OMO Flashcards
What are the social and cultural contexts
In the 1950s it was considered to be the woman’s place, responsibility and duty to look after the home – this is reflected by a woman hanging out the washing. Dominant social values would have expected women to have taken pride and pleasure in carrying out domestic tasks.
• Because of attitudes at the time a BAME woman would not have been used to sell products to a predominantly white female audience.
Denotations
connotation and denotations
Explain how effectively is media language used to create a persuasive message?
The OMO advertisement effectively uses language techniques to create a persuasive message. Firstly, this is evident on the top third of advert where there is an exclamation mark after the word ‘bright’. The letter B is capitalised to help emphasise the word ‘bright’. The copy here uses a big, black, bold typography. These combined elements of media language helps to reinforce the brand’s main selling points, which is that their product ‘brightens’ clothes. In addition to this the repetition of the rhyming words ‘bright’ and ‘white’ is used as a persuasive technique to emphasise product’s purpose. This would engage the female audiences of 50s as the dominant social values would have expected them to take pride in cleaning, and thus purchase a product that would make carrying out these domesticated tasks easier. In conclusion, the producer potentially made these choices to bolster women’s roles in society.
How does the print advert reflect the 50s social and cultural contexts?
In the 40s to 50s there was a social and cultural shift in the way that women were presented in the media. This was because women were asked to take on the roles of men when they left to fight for the WWII. Upon their return women were asked to resume their domesticated tasks. Thus, the dominant ideology in the 50s was that women had to perform domestic tasks and place their husband’s and children’s needs above their own. This is evident in the main image of the print advert as the female figure is cleaning.
How does OMO use representations to target its audience?
Omo uses the dominant social ideology of women in the 50s to target a predominantly white working/middle class housewives. This is evident through the main image, it includes a female figure with an open body language, gracefully hanging clothes on a laundry line. She displays a happy facial expression and uses a direct mode of address, through eye contact, to engage the target audience. This reflects social and cultural context as it was considered the woman’s place, responsibility and duty to look after the home. Dominant social values would have expected women to have taken pride and pleasure in carrying out domestic tasks. As women were seen as secondary citizens, despite their grievances, they were expected to conform, accept these representations. Most of these audiences would have been desensitized and happily purchase these products. The producers of these adverts chose to convey these representations to withhold hegemonic power and convince women that they’ll be happier if they stick to their domestic tasks.
