Tide Representation

Question 1

What is Tide?

Answer 1

A washday product created by Proctor and Gamble in 1946

Question 2

What year is the Tide poster from?

Answer 2

1953

Question 3

How did the post WW2 consumer boom influence the Tide advert?

Answer 3

There was a rapid development of new
technologies for the home, designed to make
domestic chores easier. Vacuum cleaners,
fridge freezers, microwave ovens and washing
machines all become desirable products
for the 1950s consumer. Products linked to
these new technologies also develop during
this time, for example, washing powder.

Question 4

What enigma code is present within the Tide advert and how is it solved?

Answer 4

‘Tides got what women want’ - What is it that women want? Solved through the use of the Z line.

Question 5

How could Barthes Semantic Codes be applied to Tide?

Answer 5

Through the iconography of the love hearts - connotes to the audience that she loves Tide.

Question 6

What examples are there for hyperbole and superlatives on the Tide advert?

Answer 6

“Miracle”,
“World’s cleanest wash!” “World’s whitest
wash!”

Question 7

In advertising in the 1950s, how were both men and women commonly represented?

Answer 7

Stereotypical
representations of domestic perfection, caring
for the family and servitude to the ‘man of the
house’ became linked to a more modern need for
speed, convenience and a better standard of living
than the women experienced in the pre-war era

Question 8

How does the 1950s context influence the characters hair style on the advertisement?

Answer 8

The stereotypical 1950s
hairstyle incorporating waves, curls and rolls
made fashionable by contemporary film stars
such as Veronica Lake, Betty Grable and Rita
Hayworth. 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

Question 9

How does the dress code of the headband/ scarf link to the practicalities of the 1950s?

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

How can Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory be applied to Tide?

Answer 10

Throughout the Tide advert, women are represented heavily through the use of stereotypes (through the representation of the domesticated housewife). This is likely due to ‘inequalities of power’, as a result of the patriarchal society at the time. By reducing the women on the poster down ‘to a few simple
characteristics or traits’, it perhaps forms part
of the ‘shared conceptual road map’ that gives meaning to the “world” of the advert.

Question 11

How can David Gauntlett’s Identity Theory be applied to Tide?

Answer 11

A 1950s housewife may identify with the women shown on the Tide poster, and thus use her as a role model, based off of which they will ‘construct their identity’. As a result, they will buy Tide, thus resulting in a dominant reading for Proctor and Gamble. Furthermore, the representations of gender constructed within Tide are ‘singular and straightforward’ - reflecting the 1950s context.

Question 12

How can bell hooks’ Theory of Intersectionality be applied to Tide?

Answer 12

Tide embodies the ‘patriarchal oppression’ that bell hooks discusses within her theory. It could be argued that the fact that all 5 women represented within the Tide poster are white and middle class reinforces the oppression of the black working class in 1950s America.

Question 13

How can van Zoonen’s Feminist Theory be applied to Tide?

Answer 13

The representations constructed within the Tide advert could reflect the ‘discourse’ that van Zoonen discusses within her feminist theory - the representations we see within the advert of the housewife stereotype were extremely common within 1950s society.

‘Women belong to the family and domestic life’ - van Zoonen

Question 14

What is Stuart Halls representation theory?

Answer 14

• the idea that representation is the production of meaning through language, with
  language defined in its broadest sense as a system of signs
• the idea that the relationship between concepts and signs is governed by codes
• the idea that stereotyping, as a form of representation, reduces people to a few simple
  characteristics or traits
• the idea that stereotyping tends to occur where there are inequalities of power, as
  subordinate or excluded groups are constructed as different or ‘other’ (e.g. through
  ethnocentrism).

Question 15

What is David Gauntlett’s identity theory?

Answer 15

• the idea that the media provide us with ‘tools’ or resources that we use to construct our
  identities
• the idea that whilst in the past the media tended to convey singular, straightforward
  messages about ideal types of male and female identities, the media today offer us a
  more diverse range of stars, icons and characters from whom we may pick and mix
  different ideas.

Question 16

What is van Zoonens feminist theory?

Answer 16

• the idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and that its meaning varies
  according to cultural and historical context
• the idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element
  of western patriarchal culture
• the idea that in mainstream culture the visual and narrative codes that are used to
  construct the male body as spectacle differ from those used to objectify the female body.

Question 17

What is bell hooks’ theory of Intersectionality?

Answer 17

• the idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology
  of domination
• the idea that feminism is a political commitment rather than a lifestyle choice
• the idea that race and class as well as sex determine the extent to which individuals are
  exploited, discriminated against or oppressed