A2Y2 Media Studies C1SA Tide Contexts Language and Representation

1. A Level Media
Studies
Component 1
Section A
Advertising & Marketing
Media Language & Representation
Introduction to Advertising
Case Study: Tide

2. Genre conventions of
advertising?
 Write down 3 genre conventions of advertising on a
post it note and stick it to the board.

3. Tide:
Product Context
Designed specifically for heavy-duty, machine
cleaning, Procter & Gamble launched Tide in
1946 and it quickly became the brand leader in
America, a position it maintains today.
The D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B)
advertising agency handled P&G’s accounts
throughout the 1950s. Its campaigns for Tide
referred explicitly to P&G because their market
research showed that consumers had high
levels of confidence in the company.
Uniquely, DMB&B used print and radio
advertising campaigns concurrently in order to
quickly build audience familiarity with the brand.
Both media forms used the “housewife”
character and the ideology that its customers
“loved” and “adored” Tide.

4. Tide:
Historical Context
 The post-WWII consumer
boom of the 1950s included the
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 developed
during this time, for example,
washing powder.

5. Tide:
Cultural Context
 Print adverts from the 1950s
conventionally used more copy
(written text) than we’re used to
seeing today.
 Consumer culture was in its early
stages of development and, with
so many ‘new’ brands and
products entering markets,
potential customers typically
needed more information about
them than a modern audience,
more used to advertising,
marketing and branding, might
need.

6. Tide
 Conduct a semiotic analysis of
Tide print advert – how does it
use media language; including
genre codes and conventions to
persuade/sell the product?
 Remember:
denotation/connotation
 Consider visual codes: colour,
costume, expression, gesture,
language, typography (font, etc),
layout

7. Tide
How does the text's use
of media language reflect
is production context?
Consider the following:
 1950s post war Consumer
boom – products such as washing
machines and powder are new to
the market
 New product launched
by established household
name Proctor and Gamble.

8. Tide
How might you apply the following
theories?
 Roland Barthes' semiotics
 Steve Neale's Genre theory
 Tzvetan Todorov's Narratology
 Roland Barthes' Narrative Codes
 Claude Levi Strauss's Structuralism &
binary oppositions
 Jean Baudrillard's Postmodernism &
hyperreality

9. Representation

10. Tide Representation:
Social and Political Context
Women in the War.
During World War 2, women were required to
take up roles in the workforce traditionally done
by men, since the men were away fighting.
This meant, for the first time, women were being
encouraged to do ‘manly’ jobs, in factories, on
farms and elsewhere.
There was a huge recruitment drive to get
women to join the Women’s Land Army.

11. Tide Representation:
Social and Political Context
Women in the War.
The representations in these
adverts challenge stereotypical
views of women being confined to
the domestic sphere, something
society needed at the time as
traditional ‘male roles’ were
vacated as men left to fight.

12. Tide Representation:
Social and Political Context
Women in the War.
Representations of women at this time were mixed.
They needed to show women being strong and capable, in masculine roles.
But this needed to be balanced with maintaining their ‘feminine’ side, to
remain attractive for male approval.
Also, advertisers believed once the men returned from war, the women
would go back to their domestic roles. Women entering the workforce was
only expected to be temporary so the social attitudes towards women’s roles
did not change.
Further reading: http://scalar.usc.edu/students/rosie-the-riveter-
archive/rosie-the-riveter-original-wwii-poster?path=clorox-rosie-the-riveter-
advertisement

13. Rosie The
Riveter
This poster is an iconic symbol of
women at this time. The character
shown is known as “Rose The
Riveter” (actually a drawing of
Geraldine Doyle).
She is flexing her arm while wearing a
blue work shirt. She wears her hair up
in a red bandana. The top of the
poster states: “We Can Do It!” and the
bottom right corner of the poster
states “War Production Co-ordinating
Committee”.

14. Rosie The
Riveter
The image is multi-faceted, as it has
been used to empower women, or
inspire social and political
movements, as well as to promote
women as homemakers and
alternative views on the women's
movement.

15. Inspired by Rosie The Riveter
http://scalar.usc.edu/students/rosie-the-riveter-archive/index

16. Inspired by Rosie The Riveter
P!nk in music
video for
Raise your
glass

18. Tide Representation:
Social and Political Context
Women in the War.
In the 1950s, while men were
being targeted for the post-war
boom in America’s car industry,
women were the primary market
for the technologies and products
being developed for the home.
In advertising for these types of
texts, 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.

19. Tide Representation:
Social and Political Context
Women in the War.
Due to the plethora of new products
available to use around the house by
the 1930’s it was seen that women
were in charge of the ‘domestic’ side of
the house and that the budgeting of the
house fell to them.
This was reflected in the media and
advertisers from companies such as
Tide as they targeted women in their
adverts.
Advertisers used flattery to ‘hail women
as experts’ and housework gained a
‘higher status’.
Don’t forget women had been out
working in the fields and factories
during the War and so, the needed to
be ‘enticed’ back into the house.

20. Tide Representation
What parts of the ‘world’ (i.e. groups of people, places,
ideas, etc) are portrayed?
Are any of the representations stereotypical? Do they
go against stereotype in any way?
How is media language used to construct these
representations?
What aspects of reality have been selected and
omitted?
What values and beliefs (ideologies) are present
within the representation?
What factors do you think have impacted upon this
representation?
How does the texts social and cultural context impact
upon its construction?
How might we apply Stuart Hall's theory on
representation here?

21. Tide Representation
How might we apply the following theories on
representation here?
 Stuart Hall: Representation & Stereotyping
 David Gauntlett: Representation & Identity
A2
 Liesbet Van Zoonen: Representation & Gender
stereotypes
 bell hooks: Representation & Intersectionality
 Judith Butler: Representation & Gender
Performativity
 Paul Gilroy: Representation & Post colonialism

22. Task: Tide Then and Now
 Compare and contrast the use of
media language and construction of
representations in the Tide "What Women Want
advert from with the Tide Superbowl ad from 2018
below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpaLHwwYxE8
• In what ways are they similar?
• In what ways are the different?
• What are the reasons for this?
• How has the context impacted upon
them?
• Apply theory where appropriate
Write a response (400-500 words) and be
prepared to share findings with class.