Macomb, IL – You sometimes hear about problems caused by binge drinking in college towns. But a highly regarded author does not blame students.
Jean Kilbourne is well-known for her researh into alcohol and tobacco advertising. She says those ads are often designed to hook students. "Addiction is bad news for most of us," says Kilbourne. "But for the alcohol and tobacco industries, it's the name of the game. Hook them early and their yours for life."
Rather than pointing the finger at the students who take part in the unhealthy habits, Kilbourne believes there is a different source for the problem. "I'm really looking at the industries who profit from these choices. I look at the way the alcohol industry profits when students are high risk drinkers, or the way that the diet industry and the junk food industry profit when people develop eating disorders."
Kilbourne spoke at Western Illinois University in Macomb. Her speech was titled Deadly Persuasion. She talked to students about advertising images of women, notations of "thinness," and her view of the alcohol and tobacco advertising industries.
Kilbourne focuses on college students for a particular reason. "I think they're very open to these kinds of ideas," says Kilbourne. "Their choices make a huge difference in terms of how the rest of their lives will go."
Her speech at Western tied in to the university's campus theme, "Health and Wellness: Challenges and Responsibilities."
In 2000, the Association for Women in Psychology granted Kilbourne with the Distinguished Publication Award for her book, Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. The book outlines the problems of addiction and the relationship of people and products. Kilbourne says "We can fall in love with our beer for example. The alcoholic feels that the bottle is our lover."
Her film, Killing Us Softly, was released in 1979 and has been remade twice since. Kilbourne takes great pride in how this picture allowed her to be seen as the first speak out against the image of women in advertising. "It's been interesting for me to see how ideas I expressed a long time ago are now considered mainstream," says Kilbourne.