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Countless images of painfully thin adolescent females appear in fashion magazine advertisements each month, and Jean Kilbourne is angry about it. Kilbourne, an author and activist, criticized these ads last night during a talk at the White Dog Cafe. She addressed a crowd of about 100 mostly middle-aged and older women as part of White Dog's Table Talks program. "This is a body type that only five percent of the American public has, but it is the only one we see," Kilbourne said. Table Talks is a three-course dinner held about twice a month at the restaurant and accompanied by a speaker and discussion period afterwards. Internationally recognized for her work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and images of women in advertising, Kilbourne showed her 30-minute film Killing Us Softly III, followed by a question and answer session. The video is an updated version of her award-winning 1979 and 1987 films, respectively titled Killing Us Softly and Still Killing Us Softly. Kilbourne's film used ads and slogans to show how advertisers use the female body to sell a range of products, from jeans and beer to fishing line and skateboards. The video, which combined commentary with ads illustrating the objectification of women, prompted gasps and exasperated sighs from the audience. "These ads take women's' bodies and turn them into objects," said Kilbourne, who recently wrote a book entitled Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. The video continued with an ad showing a woman's body, resembling the shape of a bottle, with an alcohol label imprinted on her bare stomach. In order to prevent unrealistic portrayals of women, Kilbourne suggested that media literacy should be taught to children, beginning in kindergarten, so that they will eventually become critical viewers. Of the few Penn students in attendance, most were members of Communication 125, "Introduction to Communication Behavior," taught by College of General Studies Instructor Mariaelena Bartesaghi. After showing Kilbourne's videos to her class, Bartesaghi encouraged her students to attend the lecture. "Sometimes I think the arguments Kilbourne makes are too simplistic," Bartesaghi said. "She seems to claim things that are a little dangerous. For example, she claims when women are objectified in ads, it leads to rape... you can't prove that empirically." Her students seemed to agree. "I feel she takes such a hard stance on body manipulation in advertising. She overdoes it," said Jay Wahl, a College junior. "By singling out the advertising industry, she's saying one part of the media has more power than the rest."

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