Dr. Jean Kilbourne Bio
Keynote 2012-2013 Convocation Series
Dr. Jean Kilbourne, Author, Speaker and Filmmaker
Deadly Persuasion: Power of Advertising
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012
3:30 p.m.
King Concert Hall
Tickets are FREE but are required (available from the State University of New York at Fredonia Ticket Office)
Renowned media critic Jean Kilbourne will deliver the annual Maytum Convocation Lecture at State University of New York at Fredonia on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 3:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall. Dr. Kilbourne is an author, speaker and filmmaker whose critique of alcohol and tobacco advertising and its impact on today’s youth has brought her international acclaim. The title of her talk is, "Deadly Persuasion: The Power of Advertising."
Known for her ability to present provocative topics in a way that unites rather than divides, she argues that the advertising industry sells a great deal more than products. It sells values, images, and concepts of success and worth, love and sexuality, popularity and normalcy. Sometimes it sells addictions. Dr. Kilbourne, who is also credited with introducing the idea of promoting media literacy as a way to prevent problems she views as originating from mass media advertising campaigns.
Kilbourne’s films, lectures and television appearances have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. She is perhaps best known for the films that are based on her lectures, including, “Killing Us Softly,” which chronicles how advertising depicts women over a 20-year span. Other Kilbourne films include, “Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness,” and “Pack of Lies: The Advertising of Tobacco.”
Kilbourne also authored the book, “Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel,” in which she discussed advertising’s effects on gender roles, alcohol and substance addiction, relationships, violence, and the objectification of women and men. That won the 1999 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology, while Publishers Weekly called it “a profound work that is required reading for informed consumers.” She also co-authored, “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.”
Kilbourne has lectured at colleges, universities, conferences and organizations. She has written many articles, including editorials in The New York Times, USA Today and The Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association. She has been interviewed by Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, and The Boston Globe, among many others. She has been a guest on hundreds of television and radio programs, including, “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” “All Things Considered,” “The Today Show,” “20/20,” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Through her lectures, films and articles, many of her original ideas and concepts have become mainstream. These include the concepts of the tyranny of the beauty ideal, the connection between the objectification of women and violence, the themes of liberation and weight control exploited in tobacco advertising aimed at women, the targeting of alcoholics by the alcohol industry, addiction as a love affair and many others.
She has served as an advisor to former Surgeons General C. Everett Koop and Antonia Novello and has testified for the U.S. Congress. In 1993, she was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The Maytum Convocation Lecture will once again be free and open to the public, although tickets are required and available at the State University of New York at Fredonia Ticket Office.