Tide Print Advert Analysis

Slogan:
The slogan of the print advert gives us a very clear target audience, along with a very clear perspective of who created the advert. The slogan reads 'No wonder why you women buy more Tide than any other washday product' which plays on the very real stereotypes that were present during when the advert was created (the 1950s). During this time, women were stereotypically seen as the ones who stayed at home, cooked, washed, cleaned, and looked after the kids, whilst men would be the ones who would go out to work. The group term of 'women' also connotes this as it is demonstrating that this ad is aimed towards all types of women. These stereotypes are also heightened through the use of the term 'any other wash day products', as it suggests that all women that focus on buying is washing products to use around the house, further implementing the idea that all women are used for is looking after children and completing chores around the house. This slogan is an example of the use of hegemonic code, which in turn brings  in the representation of collective identity, as the advert's slogan is referring to women as a whole.

Heading:

The heading reads 'Tides got what women want!' which not only continues with the idea that this advert is very stereotypical of women in the 1950's, it also tries to compare women's love of Tide to women's love of men in a way, which is additionally backed up by the image being placed underneath it. This could also connote that to make men happy with their wives, they have to buy Tide so that they can do all of the washing chores to a high standard, in turn impressing them.  This interpretation also proves that this advert was written from a man's perspective because it is stereotyping women, 'putting them in their place' as a sense. Furthermore, this slogan is written in bright red colours is used to catch the attention of the audience, helping the advert to get more attention from women who may want to buy the product.

Lighting and Colour:

The colour scheme used is mainly red in colour, which is used for two main reasons. The first reason it's used is that it helps to catch the reader's attention, as it's bright coloring is very eye catching, which helps people to notice the advert.  The second reason that the advert uses red is that it ties into the colour of the brand that is being promoted, as the product Tide had a red box. The advert also focuses of the main primary colours for everything, which was a common convention of adverts like this, as it created positive connotations with the audience to where they would want to purchase the product after reading the advert. This use of primary colours also appears on the actual box of tide. This convention also explains the reason why the main image is shown the way it is, as it demonstrates the woman having positive feelings (could be seen as love) towards Tide as a product. 

In this advert there isn't much lighting used as it's a print advert with the images drawn in a comic strip style, however the only lighting that is really being used is where it has been shaded into the images.

Images:

All of the images that are displayed in the advert are women, which is the main target audience of the print advertisement. The main image, which is situated on the middle left of the print advert, shows the woman in traditional housewife clothing hugging the box of Tide. This main image gives the connotations of love and relationships, suggesting that women specifically would only use that product and no other brand. This advert mainly focuses on women liking the product, which is shown through the multiple images of women, all which are shown doing the housework. This is used for a typical stereotype of women at the time, which is why the advert fully panders towards women. One example of these images is the two women in the bottom right corner talking about how good the product is.

 

The main image displayed also has some similarities to a character that was portrayed in print media adverts throughout WWII 'Rosie the Riveter'. This character was used to empower women into rebuilding the country whilst the men were out fighting. The similarities between these two characters include the headscarf that the women are wearing, which connotes empowerment as it's the binary opposite for women having makeup and long hair, which is often the stereotype of women. Another similarity is the pose that the woman are displayed in, which also shows them as strong and dominant. However, the main difference between the two is the meaning. The 'Rosie the Riveter' character used in WWII was used to empower women into doing the jobs the stereotypical man used to do, however in the Tide advert the woman isn't being convinced to do it for her country, she is now being convinced to do it for her husband and family. This plays into Stuart Hall's representation theory as it demonstrated the clear stereotypes that were put onto women, that they had to be the carers and always look after the family and children, whilst the men were the independent ones who would go out and earn the money.

Graphics:

The graphics in the tide print advert are all drawings of women, tying in with the slogan and tagline that is shown in the advert. This further proves that the advert is aiming their product at women, further proving the stereotypical ideology that women were the ones that stayed at home. These graphics are also similar to ones that were used to encourage women to do the 'men's jobs' whilst they were at war. This represents that they are empowering women in a way, however instead of empowering them to do it for their country, they're empowering them to do it for their partners and children. 

