Representation In Tide Advert

 

Within the advert for Tide from the 1950s, women are represented in a way to reinforce the stereotype that all they are good for is cleaning, which was what was dominantly linked to the purpose of women back then. This is reinforced due to the masthead saying, 'Tide's got what women want' portraying that their main target audience is women as every women at that time period use tide on a daily basis and can't live without it, instigated by the verb 'want'. 

Women are represented as innocent and vulnerable due to the clothing that is given to them in the advert. The use of the polkadot dress shows innocence as a simple yet elegant design however the use of red lipstick shows seductive and vulnerability towards the product being advertised in the advert. Due to her hair being tied up you are able to get the impression that she is keen to clean and that she is keen to use this product this is also enhance by the indirect mode of address made from the audience, Yeah made of a dress made towards the product tide in the advert. Her body language instigates that she is in a happier mood due to her being in possession of the product.

I believe the message behind this advert is to suggest that women of this time took all the materials given to them to complete their ‘jobs’, Very seriously as they saw this as compulsory to what they need to do. This reinforces the stereotype that all women were seen as housewives and were only used for cooking and cleaning during this time period and the advert enhances that they are unable to for fill simple task which they destined to do about it without it. This is then portrayed as normal lifestyle in the media. 


The use of the text involved in the advert attracts women do to the keywords been highlighted in red for example; cleanest, whitest & brightest. This is eye-catching towards their target audience (women) as their job role is to complete the task in the best way possible leaving an excellent outcome therefore with the worlds cleanest, whitest and brightest this implies to the women also known as their target audience that all of these achievable with the use of their products. Their slogan  “no wonder you women buy more tired than any other wash day product!”, is also used as a way to persuade women that don’t use tide to use tide as they represent that other women are shown to use them products more than any others.

Stuart Halls theory is reinforced in this advert as he believes there is no true representation of people or events in a text however he also believes that produces try to fix a meaning behind people and events in order to reinforce the message and they are trying to get across in their product/advertisement. Furthermore he also believes that there are stereotypes are used when inequalities are in power for example when men are in more power than women. For example in the Tide advert the producer represents women as housewives from their clothes and make up and through their expression on their face especially when holding the product to show that they are dependent on materialistic things that they produce. The use of his shared conceptual road map theory is embedded in this advert as it is shown as we use it in order to develop our representations of society as a whole in our mind. 

Another theorist, David Gauntlett, believe that in the past media representations often and singled messages towards the identity of male and female. The identity of females in this advert represent them all, as a whole ,as housewives even though certain women in this time were in the working class element however it wasn’t as affective as men in the working classperiod as it wasn’t seen as the norm of society. I believe that representation has changed to huge extent from  past adverts to adverts today as no advert really includes the  stereotypes women, as women can be doing both the housework and the working outside of the house to benefit the family financially, as well as men now becoming more househusband/stay-at-home dads due to the equality in society. For example, adverts today show don't really use woman as the main protagonist however it also involves men in the advert to show equality in terms of domestic housework or it will just show the product being used by anyone and not just a particular gender.

Code	Connotations
The gesture code of the woman hugging the Tide Product	This has connotations of love and relationships and presents the product as having an important role in her life
The use of superlatives for example in ‘Worlds cleanest wash’	This has connotations of superiority and conveys a sense of excitement
The code of expression on the womans face when holding the Tide product	This has connotations of a sense of fulfilment and happiness as she is smiling whilst holding the product
The code of colour of red, white and blue used throughout the advert not only on her face but within the text as well.	This give connotations of simplicity as there isnt a lot of colour which causes complications but little colour to still stand out. Implying that red is a favoured colour. Makes the advert also seem more approachable.
The use of hyperbole in the slogan.	Over exaggerated in order to persuade other women who don’t buy Tide that they should buy Tide to be like other women