculous. Advertisers even capitalize on our ego by insinuating that we are too smart to be taken in by advertising. The attitude of denial allows advertising to do its persuasive work. Kilbourne tirelessly warns us about the dangerous side effects of advertising. She illustrates her case with numerous ads. Kilbourne's central hypothesis is that advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values prosper, such as the objectification of women, male violence, addiction normality. Furthermore, Kilbourne demonstrates with many examples that the emptier we feel, the greater consumers we are. That unease with our self can lead us to confuse addiction with freedom and conformity with rebellion. Advertising, of course, has a solution (read a product, a service) that can meet or fix each of our needs or problems instantly or at least quickly. Kilbourne also stresses the large impact that advertising has on the media that we consume via the suppression of material that would offend the sponsor and via the inclusion of editorial content that does not interfere with sponsor's business. In addition, Kilbourne reminds us that most industries logically fight hardest against taxes or any restrictions on advertising that have an impact on their bottom line or burden them with additional responsibilities. However, Kilbourne is not able or willing to accept that advertising is one of the key building blocks of a well-oiled capitalist economy. Advertising allows businesses to communicate the features/benefits of their product offering to their targeted market segment and to persuade that targeted market segment that they have the solution catering to their wants/needs. Furthermore, Kilbourne does not mention that more and more of us own shares in a growing number of enterprises and expect nothing less than the optimization of shareholder value. In addition, Kilbourne overestimates human nature. Most of us are not able or willing to be 100% rational all the time. Finally, Kilbourne does not stress enough that parents, schools, churches and other organizations have a key role to play in educating children and teenagers about the influence of advertising on their thoughts and behaviors.
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Summary: This book changed how I view advertising
Review: This book is a must read for anyone, especially women. I always thought of myself as someone who was not affected by advertisements, but this book makes it painfully clear how not one is unaffected by ads, regardless of what types of good you purchase. It correlates the selling of ideas and attitudes through advertisements with degenerating relationships between males and females, people of different social classes and ethnicities, even different ages. Advertisements sell ideas about self-concept, american culture, and values right along with their products. I found the idea that advertisers create a culture, and use the idea of that culture to sell us not only products, but lifestyles, and attitudes towards other people, our society, and ourselves fascinating and horrifying. This book will make you not only a more aware consumer, but also a more aware citizen. It was fascinating, clear, and well-researched.
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Summary: get it back in print!
Review: This book not only changed my attitude towards advertising and commercialism, but changed the way I see myself and the world around me. I'm shocked that the book is no longer in print, although after reading it I get the impression Jean Kilbourne would not be entirely surprised. How can you survive without supporting commercialism? I thought at times she overstated her point and could have been more concise, but on the whole her style is entertaining and easy to follow. The adverts on most of the pages are also very interesting - although you feel a bit guilty about being entertained by them! This book has to get back into print - maybe it needs some more advertising?!
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Summary: Phenomenal
Review: This book was OUTSTANDING. The only thing that pains me about it is that I bought it out of bargain bin. I would have gladly paid full price.
I thought I knew quite a bit about the insidiousness of advertising but this book brought new information on that subject. It is has some very enlightening points on the nature of addiction.
Buy it for your favorite teenage grrrrrrrrrrrrl.
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal
Review: This powerful and vital book is out of print - but only under this title. "Deadly Persuasion" was released in November 2000 under the new title "Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel". Under that title, the book has never gone out of print, so it is easy to acquire. And you definitely should acquire it!
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Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: When I discovered this work in the bookstore, I immediately purchased it. I had been using Kilbourne's video "Still Killing Us Softly," in my 11th grade classroom for a few years now. I and my students found her analysis and examples to be eye opening and honest. What her new book does is update her analysis of how women are objectified in advertising. Perhaps if you thought advertising has changed in it representations of women, Kilbourne clearly shows you it hasn't. She provides a plethora of contemporary examples that expose well a culture that puts a lot of its demands on women to look sexually beautiful. I use her work, and now her new video Still Killing Us Softly III, in my classroom because it's very much needed to help my students understand ways that the media and advertising help to maintain, shape, and reshape gender stereotypes. Her analysis helps to show how this culture of "beauty" can often lead to discrimination and the marginalization of women (and men) who don't fit the media constructions of beauty. I recommend this book for any teacher doing media literacy in the classroom. It's well written, well researched, and the last chapter brings forth the type of political analysis missing in much of media education.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: When I discovered this work in the bookstore, I immediately purchased it. I had been using Kilbourne's video "Still Killing Us Softly," in my 11th grade classroom for a few years now. I and my students found her analysis and examples to be eye opening and honest. What her new book does is update her analysis of how women are objectified in advertising. Perhaps if you thought advertising has changed in it representations of women, Kilbourne clearly shows you it hasn't. She provides a plethora of contemporary examples that expose well a culture that puts a lot of its demands on women to look sexually beautiful. I use her work, and now her new video Still Killing Us Softly III, in my classroom because it's very much needed to help my students understand ways that the media and advertising help to maintain, shape, and reshape gender stereotypes. Her analysis helps to show how this culture of "beauty" can often lead to discrimination and the marginalization of women (and men) who don't fit the media constructions of beauty. I recommend this book for any teacher doing media literacy in the classroom. It's well written, well researched, and the last chapter brings forth the type of political analysis missing in much of media education.
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