Tide Print Advert Flashcards
1
Q
Historical context
A
- The post WWII consumer boom of the 1950’s included the rapid development of the new technologies for the home, designed to make domestic chores easier. (E.g. washing machines, vaccum)
- It was the primary market for women for the technologies being developed for the home.
- Stereotypical representations of domestic perfection and subserviance to men became linked to the more modern need for convenience and a better quality of life.
2
Q
the 1950’s
A
- new appliances such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners were being sold to consumers.
- These new ‘white goods’ were highly desirable for consumers.
- The Housewife was the main consumer of soap powders and huge budgets were spent by companies and Print advertising.
- The term we still use today ‘Soap Opera’ was created because soap powders were advertised heavily during day time.
3
Q
how does tide advert target its audience
A
- through use of messages this attracts the audience and encourage them to buy.
- what is the look of the advert? – Strong primary colours, large font size so it stands out in a magazine or newspaper.
- the use of the colour red connotes love – emotionally intense colour. The woman smiling suggests happiness and joy because of the product advertised.
- The use of Hyperbole and exclamation marks makes the product seem a ‘must have’.
- Appeals to the housewife ‘aspirer’ in the 1950’s a clean and perfect home was considered the ideal.
- The woman in the main image is attractive and happy, the connotation would be if you use Tide you too will be happy.
- Washing Machines were new technology which gave women ‘freedom’/more leisure time so were incredibly desirable.
4
Q
Modes of Address the advert
A
- Think about who would have written the advert. =men!
- Think about how this will impact the language used. = It can be argued that the advert reinforces a stereotypical patriarchal view of 1950’s society.
- The advert uses a conversational mode of address, in this case this is an example of synthetic personalisation (trying to create the feeling of a personal relationship between the reader and the text).
- The language is colloquial, using an American informal tone, to mimic the style women of the era would have talked to each other.
- In advertising today, facts are used to create credibility.
- Towards the bottom of the poster is the certificate of Good Housekeeping Act, reassuring the audience of the trust-worthiness of the brand and of its superiority
5
Q
audience + representation
Cultivation Theory (Gerbner)
A
- this theory surrounds the idea that the more an individual watches television the more they believe what they see on television is a depiction of reality.
- This theory applies to Tide as it involves the repeated representation that women want the domesticated life of wanting their washing clean and white.
- You could therefore argue that the advert reinforces the stereotype of how a housewife should behave and therefore the behaviour became the norm.
- that it is a miracle product, and is desirable for its female audience the repetition of key messages causes audiences to align their own ideologies with them
- Tide’s what women want!” The repeated idea that what women want is a washing up product both reiterates the domestic role and the idea that Tide is necessary to have a comfortable life.
6
Q
Cultural + economic context
industry
A
- In the 1950 they used more copy than today. - nw we have digitally converge
- Many new brands and products entering markets & needed more advertising, marketing and branding.
- Conventions of print based advertising are still recognised
- In the 1950’s there was a economy boom, so people had more disposable income to spend on product
- Consumer culture was still developing with many new brands and products entering markets.
- Therefore potential customers typically needed more information about them than a modern audience
7
Q
Conventional media language
A
- Bright, primary colours connote the positive association the producers want the audience to make with the product.
- san serif font heading and slogan - which can reinforce cleaniness & refreshness = its also is address in an informal mode of address - aligning with its readership
- Z-line view = the first thing the audience will read is the subheading; where direct address is also used to attract their audience further.
- The hegemonic code reinforces collective identity of those who buy it and assumed acceptance that all women buy the brand.
- The more ‘technical’ details of the product are written in a serif font, connoting the more ‘serious’ or ‘factual’ information that the ‘1,2,3’ bullet point list include
8
Q
hall representation
A
- Despite its ‘comic strip’ visual construction, the scenario represented is familiar to the audience as a representation of their own lives
- The posters main slogan “Tide’s got what women want” further links women to the domestic sphere of the 1950’s.
- Statistically, women were twice as likely to feature in a domestic advert in the 1950’s than a man was.
- Tide uses the stereotype of domesticity as much as other adverts did in the 1950s, furthering and intensify the stereotype.
- The images of domesticity (including the two women hanging out the laundry) that give meaning to the “world” of the advert.
- The costume and gesture of the central image of the empowered women represents the arm gesture of Rosie the Riveter. This can empower women even if it still represents that they are in charge of the domestics. Moreover, linking in further with the war and how women were allowed to be apart of the war effort.
9
Q
representation - audiences
A
Despite the changes in womens roles in society during the war (where they were needed in medical, military support and other roles outside of the home) domestic products of the 1950s continued to be aimed at female audiences.
* The likely target audience of increasingly affluent lower-middle class women were, being appealed to because of their supposed need for domestic technologies and products.
