Jean Kilbourne Quotes

• Ads sell more than products. They sell values, they sell images. They sell concepts of love and sexuality, of success and perhaps most important, of normalcy. To a great extent, they tell us who we are and who we should be.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Important, Normalcy, Who We Are

  "Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women". Documentary, 2010.

  90 Copy quote

• Girls get the message from very early on that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that. And boys get the message that this is what's important about girls. We get it from advertising. We get it from films. We get it from television shows, video games, everywhere we look. So no matter what else a woman does, no matter what else her achievements, their value still depends on how they look.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Girl, Boys, Games

  91 Copy quote

• Woman’s bodies continue to be dismembered in advertising. Over and over again just one part of the body is used to sell products, which is one of the most dehumanizing thing you can do to someone. Not only is she a thing, but just one part of that thing is focused on.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Body, Advertising, Women's Bodies

  71 Copy quote

• Turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Violence, Firsts, Steps

  Jean Kilbourne (2012). “Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel”, p.278, Simon and Schuster

  72 Copy quote

• The fact is that much of advertising's power comes from this belief that advertising does not affect us. The most effective kind of propaganda is that which is not recognized as propaganda. Because we think advertising is silly and trivial, we are less on guard, less critical, than we might otherwise be. It's all in fun, it's ridiculous. While we're laughing, sometimes sneering, the commercial does its work.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Fun, Silly, Thinking

  Jean Kilbourne (2012). “Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

  39 Copy quote

• Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to be violent to someone we think of as an equal, someone we have empathy with, but it is very easy to abuse a thing

  Jean Kilbourne

  Thinking, Empathy, Abuse

  Jean Kilbourne (1999). “Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising”

  46 Copy quote

• Addiction beggins whith the hope that something 'out there' can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Addiction, Emptiness, Addicts In Recovery

  68 Copy quote

• Advertising doesn't cause addictions. But it does create a climate of denial and it contributes mightily to a belief in the quick fix, instant gratification, the dreamworld, and escape from all pain and boredom. All of this is part of what addicts believe and what we hope for when we reach for our particular substance.... Addiction begins with the hope that something "out there" can instantly fill up the emptiness inside. Advertising is all about this false hope.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Pain, Believe, Boredom

  37 Copy quote

• The Ideal Consumer is someone who is constantly dissatisfies, constanly needs more and more products in order to feel better.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Feel Better, Order, Needs

  25 Copy quote

• The more you subtract, the more you add.

  Jean Kilbourne

  Add

  Jean Kilbourne (2012). “Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel”, p.128, Simon and Schuster

  8 Copy quote

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