That was 1958. Today advertisers are generally more sophisticated in their execution, but their primary message to and about women has remained fundamentally unchanged. To tap into our power, offer us a new shade of lipstick, a fresh-scented floor wax or, in the case of Mel Gibson's patronizing chick flick, "What Women Want," L'eggs pantyhose, Wonderbras or Nike Women's Sports gear.

The movie -- No. 2 at the box office after a month in theaters -- stars Gibson as Nick Marshall, a pompous advertising executive dubbed the "T&A King" for his successful reign over Swedish bikini-babe commercials. But Nick's campaigns leave female consumers cold and he loses an expected promotion to women's market whiz Darcy Maguire (Helen Hunt). Nick's boss explains that while he's more comfortable with Nick, men no longer dominate how ad dollars are being spent.

Once Nick acquires the ability to read women's minds -- after an unfortunate incident with volumizing mousse, a hair dryer and a bathtub -- a story unfolds that could only seem romantic to avid Advertising Age readers: Nick and his nemesis Darcy fall in love over Nike storyboards, brainstorming ways to convince consumers that "Nike wants to empower women" and "Nike is state-of-the-art, hardcore womanpower."

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"What Women Want" is more than a commercial for Mars vs. Venus gender typing; it's a feature-length product placement, a jarring reminder that the entertainment media is up for grabs by the hawkers of hair spray and Hondas. Which is not to say that the news media is off limits. Take Disney's news giant, ABC. In November, after ABC accepted a hefty fee from Campbell's soup, journalist Barbara Walters and "The View" crew turned eight episodes of their talk show into paid infomercials for canned soup. Hosting a "soup-sipping contest" and singing the "M'm! M'm! Good!" jingle on-air, they made good on ABC's promise that the "hosts would try to weave a soup message into their regular on-air banter."

And in March, after Disney bought a stake in Pets.com, the company's snarky sock puppet mascot began appearing as a "guest" on "Good Morning America" and "Nightline." It was a sad day in news when Diane Sawyer addressed her questions to a sock on a stool with a guy's hand up its butt, but that's what passes for "synergy" in today's megamerged media climate.

How does advertising's increasing encroachment into every niche of mass media impact our culture in general, and women in particular? Mothers Who Think asked pioneering advertising critic Jean Kilbourne, author of "Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel."

A favorite on the college lecture circuit, Kilbourne has produced videos that are used as part of media literacy programs worldwide, in particular "Killing Us Softly," first produced in 1979 and remade as "Killing Us Softly III" in 2000. She shares her thoughts here about advertising's effects on women, children, media and our cultural environment -- and explains why salvation can't be found in a Nike sports bra.

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