* The likely audience demographic is constructed through the advert’s use of women with whom they might personally identify (Uses and Gratifications Theory).
* These young women are likely to be newly married and with young families (the men’s and children’s clothing on the washing line creates these connotations).
* The preferred reading (Stuart Hall) of the advert’s reassuring lexical fields (“trust”, “truly safe”, “miracle”, “nothing like”) is that, despite being a “new” product, Tide provides solutions to the audience’s domestic chores needs.
10
Q
representation of gender
links to social/political issues
A
- The dress codes of the advert’s main female character include a stereotypical 1950s hairstyle incorporating waves, curls and rolls made fashionable by contemporary film stars such as Veronica Lake,
- The fashion for women having shorter hair had a practical catalyst as long hair was hazardous for women working with machinery on farms or in factories during the war.
- Intertextual reference – 1943 we can do it! ad (hairstyle and arm placement, make-up look, audience women, similar drawn cartoon line imagery
- powerful representations of women would appeal to the target audience of post war women
- The headband worn by the woman also links to the practicalities that women’s dress codes developed during this time.
- For this advert, having her hair held back connotes she’s focused on her work, though this is perhaps binary opposed to the full makeup that she’s wearing.
11
Q
Semiotics- Barthes
A
- Suspense is created through the enigma codes of ‘what women want’ = emphasise the tension building used of multiple exclamation marks
- Semantic Code: Hearts above the main image connote love for the product = see this in the woman’s gesture codes - connotations of love and relationships.
- Symbolic Code: hyperbole and super superlatives (‘miracles’ , ‘worlds whitest wash’) as well as tripling connotes superior cleaning power of Tide to its competitors.= this highlight the power of the product
- Proairetic Code = Emphasise is created by multiple exclamation marks
12
Q
Structuralism: Levi-Strauss
A
- ‘Tide gets clothes cleaner than any other product’
- Reinforce the conceptual binary opposition between Tide and its commercial rivals
- ‘unlike soap’ & ‘truly safe’ connotes that other brands are inferior product don’t offer what Tide does.
- it persuading buyers to purchase their product.
- There is also a binary opposite of the ‘We can do it!’ advert and the Tide advert.
- However, they are binary opposites in their meaning, while the ‘we can do it’ advert is serious and inspiring
- the Tide advert appears more jokey and degrading for women. = ‘comic strip’ visual construction
- The binary opposite of the white background to the bright primary colours of the images both focuses the audiences attention onto the product and connotes a tone of cleanliness.
13
Q
(Hall reception theory )
A
- The indirect mode of address made by the woman in the main image connotes that her relationship with the product is of prime importance.(Tide has what she wants).
- The direct mode of address of the images in the top right and bottom left-hand corner link to the imperative “Remember!” and the use of personal
pronouns (“your wash,” “you can buy”) - Preferred audience would be 1950’s women who have accepted and prefer the largely patriarchal view encoded in the Tide advert.
- They would have been persuaded by the advert to buy the product in the hope it would make their lives easier.
- The negotiated audience would be accepting of the new product as useful but also acknowledge that it hasn’t transformed their lives into the glamorous representation of domesticity constructed by the advert. = The misrepresentation of women loving housework might be due the predominantly male ownership of media companies
- The oppositional audience would be 1950’s women who felt frustrated and unhappy by their enforced return to domesticity.
- They are not convinced by the persuasive devices employed in the advertisement, which doesn’t reflect the reality of their actual lives.
14
Q
Gauntlett theory of identity
A
- Women represented in the advert act as role models of domestic perfection that the audience may want to construct their worn sense of identity against
- They are shown near washing machines, hugging washing powder
- Each representation further perpetuates the domestic stereotype of women in the 1950’s.
- This presents an ideal type of female identity as a housewife who cleans / doesnt work outside of the household environment.
- Furthermore, the repeated use of the word ‘women’ reiterates that women are the target audience of this advert and product.
- this differ from products adverts today.
- Modern adverts tend to show a range of people using the cleaning product both men and women, young and old.
- By including a more diverse range of people using the product in modern adverts, in terms of Gauntlett’s theory, they are more likely to attract wider audience as people feel more included.
- The 1950’s Tide advert could attract a range of audience responses; both positive and negative.
- A 1950’s audience would be more welcoming to the advert than a modern audience as they are more familiar with representation
15
Q
Van Zoonen feminists theory
A
- During the war, women’s role in society changed, taking up ‘male roles’ while the men were away at war.
- However this advert doesn’t represent this new society and reverts back to women being in the domestic sphere.
- Therefore not conforming to Van Zoonen’s theory that the media contribute to social change by representing women in non-traditional roles and using non-sexist language
