tide Flashcards
What is the product context?
- Designed specifically for heavy-duty, machine cleaning
- Launched in 1946 by Proctor & Gamble
- The D’Arcy Marius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) used print & radio advertising campaigns concurrently to build audience familiarity quickly: used the “housewife” character and the ideology that customers “loved” Tide
What is the historical context?
Post WWII consumer boom of the 50s, included the rapid development of new technologies for the home, designed to make domestic chores easier
What is the cultural context?
Prints adverts used more copy than we’re used to seeing today
What are the codes and conventions of a print advert?
Z-line & rough rule of thirds can be applied to its composition
- Bright primary colours, which connote positive associations with the product
- Headings, subheadings and slogans are written in a sans-serif font, connoting an informal mode of address
How can Roland Barthes Semiotics theory be applied?
Hermeneutic code - suspense is created through the enigma of “what women want” and emphasised by the tension-building use of multiple exclamation marks
- Semantic code - the hearts & woman’s gesture codes connotes love & relationships
- Hyperbole & superlatives - e.g. “miracle”, “world’s whitest wash”, etc, as well S tripling, used to oppose the connoted superior cleaning power of Tide to its competitors
How can Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites be applied?
There are binary oppositions between Tide and its commercial rivals, which connotes that other, inferior products do not offer what Tide does
How are representations constructed in Tide?
Dress code - a stereotypical 1950’s hairstyle incorporating waves, curls, and rolls made fashionable by contemporary Filmstars
- The fashion for women having shorter hair had a practical catalyst as long hair was hazardous for women working with machinery in factories
- In Tide, she has her hair tied back, connoting, she’s focused on her work, though this is binary opposed to the full make-up that she’s wearing
How can Gauntlett’s Identity theory be applied?
-Women represented in the advert, act as role models of domestic perfection that the audience may want to construct their own sense of identity
How can Bell Hook’s feminist theory be applied to Tide?
- Argues that lighter skinned women are considered more desirable and fit better into the western ideology of beauty
- This is reinforced by only representing “modern” white women
How is the target audience targeted?
The likely audience demographic is constructed through the adverts use of women with whom they might personally identify with (Uses & Gratifications theory)
