Reading Response 5

In the article, “Jesus Is a Brand of Jeans,” Jean Killbourne writes about the world of advertising and what affects it is having on our culture. Kilbourne explains how advertising has become an appeal to emotion, whether it is the desire to be gorgeous or the longing to fit in. The advertising world has made an appeal to our emotion. Kilbourne masterfully does this as well by the title of the piece, “Jesus Is a Brand of Jeans.” In some this insight outrage and in others a desire to wear a pair of Jeans with such a “cool” title. She appeals to our desire to help children by saying, “They us their knowledge to target children (because if you hook them early they are yours for life).” To many, this would be grotesque especially in the area of addiction. However, as she points out, “…While we’re laughing, sometimes sneering, the commercial does its work. To Kilbourne, advertisements make us vulnerable and appeal to everyone’s emotional desire.

Kilbourne writes this piece to entertain as well as educate the subscribers to the New Internationalist Magazine where this was originally published. Kilbourne has written several books on advertising and is well known for her research on the subject. She gives this piece a catchy title that is sure to attract the reading of some curious passerby. Furthermore, this essay has been reprinted in a book called, Common Culture, for the consumption of college students, learning about a pathos style of argument.

Kilbourne masterfully uses the essay format for her article and while not using a wide range of media to communicate her argument, we can still visualize the entire things because of the subject matter. This works well in her favor as she attempts to convince us of the “cynicism, dissatisfaction, and craving,” that advertisement creates.

In this article, Kilbourne writes by giving examples. She lets examples speak for her, and she uses a couple of headings to direct the reader’s attention. She starts the piece with an example of the way advertisement strips away at everything dear, sacred, religious, sketchy, racist. She then communicates for the majority of the article by bringing up one advertisement scheme after another that illustrates man’s desire for more, true love, or just someone to take care of them. In conclusion, she communicates her own opinion about the world advertising is creating. She states explicitly that advertisers aren’t evil people. Instead she says, “More thought, more effort, more money goes in advertising than has gone into any other campaign to change social consciousness.” She then says, “And the major motivating force for social change throughout the world today is this belief that happiness comes from the market.” This, to Kilbourne, is the world of advertising.