Context for Tide (Product)
Who Created Tide |
Procter & Gamble |
Launched |
1946 |
Advertising agency used |
Print and Radio |
The main character |
The Housewife |
Historical context
Consumer boom saw a development of domestic technologies |
Household appliences such as Vaccum Clearners, Washing machines, Tide becoming desirable products for the 1950's |
Tide was linked to new technologies so also saw a development during this time |
Cultural Context
Print Advertisementrs created within the 1950's conventially used more copy (words) |
Consumer culture was developing. many New products were entering the market. This meant that consumers needed more information in order to convince and audience to consume their product. |
Social and Political Contexts
Women were the primary market for products being developed for the home e.g Tide |
The sterotypical representation of domestic perfection and subserviance to men became linked to the idea of convenience and better quality of life |
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Media Language Barthes
Enigma code |
Suspusense through the enigma "What women want" |
Proairetic code |
There are multiple exclamation marks Emphaseing point being presented |
Semantic code |
The hearts above the main character connotes love for Tide |
Symbolic code |
The Hyperbole and superlatives ("Miracle", "World's cleanest wash!", "Worlds whitest wash!") to highlight the effectiveness of Tide |
Media Language - Levi Strauss
"Tide gets clothes cleaner than any other washday product you can buy!" and "There's nothing like Procter and Gamble's Tide" These both reinforce the binary opposition between Tide and other products as tide being the superior product |
"Unlike soap", "Whiter... than any soap or washing product known" and is "truly safe" which presents the idea of exclusivity with Tide that you can not get with competing products |
Codes and conventions
Primary Colours |
The conotations of the colour scheme are bright and happy |
Headings, subheadings and slogans in a sans-serif font |
Creating an informal mode of address to the consumer |
Comic strip style image |
Reinforces the informal address with informal lexis like "sudsing whizz" |
Z-Line and rule of thirds can be applied to its composition |
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Constructed Representations
The Dress Code chosen for the main character is sterotypical for the 1950's, these include a 1950's harystyle reminisent of Veronica Lake's hairstyle. Long hair was dangourus for women working with machinery |
Having the hair held back conotes the idea that she is focused on her work (perhaps binary oposing the make-up she is wearing) |
Theoretical perspectives
Hall |
The domesticity in the comic strip constucts a familiar scenario to the audience as a reflection of their own lives |
Gauntlett |
Women represented act as role models of domestic perfection that the audience may want to construct their idenity against. |
Van Zoonen |
During War time womens role in society changed, They began taking up "Male roles" while the men were at war; However, this advert does not take into account this new society and reverts back to the sexist patriarchal ideology of women being house wives. This means that Tide challenges Van Zoonen's theory that the Media contributes to social change. |
Bell Hooks |
Argues taht lighter skinned women fit better into western ideology of beauty. The advertisement reinforces this by only representing white women |
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Theoretical perspectives
Hall |
The indirect mode of address made by the woman in the main image connotes that her relationship with the product is of prime importance. This is the hegemonic encoding of the advert’s primary message that should be received by the audience. |
Gerbner |
The Tide advert aims to cultivate the ideas that it is the brand leader. Gerbner’s theory would argue that the repetition of this key message causes audiences to align their own ideologies with them. |
Targeting Audiences/Audience interpretation
The endorsement from Good Housekeeping Magazine makes them an Opinion Leader, reinforcing the quality of Tide. |
The preferred reading of the advert’s lexical fields “trust”, “truly safe”, “miracle”, “nothing like” is that, despite being “new”, Tide provides solutions to the audience’s needs. |
The likely audience is constructed through the advert’s use of women with whom they might personally identify, young women in the domestic sphere. |
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