Killing Us Softly Advertising Assignment
Answer Sheets
Please type your answers on this M.S. Word Document. Please use this answer template,
Thank you!
Analyze: Please Answer the following questions.
1. What do the images above, below, and side say about “beauty”?
The internet, especially ads have impacted how people see women and expect the average women
to be incredibly skinny healthy which is very unrealistic
2. Does society have certain preconceived ideas of “ideal beauty”?
Women are subject to what society defines as beautiful: small waists, long legs, narrow hips, long
shining hair, white flawless skin and slim body.
3. What are these ideas based on?
These are based of women we see online like on instagram tik tok etc. It has gotten to a point where
people are doing surgeries to not have to go through the process to not get skinny.
4. How do you think these affect us?
Yes, because people nowadays are not sure if that is fake or real making people confused if doing
something like that is possible for them to do themselves.
5. How do these images connect to some of the main ideas of this documentary?
Women are subject to what society defines as beautiful: small waists, long legs, narrow hips, long
shining hair, white flawless skin and slim body.
the images connect to some of the main idea as it shows flawless skin that some women have and
insanely slim body which is not something you find on a normal basis and using them to show that
their product can lead you there
Please Answer the following questions.
Advertisements:
6. How many advertisements do you think you see in a day (between TV ads, Twitter, Instagram,
Facebook ads, etc.…)?
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20-30 minimum
The amount o ads you see when watching YouTube videos can be 2-3 ads per video and the amounts of ads
are on Instagram when scrolling through not only from Instagram itself but also accounts that get paid to
publicize the girl so she get a fan base to show her body of to and get paid to do so.
7. Try to describe in as much detail the types of ads you see the most often (what is being advertised?
Who is in the ad? What are people often wearing or doing?)
On YouTube I mainly get company ads to download their stuff like "Honey saves you money for
example" but on Instagram other than like music ads alot of ads are female ads doing more sexual
things advising you to pay for their only fans where they can display private areas where they would
get banned for on Instagram but you have to pay to see it
Brand Names:
8. Do you think advertising has any role in the products you buy or want to buy? Why or why not?
Yes, I think it does. for example if a hot female with luscious hair is doing an advertisement for
TRESemmé you would think you can get that result if you use their product even though if you check
online you will find that not only does TRESemmé not help your hair, it has harsh chemicals that can
ruin your hair
Cultural Expectations:
9. Do you think men and women are portrayed similarly or differently in advertisements? Explain
somewhat yes. Men are portrayed to be fit where it shows their abs, athletic, nice curly hair, nice smile and
eyes, strong.
the only difference I feel like is that women are a lot more sexualized than men are and women are more
encouraged to do so and become independent where as men are more to go on the business aspect of
things
10. Does our society have certain cultural expectations for how men and women should be, act, look?
Yes, for example in all Arab countries, because of Islam women are expected to wear hijabs from a
young age and keep themselves covered in pretty much all area. But it is not very heavy on rules for
males but somehow it still seems where women are more sexualized then men online.
11. What are some examples? How do you think this affects men and women?
It prevents the stereotype and expectation of how women look like although men don't have rules
preventing how they should dress.
12. Are you familiar with Feminism? Can you describe what it is? Google it!
feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It's about respecting diverse
women's experiences, identities, knowledge and strengths, and striving to empower all women to
realise their full rights.
Documentary:
13. What are some of the key points that Dr. Kilbourne made in her talk?
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that advertising creates a toxic cultural environment in which sexual objectification, physical subjugation
and intellectual trivialization of women has deep psychological and political resonance
14. What has stood out the most for you after watching this documentary?
We have to revamp how we advertise and prevent stereotypes like this from continuing to happen.
15. How are the concepts of “femininity” and “masculinity” socially constructed?
Masculinity and femininity have been conceptualized as multidimensional constructs which include gender
role stereotypes, adherence to traditional gender role norms, gender role conflict, and gender role stress.
16. What role does advertising play in how we understand the above concepts?
It refers to the images in advertising that depict stereotypical gender roles and displays. Gender
displays are used heavily in advertising in order to establish the role of one gender in relation with
the other, and some scholars argue that advertisers are obsessed with gender.
17. What are the differences between how men, women, and people of color are represented in
advertisements?
People of colour are more advertised when it comes to sports like basketball or rapping like how drake did
the sprite "spark" advertisement as his fuel for the song he was making. Men are in charge, self-contained
and often alone. And women are used as a visual of expectation after using the advertised product.
18. What are the social consequences or implications of how men, women, and people of color are
represented in ads?
depending on how the advertisement is or what its about or hinting to it can be considered racist or
sexist which can lead to a downfall of the company.
19. How does advertising dehumanize men, women, and people of color?
Because ads can put unrealistic standards and people can question on how the look themselves and
depending on how severe it is and if other things in their life is not going great people have the urge to kill
themselves
20. What does advertising tell us about youth and aging?
people can use makeup and make themselves seem so young for example Jennifer Aniston is 53
years old but in some pictures she looks like she in her 20's
21. Is being a consumer and being a citizen the same? What does What does advertising in a capitalist
society suggest?
No, Advertising in a capitalist society suggests that the techniques used would be lot different as
they are more concerned about what the product is and whats inside it rather than who is
presenting it.
22. What do you think can be done to change the representation and objectification of men and women in
advertising?
Social media use can have major impacts on one’s construction of identity, sexuality, and gender. However,
some social media sites exhibit problematic and prejudiced themes through their photo and video posts.
This would be a good start to fixing this problem but a lot of people would need to take part in this.
Please Fill in the Blank Questions
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1. [1pt] The presenter (Jean Kilbourne) says she chose to study advertisements in particular because she
considers them a powerful Educational force
2. [1pt] One of the reasons many people believe they are not influenced by ads is because advertising’s
influence is quick, Cumulative, and for the most part, subconscious.
3. [1pt] True or False: It’s entirely possible that many, if not most, of the images of women that you see in
advertisements are compilations of multiple women whose features have been heavily photoshopped
multiple times. True
4. [1pt] According to the documentary, women-of-color featured in advertisements are considered beautiful
only if they approximate the White ideal; and are often featured in jungle settings or wearing leopard skins
as if they were exotic animals.
5. [1pt] Turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step toward justifying violence against
that person; the person becomes Dehumanized and violence then becomes inevitable – one good example
of this process is how women’s bodies are frequently ‘dismembered’ in ads.
6. [1pt] There’s been a dramatic increase in recent years in cosmetic procedures performed on women,
from 1997 - 2007 these procedures overall rose 457% to almost Dehumanized million per year.
7. [1pt] Fewer than 5 percentage of American women meet the ideal body standard created by
advertisers.
8. [1pt] The body language of women depicted in ads is usually passive, vulnerable, and very different
from the body language of boys and men; women are often shown in very silly poses, whereas men
are often afforded Dignity and strength even as children.
9. [1pt] True or False: Women are told that it’s sexy to like a little girl and grown women are infantilized
in many ways through advertising – we often see depictions of grown women dressed like children or
acting like children in one way or another. True
10. [1pt] The documentary claims that girls are taught to see themselves as sexual objects at a very young
age and that they’re encouraged to see this as their own choice, as a declaration of Empowerment.
Assignment Mark Summary
22 Questions X 2 marks each = 44 Marks in Total
11 Fill in the Blank Questions, 1 Mark each = 11
Total 44 + 11 = 55 Marks
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