Tide Flashcards
When was the advert made and why is it significant?
1946, at the start of the 1950s post WW2 consumer boom
Poster talking points:
Print conventions: More copy, providing detailed information for a less advertising-savvy audience
Enigma and suspense are created through “what women want” (Hermeneutic Code).
Codes and conventions: Z-line, primary colors, sans-serif font, comic strip style, and serif font for technical details.
Theoretical Perspectives - Semiotics (Roland Barthes):
Semantic Code applied to hearts and gestures, connoting love and relationships.
Hyperbole, superlatives, and tripling were used to establish Tide’s superior cleaning power.
What intertextual reference is used?
Due to the period, many people were into romance movies, tide uses intertextual references to romance movies that an audience of the time would get.
Also Intertextual references to WWII posters like ‘Rosie the Riveter’ and the ‘Women’s Land Army.’
Theoretical Perspectives - Structuralism (Claude Lévi-Strauss):
Text constructed through binary oppositions, emphasizing Tide’s superiority over rivals.
The conceptual binary opposition between Tide and competitors is reinforced through slogans.
Theoretical Perspectives - Stuart Hall’s theory:
Images form a “shared conceptual road map” familiar to the audience.
Theoretical Perspectives - David Gauntlett’s theory of identity:
Women in the advert act as role models of domestic perfection.
Theoretical Perspectives - Liesbet Van Zoonen:
Challenges traditional housewife roles represented in the advert.
Theoretical Perspectives - bell hooks:
Suggests the reinforcement of Western beauty ideals and colonial power.
Theoretical Perspectives - Reception Theory (Stuart Hall):
The indirect mode of address emphasizes the woman’s relationship with Tide.
Direct mode of address reinforces dominant messages through imperatives.
Cultivation Theory (George Gerbner):
Tide advert cultivates ideas of brand leadership, superior washing, and innovation.
Repetition aligns audience ideologies positively with the key messages.
What reading may audiences have to the advert?
Women and men at the time may have agreed with the advert and have a preferred reading due to social norms
Modern audiences will have an oppositional reading due to the idea of being a housewife no longer being an acceptable stereotype
What was the target audience of the advert?
Despite evolving women’s roles after WWII, 1950s domestic products targeted female audiences.
Likely target audience: Affluent lower-middle-class women seeking innovative domestic technologies.
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What was the aim of the advert?
The advert aimed to encourage stereotypical gender roles and to encourage women to go back to the workplace after having to work during the war
Who else does the advert appeal to?
Aspirers, Mainstreamers, people seeking the American dream
