Jean Kilbourne Addresses Advertising, Addiction & the Need for Media Literacy in America's Schools

Campus Calm had the opportunity to speak withto kids is bad for them - junk food, junk drinks,
lecturer and activist Jean Kilbourne on advertising,and junk toys.
addiction and the need for media literacy inCampus Calm: How can college campuses take
America's schools. Jean Kilbourne is internationallythe stigma out of discussing campus mental health
recognized for her pioneering work on alcohol andissues and the addictions that can arise among
tobacco advertising and the image of women instudents?
advertising. Her book, Can't Buy My Love: HowKilbourne: The more administrators, staff and
Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel,faculty talk about these issues and bring them out
won the Distinguished Publication Award from theinto the open, the more it is made public about
Association for Women in Psychology in 2000.how prevalent these problems are. The good
She is also known for her award-winningnews about recovery needs to be made public,
documentaries Killing Us Softly, Slim Hopes, andtoo. FAVOR.org.za - Faces And Voices Of
Calling the Shots.Recovery - is working very hard to reduce the
Campus Calm: Students need to developstigma that's associated with addiction and to put
non-materialistic, healthy ways to manage stress.an emphasis on recovery. This is not the
We know kids are exposed to millions of ads outrecovery that Lindsay Lohan goes for that costs
there that link stress management to products -$45,000 a week, but the free kind where you
products like cigarettes, alcohol and unhealthycould go to a support group.
foods. How can stressed-out students who areThe more that people can speak out - there have
vulnerable to things like anxiety and depressionactually been some celebrities who have done a
not fall prey to the advertising out there?world of good by speaking out about addiction.
Kilbourne: The real answer is media literacy. WeBetty Ford was the first famous person as a
need people to be educated about these ads andwoman to come forward and say, "I'm a
the media in general so they'll understand howalcoholic." There are some celebrities these days
they operate and not be manipulated by them. Inwho come forward, again not the flashy ones
an ideal world, that would mean starting inwho go in and out of rehab, but the ones who
kindergarten. People would be educated about thisare really serious about it.
stuff, as they are in most developed countries.People need to understand that these problems
Media literacy could be a long-term thing, which isare on a continuum. A lot of people have
what I'm advocating.problems with alcohol but they're not yet addicted.
It also could be encouraging people to look at theEverybody suffers from depression from time to
ads and think about what they're really selling.time. There are degrees of depression. We need
Think about if they're selling stress managementto normalize it as much as we can and make it
through the cigarettes, alcohol and unhealthyclear that none of this is related to character,
foods (and they are). What's the real impact offlaws or defects. We also need to publicize the
these products? They pretty much withoutinformation about the brain research that's being
exception increase stress. Even if it's somethingdone. These are all chemical diseases and they
like cigarettes, the money you spend on themhave nothing to do with character. They can be
adds to your stress. Alcohol is a depressant drugtreated like diabetes or any other disease.
- it's going to make you feel worse. So all ofCampus Calm: Whose responsibility is it to make
these things, although they sell them saying thatsure young people are media literate and able to
they're going to do one thing, they usually end updecipher all the advertiser messages they're being
doing just the opposite. Even just paying attentionexposed to?
to the ads on that level can help. Think, "What'sKilbourne: The United States is the only developed
really being sold here? What are they promising?"country in the world that doesn't teach media
Campus Calm: Addictions among college studentsliteracy in the schools. The only way that will
run rampant. Can you talk for a moment abouthappen is if people demand it. That means people
how advertisers target this age group andneed to become politically active and put pressure
market addictions like alcohol, cigarettes and onlineon school boards and elected officials. We need to
gambling?collectively say that this matters and it's
Kilbourne: Most addictions start early in life. Whatsomething our kids really need.
that means is that marketers have to target kids,Campus Calm: You wrote that, "The primary
and they actually target children. The teens andpurpose of the mass media is to sell audiences to
college-aged group is very important for severaladvertisers. We are the product." Given this, do
reasons. One is they have what's known asyou think there is room for responsible advertising
discretionary income. They have quite a bit ofin our culture? How?
money and they don't have mortgages. Also atKilbourne: Yes, but some of this depends on the
that age, people are developing brand loyalty.nature of the product. There are some products
They're willing to switch brands. As people getfor which I don't think there could be responsible
older, they pretty much develop their brandadvertising, such as cigarettes. There are
loyalty and they're not going to switch.products that are good and even necessary.
Over 50 percent of America's teenagers smokeThey can be sold in ethical ways. There are
Marlboros. That's because Marlboro targets themcompanies that for a long time have made an
so heavily. Once they start smoking Marlboro,effort to advertise responsibly and market
they'll probably continue smoking Marlboro for thehealthy images.
rest of their lives. The marketers of onlineIt's very important to put our money where our
gambling, cigarettes, alcohol and unhealthy foodsvalues are. I avoid products that are made by
need to target young people to get them hookedtobacco companies, which include all kinds of
not only on certain products, but also on certainproducts because tobacco companies are so
brands.incredibly wealthy. Philip Morris owns Kraft foods.
Campus Calm: There's BIG MONEY in advertisingYou have to do a little bit of homework to find
escapism through product consumption. Can youout what you need to avoid but it's not impossible.
talk for a moment about how parents can broachAlmost always you have a choice. The truth is
this subject with their teens and college studentsthat almost all these products are the same. It
and help them to grow into informed, empowereddoesn't really matter - it's the advertising that
consumers?makes us feel a difference from brand to the
Kilbourne: It's better if they can start with themnext. If you need a product you can buy one
as babies, but let's say they haven't. Again, it'sfrom a more ethical company.
about making it conscious and talking about it. ForCampus Calm: Advertisers play on people's
example, kids are targeted heavily with creditinsecurities in order to sell products. For me,
cards and parents need to educate their kidsnowhere is this more clear than in marketing diet
about what it means to be paying debt off at a& beauty products to young women. I have
20 percent interest rate. Have them add it up.a healthy body image that took me years to
What does it add to the price of something if youdevelop. The difference between me and another
buy a pair of jeans at $150 and you end upyoung woman or teen girl is that today I stand
paying 20 percent on that for a long period ofbefore a three-way mirror in a dressing room and
time? I think it's also very important for youngget mad that bathing suits marketed to young
people to work and hold jobs. Young people needwomen are so ridiculously skimpy; I don't look in
to get a sense of how many hours go into athe mirror and blame myself for not looking
purchase. How many hours of work at theperfect in one. So how can we get more young
average wage go into a $50 garment or game?women to turn their anger outward and demand
If you think of it that way, time is money. Maybechange instead of turning our anger inward at
kids won't want to trade off this many hours ofourselves for not looking perfect?
their lives for something that isn't really essential.Kilbourne: I love it that you can do that. That's
Campus Calm: And parents can behave as modelsgreat. Think about how that happened. It was a
when it comes to healthy product consumption?gradual thing and it involved reading and becoming
Kilbourne: Absolutely. A lot of kids learn theirconscious of who's making us feel so bad and
consumption style from their parents. Parentswhy. The answer is because they profit from it.
need to examine their own consumption style andThe worse we feel about ourselves the more
their own attitudes and the debt they're carrying.likely we are to buy stuff. That should make
When my daughter was little, we had a rule in ouryoung women feel very angry. They're
house that we wouldn't buy anything that wasmanipulated into having a negative body image
advertised on television. That's very simple. I triedand hating their bodies in order to make fat cats
not to either because you're paying a lot moreeven richer. That's plenty to be upset about.
for the ads. Almost everything that's advertised