Health teachers are on the front line, and Jean Kilbourne wishes them luck. They are in a war for the hearts and minds of teenagers. If you don't want kids to smoke, drink, purge or starve, then you are up against a powerful adversary, Kilbourne says. You are up against the ad industry.
Kilbourne herself has been up against the ad industry for years. She came to Utah three times this fall to speak at various meetings of secondary school health teachers. She showed slides. She offered resources in the fight.Because her mother died when she was 9, Kilbourne thinks she was especially susceptible to messages in magazines. Ads showed her how to be a woman -- cool, tough and sexy. She started to smoke when she was 13. She says quitting was the hardest thing she ever did.
Her message: If teenagers smoke and drink in order to be rebels, then teachers might help them see they are not rebels. They are pawns of tobacco and liquor companies. And when girls starve themselves to look like models, they should know ad-makers are counting on them being insecure enough to buy a product so they'll feel OK.
Kilbourne went to Wellesley. In the late 1960s, she went to London, got a job with the BBC as a secretary and protested the Vietnam War. Eventually she came back to the United States and taught media studies at Emerson College. About that time, she started clipping ads she found offensive. She taped them to her refrigerator door.
Next, Kilbourne made slides from her ads. Her presentations grew more powerful, more popular with students. In 1977, she found a booking agent and took her tour on the road.
She made a documentary, "Killing Us Softly." Later came "Slim Hope" and "Pack of Lies" and "Still Killing Us Softly." Her book, "Deadly Persuasion," is just out.
Kilbourne says, "Everyone feels personally exempt from ads." Although the average American will spend three years watching TV commercials, Kilbourne rarely meets anyone who says, "Boy those ads really affect me."
But ads do affect us, she says. As proof, she cites the Absolut vodka campaign. Her first point: All vodka tastes the same. When blindfolded, few people can pick their own brand. Her second point: Absolut is expensive. Her conclusion: It wasn't taste or cost that made Absolut's popularity skyrocket over a one-year period. It was an ad campaign that increased Absolut sales from 54,000 cases to 2.4 million cases.
Kilbourne's detractors question her statistics and conclusions. They say that she, too, makes a living off ads. Margaret Rose, health education specialist for the Utah Office of Education, says Kilbourne's speaking agreement precludes revealing her fees. If you tell Rose that Kilbourne's standard lecture fee was previously reported as $3,500, Rose will say Kilbourne gave the state a price break because she came several times.
Kilbourne has no patience with those who claim she wants to censor advertisers. She says her lecture is about freedom. "Freedom from addiction and freedom from denial."
More on the subject of the First Amendment: Kilbourne has a lot to say about magazines and newspapers and how they are, increasingly, owned by big businesses. And what other companies do those big businesses own? she asks. And to what extent is editorial content influenced by advertising?
She shows a Life magazine. Cover story: How Can We Keep Our Children Safe? The article offers a long list of risks -- such as guns and drugs. Cigarettes are not even mentioned. The back cover is a full-page color ad for Marlborough.
Rose says Kilbourne helped Utah teachers look at advertising through new eyes. Now they'll be more aware of what they are up against. Says Rose, "So many billions of dollars are contingent upon these companies getting a consumer for their products."
Since she heard Kilbourne speak, Rose can't stop thinking about the phrase "childhood addiction." Kilbourne says if you see an adult smoker, you are looking at a child who started smoking -- and then grew up.
Kilbourne says one of the most destructive things about some ads is that they present obsessions as normal. Obsession with chocolate, jewelry, cars, clothes. "No matter what a company is selling, the heavy user is their best customer." Kilbourne says liquor companies would lose 80 percent of their business if no one drank more than the federal guidelines. (One drink a day for women, two for men.)
Meanwhile, it's been 20 years since Kilbourne plastered her fridge with ads. In the time she's been traveling the country, showing her slides to thousands of people, she's been named the best speaker of the year on numerous college campuses. She testified before Congress during the tobacco hearings.
And yet, in the past 20 years, the ads have only gotten more blatant. The models have gotten thinner. Kilbourne says, "Twenty years ago the average model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23 percent less."
You ask her what keeps her from getting discouraged, where she finds the energy for the fight. She says, quite seriously, "I take speed." Seeing your blank look, she explains, "Methamphetamines."
Then she laughs.
In truth, she says, she's energized because she sees what has happened with tobacco. The culture has shifted. Not only do people realize smoking is uncool, they realize the tobacco companies are in business to encourage smoking. Kilbourne guesses the next cultural shift will happen with alcohol.
She figures advertising's link to eating disorders will be addressed last. "Because these are women's issues."