Wendy Cai
Joseph Seale
English 1101
26 September 2014
Battle of the Sexes and Media’s Portrayal of Jesus The effectiveness of a piece of writing depends on its ability to achieve its purpose. In both “Sex, Lies, and Conversation” by Deborah Tannen and “Jesus is a Brand of Jeans” by Jean Kilbourne, the authors effectively convey the intended message. Tannen argues that media affects the way in which men and women communicate because boys and girls grow up with different perceptions on how they should behave, and therefore, speak. Kilbourne argues that media, specifically advertisements, distorts the way people perceive the world by manipulating their emotions in hopes of selling a product. While Kilbourne more heavily focuses on the effects
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The first ad she presents features a baby in the back seat of a car, while the carseat, which the baby is supposed to sit in, is filled with sports gear, implying that the gear is more important than the child. Instead of being concerned with the safety of the infant, the driver decides that his gear takes priority. Ads also objectify people, especially women. Out of the eleven ads that are included in Kilbourne’s essay, six of them uses women to promote their product, ranging from a cheap Butterfinger to precious jewelry. One particular ad shows a man gazing passionately at a woman whose face is obstructed by a car magazine. The ad uses the woman as a tool to persuade consumers to embrace its new car just like the man in its poster …show more content…
Tannen not only states that she is a professor of linguistics at a university, but also refers to other well-established authors and researchers such as: political scientist Andrew Hacker, sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman, Stanford University’s Eleanor Maccoby, psychologist Bruce Dorval, linguist Lynette Hirschman, and author of “Fighting for Life”, Walter Ong. With the works of many different experts as well as herself included in her essay, Tannen makes it difficult for anyone to doubt her. Like Tannen, Kilbourne herself is an expert in her topic. Being the author of Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel and the creator of the award-winning film series Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women, she establishes ethos before the audience even begins reading. In addition to her own expertise, she also cites the works of other experts, making her credibility