The ideal female body. Her skin is unblemished; she has no wrinkles or scars, and indeed she has no pores. It’s what the advertising industry will have you believe. But the truth is that the ideals of the female body have been used as a thing or object to sell us values, love, sexuality and more importantly, normalcy.

Girls learn from a young age that they must spend enormous amounts of time and money to achieve the ideal look. And it inevitable that most women will fail in their quest for perfection due to the perception is based on absolute flawlessness.

Not even supermodels achieve it. “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.” – Cindy Crawford.

In Killing Us Softly 4, Jean Kilbourne discusses how advertising is persuading women of all ages that they need to be beautiful, sexy, and skinny.

She warns that dehumanising the female body can result in low self-esteem and the feeling of worthlessness. Jean advises that new generations should take women in advertising seriously, pay attention and think critically about popular culture, and realise that advertising has an effect on us all.

The documentary also explores the increasing objectification of men in the media and the damaging implications of treating a person as a commodity or an object.