Clothing/ Props/ Gesture/ Expression:

The clothing of the women in the advert is very typical of the time. The headscarf and dresses worn by the women show a very stereotypical representation of women. These are very typical costumes for women at the time, as are seen to be represented as housewives as mentioned previously. The props that are used in this print advert also represent this, as they show typical washday products and the actual Tide box that the woman is hugging.

Lexis:

The heading and the slogans are put together in an informal font along with the cartoonish styles of the whole advert. This informal tone in the font helps the audience feel familiarity with the advert and stops the poster from intimidating and possibly dissuading people from buying the product, as they feel an aggressive tone may mean the product isn't telling the truth. On the other hand, the larger group of text that is written on the side of the advert is written in a formal style and font, making the writing seem like it's factual information, however it's just the marketing that the company has decided to put out for the audience to believe. The advert also uses superlatives and triple sets of words to show that the product is superior to other competitive brands, whilst highlighting what the product is actually meant to do for the people buying the product. 

Unique Selling Point:

The unique selling point is represented through the advert, as it talks about what Tide can do that other products can't. This is represented through the line of text at the bottom of the page ' Tide gets clothes cleaner than any other washday product' , 'there's nothing like Proctor and Gamble's Tide' and 'new washing miracle' which is displayed on the actual packing on the Tide box. Other language areas that further try to persuade the audience that their product is much better than other brands is 'world's cleanest wash', 'world's whitest wash' and 'actually brightens colours', which is  displayed under the line 'only Tide does all three'  which is showing that Tide can do things that (supposedly) other products are unable to do. 

Another way that Tide could have been seen as a unique selling point is through the fact that washday products and appliances were quite new for people living in the 1950s, so when all of these products came onto the market after the appliances were released, people wanted to buy the and see how well they worked, so the fact that the product was even created in the first place was a unique selling point, as not many companies were producing high quality products like Tide was.

Direct Mode of Address:

In the images, there isn't any specific example of direct mode of address, however the text and language that is used does. The slogan for this advert is 'No wonder you women buy more Tide than any other washday product' which makes sure to directly aim the advert at housewives at the time, especially with the term 'you women'. They use this direct mode of address through language at other points in the print advert, with the constant use of 'your wash' and 'you' as a word in general. This helps to create the main target audience for the advert whilst using the direct mode of address. 

Context:

Product Context:
Tide was a product designed by Proctor and Gamble and was launched in 1946 and quickly became the leading brand in America.  The adverts created for this product were made by The D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, however they always specifically referred to P&G throughout the adverts as consumers had a high level of confidence in them. These advertisers used print and radio based advertising campaigns concurrently to build up brand familiarity. They used the 'housewife' character so they could create the ideology that they 'loved' and 'adored' tide.

Historical Context:
After WWII, the market for consumer good boomed, with the introduction of new home technology, including vacuum cleaners, washing machines, microwaves and fridge freezers.This, in turn, brought out more print adverts promoting these products specifically for these new developments, such as the one used in this example, washing powder, along with others.

Cultural Context:

The print adverts used in the 1950s, used more copy than we used currently today. During this time, consumer culture was still in it's early stages. To buy these new products, the customer needs more information about it as they have never used the product before, so they all used common conventions of print media adverts:

 

Codes and Conventions:

• Z-line and a rough rule of thirds to apply to the composition 
• Bright and bold primary colours to connote positive associations with the products for the audience 
• Headings, slogans and slogans in a sans serif font- connotes and informal mode of address 
• comic strip styles of advertising and using informal lexis- continues that informal mode of address 
• technical details written in a serif font- creates a serious and formal tone to contrast the informal sans serif font 

Theoretical Perspectives:

• 'what women want' creates suspense through this enigma, emphasised with the use of multiple exclamation marks 
• Barthes' Semantic code can be applied here- the use of the hearts above the main image and the main image itself connote the image of love and relationships 
• Hyperbole and superlatives connote the superior cleaning power of the product 

Structuralism- Claude Lévi-Strauss:

• Structuralism is where the texts are constructed through the use of binary oppositions 
• 'There's nothing like Proctor and Gamble's Tide' reinforces the conceptual opposition between tide and it's rivals
• 'Whiter than any other soap or washing powder known' and 'truly safe' all connote the other are inferior and do not offer what tide does