May 8, 2002
Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/e-mail: loweryr@cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - “The current emphasis on excessive thinness for women is one of the clearest examples of advertising’s power to influence us, both culturally and individually. There’s no aspect (of our lives) more pervasive or more persuasive than advertising.” So says Dr. Jean Kilbourne, internationally recognized for her pioneering work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising.
Kilbourne is a widely published writer and speaker who has lectured at more than one-third of the colleges and universities in the United States and all of the major universities in Canada, and has twice been named Lecturer of the Year by the National Association of Campus Activities. She will deliver the inaugural Central Washington University Presidential Speaker Series lecture Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in McConnell Auditorium.
Kilbourne’s CWU address, titled “Deadly Persuasion: Advertising & Addiction,” will focus on her pioneering work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising. It’s based on her most recent book, “Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising,” which has been re-released in paperback as “Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel.”
“If you’re like most people, you think that advertising has no influence on you,” Kilbourne writes. “This is what advertisers want you to believe. But, if that were true, why would companies spend over $200 billion a year on advertising? Why would they be willing to spend over $250,000 to produce an average television commercial and another $250,000 to air it? If they want to broadcast their commercial during the Super Bowl, they will gladly spend over a million dollars to produce it and over one and a half million to air it.”
Best known for her award-winning documentaries “Killing Us Softly,” “Slim Hopes” and “Pack of Lies,” Kilbourne this year received a special recognition award from the Academy for Eating Disorders. She is a visiting scholar at Wellesley College, has served on the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and been an adviser to two surgeons general.
In addition, Kilbourne, who lives in Boston, Mass., is frequently invited to speak at conferences, before corporations, and to community groups, government organizations and health organizations.
CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre established the Presidential Speaker Series to provide an additional source of intellectual stimulation on the campus and a forum for collegiate discourse. This quarter’s event is in conjunction with the Symposium on Undergraduate Research & Creative Expression (SOURCE).
For her CWU lecture, a portion of the seats in McConnell are set-aside for reserved ticket holders. Tickets can be purchased for $10 from the cashier’s office in Barge Hall at CWU. For tickets, more information, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-2224, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-3323.
All other seats in McConnell Auditorium will be available on a free, first-come, first-served basis starting at 7 p.m. on the night of the lecture.
