With the previous week’s focus on media effects and my personal interest I’ve come across Jean Kilbourne. Obsessively I spent hours watching youtube clips featuring segments of Kilbourne’s award-wining documentaries – Killing us Softly. 1979, 1987, 1999 and 2010.
With her extremely feminist ideology, Kilbourne, Despite her efforts in the latest documentary she recounts “Sometimes people say to me; You’ve been talking about this for 40 years, have things gotten any better? and actually I have to say, really; They’ve gotten worse.”
As her studies evolved Kilbourne has began to draw focus on young girls, to demonstrate the epidemic of the advertising effects.
Eventhough her studies may seem broad they only focus on a small sector of the media – advertising. The lucidity of this is evident as the effects are most drastic.
As perfectly summarized by Mitchell Hobbs, ‘Semiotics can allow us to dispassionately analyse and understand tests by focusing on their communicative properties” – The communicative properties of advertisement or any visual media, primarily images can be noted theoretically as;
– Signified – [the facts we relate to what we see] – Connotation. [what it evokes]
– Signifier – [what is depicted in the image] – Denotation, and [what we know it is]
Personally, the “Stop Sugarcoating It, Georgia” – Anti-Obesity Ads have been the most effective controversial ads I have come across.
I felt as if the ads revealed the brutal truth, while making me indescribably uncomfortable.
The analysis of the following advertisement demonstrates the reasons behind it’s effectiveness.
A It’s hard to be a little girl, if you’re not.
| Denotation | Connotation |
| Black and White Photograph | Grim Outlook |
| A bigger young girl (rounded body-figure) | Childhood Obesity |
| Long Sleeved Shirt | Covering up / Hiding |
| Crossed Arms | Defensive / Unimpressed |
| Droopy Eyes | Dejected and Sorrowful Feelings |
| Frowning Lips | “-” |
| Large Red Writing: WARNING | Associated w/ Cautions – Threats |
| Stop Childhood Obesity | Corroboration. |
| strong4life.com | Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta web page and branding association |
In particular the word ” Warning” in conjunction with it’s font size and colour ultimately embeds fears within the receiver, regardless of their personal ideology.
UTOPIA AT DUSK © 