Jesus Is A Brand Of Jeans Analysis

Jean Kilbourne's " Jesus Is a Brand of Jeans" is about Jean Kilbourne complaints about advertising and how it effects the readers' society. She tells the listeners how the world of advertising managed to grab hold of their deepest desires without them notice it. Advertisements influence human's daily life everyday, because it tells the buyers that they will be loved by the things they purchase instead of being loved by a person.

For the longest time now, advertising has played a huge role in how we identify ourselves in the United States with the American culture, and how others identify themselves with all the cultures of the rest of the world as well. It guides us in making everyday decisions, such as what items we definitely need to invest our money on, how to dress in-vogue, and what mindset we should have to prosper the most. Although advertising does help make life easier for most, at the same time it has negative affects on the people of society as well. Advertisement discreetly manipulates the beliefs, morals, and values of our culture, and it does so in a way that most of the time we don’t even realize it’s happened. In order to reach our main goal of

“Jesus Is a Brand of Jeans,” by Jean Kilbourne, argues that most products are advertised are trying to convince us that the product is more important than people. Kilbourne also says that despite what people think, advertising affects us all. Commercials promise you the best quality and even happiness. Once the product is in your hands and is ready to be used, we end up very disappointed. I agree with Kilbourne because I’ve watched several advertisements, and one, in particular, has certainly affected me. I was at home cooking my meals for the week when I heard the commercial.

In Chapter 3 of Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis says that if we do not really know what the gospel is then we will find ourselves having to explain Christianity. Instead of reaching out to people and showing Jesus, we put all our time and effort into defending our religion. It is like we are on teams and we try to get the most people on our side so we have the biggest team. Medearis put it like this, “In a way, we’re drawing a line in the sand and telling people, “You’re on that side, and you need to believe what I’m telling you in order to cross the line. Once you cross it, you’re saved.” (p.45).This is the kind of mentality of salvation that was also referenced in the introduction to the book. Christians tend to treat salvation like a check

In this article, “Jesus is brand of Jeans,” by Jean Kilbourne, explores the world of advertisements and their effect on modern day consumers. She states that advertisements have a tendency to play on the emotions of people; attempting to convince the consumer to buy their products. As well as encouraging the thought of that objects will make us look better and make us whole. This is deceiving and a destructive way to look at life, as objects being just as important as people. Kilbourne explains this throughout her article with many examples and describes how ads affects us daily.

“In the twentieth century, advertising evolved into a form of persuasive social discourse intended primarily to influence how we perceive the buying and consumption of goods,” (Danesi 179).

Advertisements can be defined as published papers or videos used to promote a product and to persuade customers to buy a certain product from a certain company. Whether people buy a product because of an advertisement or simply because of the brand, product sales have gone up ever since the firsts ads were seen around the 1920’s. While ads constantly use the same tactics to influence people, the tactics change based on the evolving society. For example, the 7 Up company have advertised their drinks since the 1930’s, but over time they have developed and adapted to the changing society.

I can’t remember the name of my first grade teacher, but I can remember the jingle of a cereal commercial I watched at that age. I can’t remember the grammar we covered at the beginning of the course, but I just can’t manage to shake the opening lines of that Youtube Ad I skipped again as I watched videos of the beginnings of the year. Such are the strange ways of advertising, a relentless force in the eyes of some, while a beautiful symbol of free-enterprise in the eyes of others. For myself, however, the answer to what the effects of advertising truly hold is not black and white, a differentiation between good and evil, but more grayscale, like most of the issues we fight over. It is an extension of humanity and, like people themselves,

Advertisements sell the ideal look of a human being along with the idea that consumer goods bring happiness, thus creating superficial visions of the world. Jhally’s study argues that the contemporary world is saturated with advertising messages that persuade consumers to buy goods by manipulating them into thinking those goods are connected to important domains in their lives. The Author’s main point is that to connect goods as an important necessity for happiness in ones life, advertisers use existing values and attitudes that are shared by the target audience. (Jhally, 1990).

Nowadays, advertising is all around us, it is an unavoidable part of everyone’s life, and they are many different types of advertising. Some of the most popular advertising around us are: Newspapers, Magazines, Trade-shows and Events, Televisions, Radios, Web sites, and etc. A survey was conducted by MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT and it reveals that around 70 percent of Americans are influenced by advertisement. Advertising has an influence on everyone in one way or another, but it especially had an influence on my family. (American families)

Why are advertisements everywhere nowadays? The simple answer may be that companies want people to buy their product. However, there is a deeper meaning to many advertisements that many consumers fail to see. Companies effectively use imagery, language, and creative approaches to globally advertise their product. “In order to understand advertising, you must accept that it is not about truth, virtue, love, or positive social values. It is about selling a product” (O’Neill 348). O’Neill is clearly stating to readers that the main goal of companies is to get consumers to buy their product. Additionally, advertisement creators creatively portray to consumers their desires, aspirations, and even fears. Therefore, I agree with O’Neill’s statement that advertising language mirrors the fears, quirks, and aspirations of the society that creates it because of the thousands of existing advertisements that support his claim in my own life.

Advertising provides abundant product information for the public, it promotes a product, service or ideas, they attract people’s aspirations, fantasies and lifestyle. They produce both connotation and denotation structures that sell the products to the public. The publics opinion on products are sculpted through the influences of advertisement, for example a man may buy a certain aftershave because the advertisements have a woman that is throwing herself in a sexual manner at the model wearing the product so the consumer will be more reluctant to purchase this

Food and drink, cars, alcohol, cigarettes — “The average American is exposed to some 500 ads daily” (Fowles 540). Are advertisements influencing people negatively or positively? According to Jib Fowles in “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals,” advertisers create ads that appeal to one’s motives (541). Regardless of negative outcomes, people believe that buying advertised products will help satisfy their basic needs. Based on Fowles’ article, although advertising has some negative aspects, advertising influences people positively by fulfilling the needs to nurture, achieve, and for affiliation.

“Advertising is far from impotent or harmless; it is not a mere mirror image. Its power is real, and on the brink of a great increase. Not the power to brainwash overnight, but the power to create subtle and

Advertising and marketing have existed long ago in time, but most likely in a different form unfamiliar to us. Many years ago, sellers advertised by posting on the windows of shops, providing free samples of food, and eventually by posting in newspapers and radio (O’Barr, 2005). An intriguing historic fact is that advertising was used to convince people to journey to the New World in the 1800s (O’Barr, 2005). Nowadays, with increased exposure to media through television, cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices, marketing has become more advanced and ubiquitous. According to the documentary, advertisements have consistently carried the standard of indoctrination, or promotion. The documentary describes that there used to be a limited and “cheap marketing culture” for children in the 1900s. After deregulation in the 1980s, the trend of promotion or “indoctrination” had drastically grown throughout time as marketers found better ways to popularize their products, services, and values.