I Never Paid Attention By Jean Kilbourne And Katz

Although most of us who pursue higher education are intellectually well aware of the extensive effect of the media, Jean Kilbourne’s and Jackson Katz’s documentaries brought the whole new awareness of stereotype advertising, to which I never actually paid attention. How often do we really take this fact into account while assessing a client? The truth is that “I never paid attention” is utterly the complete opposite of what is happening. Indeed, what I did not realize is that I always paid attention to the advertising; however, this type of advertising is so perpetual and is seen everywhere that this extreme stereotype advertising clearly became normal to me over the years. It is almost like the procedural memory. If I were trying to learn how to ride a bicycle for the first time, I would obviously be attentive to every part of my body so that I would not fall from the bicycle, as it would be a new experience. But we all know that this new experience that required so much of our attention eventually becomes normalized and requires much less attention to perform as we practice over and over.
The stereotype advertising seems to me almost like this procedural effect. The repetitive exposure to the advertising is so profound and widespread that this stereotype may become the normal perceptual background, which we unconsciously
So when someone challenge the concept, I hope we are open enough to accept the challenge, explore the ideas surrounding the socially constructed concept, and reconsider the meaning of the construct. I believe that it is crucial for a clinician to be able to openly accept and critically examine challenged constructs, as we should be the ears for those who are suffered by the maladjusted social constructs and the mouth to educate those who are not aware of the