Have we come a long way? An interview with Jean Kilbourne

Audio post by Kjerstin Johnson on September 7, 2010 - 2:05pm; tagged advertising, gender in advertising, jean kilbourne, Mad World.

A picture of Jean Kilbourne. She is white and has brown hair, she is smiling and wearing blue.

Jean Kilbourne made the first Killing Us Softly film in 1979. Now with several books under her belt and Killing Us Softly 4 out this spring, Kilbourne obviously hasn't stopped her activism in media criticism--whether it's following the increased sexualization of children in ads or calling out the alcohol and tobacco industry. Kelsey Wallace spoke to Kilbourne, a member of Bitch Media's National Advisory Board, on the phone about trends in advertising and gender, the state of media criticism today, and Kilbourne's future plans. You can order Killing Us Softly 4 at the Media Education Foundation. This interview is part of our Mad World podcast on gender, advertising, and identity in a mediated world.

Subscribe on iTunes. Download at archive.org. Transcription available here (.doc).

Thanks JR!

This project was made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities (OH), a statewide nonprofit organization and an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funds OH's grant program.