Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel

Kilbourne, Jean

ISBN 10: 0684866005 / ISBN 13: 9780684866000

Published by Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999

About this Item

First printing, full number line. Inscribed and signed by the author on the title page: "For Po / With best wishes / Jean Kilbourne." The book is square and unmarked; spine and wraps uncreased; a slight flare to the front wrap; Mylar protected. Seller Inventory # 001967

Bibliographic Details

Title: Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes ...

Publisher: Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, New York

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good +

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Many advertisements these days make us feel as if we have an intimate, even passionate relationship with a product. But as Jean Kilbourne points out in this fascinating and shocking exposé, the dreamlike promise of advertising always leaves us hungry for more. We can never be satisfied, because the products we love cannot love us back.

"When was the last time you felt this comfortable in a relationship?" --An ad for sneakers

"You can love it without getting your heart broken." --An ad for a car

"Until I find a real man, I'll settle for a real smoke." --A woman in a cigarette ad

Many advertisements these days make us feel as if we have an intimate, even passionate relationship with a product. But as Jean Kilbourne points out in this fascinating and shocking exposé, the dreamlike promise of advertising always leaves us hungry for more. We can never be satisfied, because the products we love cannot love us back.

Drawing upon her knowledge of psychology, media, and women's issues, Kilbourne offers nothing less than a new understanding of a ubiquitous phenomenon in our culture. The average American is exposed to over 3,000 advertisements a day and watches three years' worth of television ads over the course of a lifetime. Kilbourne paints a gripping portrait of how this barrage of advertising drastically affects young people, especially girls, by offering false promises of rebellion, connection, and control. She also offers a surprising analysis of the way advertising creates and then feeds an addictive mentality that often continues throughout adulthood.

Review:

Susan Faludi author of Backlash Jean Kilbourne's work is pioneering and crucial to the dialogue of one of the most underexplored, yet most powerful, realms of American culture: advertising. We owe her a great debt.

Self magazine Backlash meets The Beauty Myth....a scathing attack on the powers that tell us what, how much, when and why to buy.