Analyse how the technical codes are used to persuade the specific audience at this specific time to buy the product.
You should include the following technical codes and historical contexts :
- Layout and design
- Lighting and colour
- Images
- Graphics
- Clothing /props/ gesture/expression
- Lexis (language)
- Unique selling point
- Mode of address
- the 1950s consumer and technology boom
- the stereotypical housewife
- the American dream of success and upward mobility
- post-war American wealth
- the growth in American suburbs
- 1950s fashion and film imagery
You should also include analysis of at least two theories ( Hall, van Zoonen etc.)
The advert uses bold and bright fonts to attract the audience's attention immediately. It also has an exaggerated use of exclamation marks which appear as if the person is shouting directly at the audience to get the message of the advert across. The shouting is sensed from the font being nearly all in capital letters.
The slogan of the advert is bigger than all the other fonts, clearly indicating the target audience as being women, portraying the product as "what every woman wants". This could attract men who would would want to buy it for their women or even women who buy it for themselves. Overall, the target audience is middle or working class as it is for housewives who clean the house and not necessarily upper class women who get maids or cleaners to do the housework for them.
The tone of the advert is friendly and humorous, as if the advert is talking directly to the audience in a talkative manner which is used to attract them even more. This makes the audience more involved and makes them feel more persuaded to buy the product as they were approached in a more human manner instead of just a boring advert which doesn't talk directly to them, that just adds information about the product.
The woman looks very happy which hints to the audience that they will be quite happy too if they buy the product, and that it is a good product which is looked positively upon.
The fact that the woman is holding the product as if it is her baby shows how much women love cleaning in a stereotypical way, as women are generally made to clean and take care of everything as their role in life. The advert has used hearts above her head to show how deeply she loves the product whilst she is hugging it. This could symbolise that it doesn't take much to make a woman happy, just a simple cleaning product could be the best thing in her life.
On the other hand, the message that men do not satisfy the needs of women and that objects satisfy them more is seen in this advert as the woman would appear to prefer having the Tide product in her arms rather than her husband. Also, there are no males in the advert, only women, laundry and cleaning products, almost like a housewife's "dream".
The woman looks quite glamorous and made up with makeup which shows her family probably has money as she doesn't appear to look poor in any way, from her neat clothes and hair.
The makeup makes her appear attractive to attract men, another stereotypical message of women being mainly used for the male satisfaction.
The colours red, blue and white are used quite a lot which are the primary colours, but also the colour of America which feeds in to the fact that the advert is of an American woman in the 1950s.
There is a strong bright hue of yellow and orange in her skin tone which makes her appear happy and joyful in life, with glowing tones all over as if the sun is shining.
There appears to be five images of housewives in the advert of whom are all white. This is because in those days most women in America were white, and not many were black. Black housewives didn't really have the wealth or higher-class reputation to be included in adverts, as they didn't have money to have TVs or make it to Hollywood to be featured in adverts, hence why they are not seen as the target audience of this product.
All of the housewives in the advert are wearing the same dotted blouse which groups them all as almost the same person, as if housewives of that time all dressed very similar as they didn't do much other than clean.
However, the clothes that the housewives are wearing are very tidy and ironed which shows they are quite clean and wash their clothes regularly, to seem as appealing as possible for women of that time.
The main housewife in the centre of the advert is pouting her lips in an almost sexual way to show she is very attracted to the Tide product as if it is her husband or something. This makes the product appear more appealing and wanted by the target audience.
As Van Zoonen says in her feminist theory, women are objectified as a result of Western culture and are seen in a very different way to men. Women's bodies are to be looked at and admired in a lustful way as a core element of Western patriarchal culture.
The advert is just a few years after WW2 which also states the post-war wealth that Americans gained which can be seen in the way the housewives are presented as well-dressed and well-kept.
