Monday 23 September 2019

Tide Print Advert- 1950


Designed specifically for heavy duty machinery. Launched in 1946 by procter and gamble and it quickly became the brand leader in America and has maintained this position. D'arcy Masius Benton and Bowles advertising agency handled P&G's accounts throughout the 1950s. Its campaigns for tide referred explicitly to P&G because their market research showed 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 consumers loved and adored tide.



Mode of address- specifically talking to women, uses direct address- 'no wonder you women.' Makes demographic clear immediately. Forces female domestic agenda- 'you need this.' Direct mode of address.

Lexis- use of exclamation mark suggests target audience should be excited by this as well as emphasising the meaning. If you don't buy tide then you're not a woman.

Hand-painted font- connotes friendliness, approachable bur also practical. Men use typewriters and women do art. - informal mode of address. 'you women buy' men don't factor in at all, the women do the shopping and the cleaning.

Ideology
The idea, beliefs and values of the producer.

Anchorage
The way a media product is 'fixed' by elements of media language- can fix meaning.


Composition- words 'clean' and 'tide' are in red and larger, emphasises them and makes them buzzwords.

Colours- Use of patriarchal colours pushes American Dream- women stay at home at work. Red all over advert to emphasise and embed ideology of love.

Lexis- blunt repetitive, suggests women are less educated.

Mise en scene- foaming washing machine acts as symbolic code for good value and effectiveness of product- or is the overflowing suggesting that women can't even clean properly. Machine has ringer which suggests it's very hard work to use- but housewife is still overjoyed because it's tide. Cartoon images associates target audience of women with demographic of children. She's holding up sign- agreeing with messages of advert, also acting helpful to audience making them admire the brand. Buy tide so you can be as helpful as her.

Heading and three subheadings- organising it to stop women reading getting confused?

Composition- 'tide is truly safe' is written at the bottom- as though it's the least of their worries.

Lexis- Colloquial 'yes, tide will get your wash cleaner'- tells audience what they're thinking. Worlds whitest wash- alliteration makes it childlike. 'Actually brightens' -isn't lying but suggests other brands are and aren't as good. Use of language reinforces power of product- after you're persuaded to buy it's continuing to sell it with overuse of persuasive lexis. 'Miracle' religious imagery, hyperbole almost as if it's beyond science. 'Trust' all your washables with us so you don't have to trust the women. 'No wonder more tide goes American homes'-patriotic- if you don't buy tide you're not American, having tide in this country is also a privilege. 'World's whitest wash' - white is superior. reinforced by exclusively white models.


Lexis- 'Sudsing whizz' 'There's nothing like procter and gambles tide' would never be said and is clearly advertising brand. P&G are their saviours.

Composition- The word bubbles are in front of them- as if tide and talking about tide is all women have to offer.

Mise en scene- Both women are holding men's clothes, which proves they're not a gay couple but are also serving men. Dressed up to do the washing which suggests their purpose is to look good and clean- it's not practical. Ideal weather shows the tide is in an ideal world.

Stereotypical representations are used to target lower-middle-class women who are expected to be using these products. 

'Tides got what women want' -double meaning, sexual connotations appealing to men.

The use of white colours in this advert connotates purity, words 'cleanest,' 'whitest' and 'brighten' are in bold.

Composition of the poster follows Z patterns. 

Levi Strauss structuralism- the other the competition of products.

Roland Barthes- hugging the washing detergent, proairetic code. 

Audience-
20-35
New family mum
female
lower middle class

'50s and '60s were the birth of feminism, the oppositional audience would reject this. The negotiated audience would like the product but say it misrepresents them.

Friday 20 September 2019

Codes


Roland Barthes stated that codes make up all media texts. The atoms of media products. Everything you see and hear is a code

Shallow depth of field
When the subject of a code is in focus but not the background.

Hermeneutic codes
Anything that creates suspense or mystery.

Proairetic codes
Anything that suggests something is going to happen. E.g- gun

Symbolic codes
Anything that creates a deeper meaning for the audience.

Textual analysis
Breaking apart a media product in order to create meaning for the audience.

  You can see hand applying it- you can do this yourself and look like her with ease.
Gaze at the brush, acts as arrow to look at brush. Emphasises it's importance
High key Lighting around her face, makes it clear she's modelling because she's so good looking with this mascara.
Rest of makeup is fairly natural- this is the most important product and really all you need.
No jewellery on reinforces this.
Blurred woman in background, she's irrelevant compared to model.
Words maybelline are in front- powerful product
Product is in front of background of writing, powerful- important, grabs focus as well- it's larger than banners.
Hair tied up- don't have to bother with anything else if you have this mascara, makes her face the focus of the shot.
Her face takes up the shot, dominating image. If you use this product you will be the focus. She's larger than the buildings. Powerful. More important than New York
Proairetic codes of open lips- is she going to go out and kiss people? The mascara gives you confidence.
Strap line- 'maybe she's born with it. maybe it's maybelline' -recognisable, can be heard. Represents women as either naturally attractive or have to wear makeup.
New York setting- City girls use this product, New York suggests mainstream. Also stylish
Very photoshopped, image of perfection.

Z-line
The route the audience's eyes take as they look at a print product in the form of a Z.

Rule of thirds
The way in which a photo can be split into three both vertically and horizontally by the mise-en-scene and layout/composition to be more aesthetically pleasing.

Headings and Subheadings
Writing used to summarise a product or brand which the audience is expected to see immediately.

Serif font
A type of font which acts as a convention. Words more stylised and caligraphical, more fancy?

Sans-serif font
A type of font which acts as a convention. Words more bold, stand out.

Lexis
The choice of language.

Mode of address
The way in which a media product speaks to its audience.

Rule of three
The idea than an image looks better when it only has three colours.

   Heading- wavy- very feminine. In red, bold and at start of Z line so it's the first thing you see. Word 'tide' is always in red- love. Product is very domestic so having love connoted makes it seem ideal. Word tide is always in red, emphasises it's repetition- lexis makes product memorable. Tide jumps out from the words around it- like product stands out from everything.

Model- Brown hair suggests simplicity, represents women as simple. She's hugging box to her with love hearts above- woman love cleaning- visualises the slogan makes it seem more real. Hair in band, pretty with neat clothing- the ideal housewife uses tide. Two primary colours on clothing- women are basic. Box is only object with colour- tide (and cleaning) brings excitement to their lives.

Wednesday 18 September 2019

Introduction to advertising

Introduction to advertising


Conventions
Thing that make up a genre

Mise-en-scene
Everything you can see in a shot


The purpose of an advert is to sell a lifestyle, the Berger theory is that the purpose of advertising is to make the consumer mildly dissatisfied with their life.

Key theory 1
-Roland Barthes, semiotics

Semiotics
The study of meanings.

Three key parts of semiotics are the sign (anything can have a meaning), the signifier (something that creates meaning) and the signified (the meaning that is created).

Flowers- Pink, feminism- attracts demographic, beauty- makes consumer envy her. Rose next to face- compares the way she looks to a rose. Red rose suggests romance, her face is romantically appealing? 

Clothing- red gloves- ladylike, suggests maturity and properness. The ideal woman? 

Model- In mid 30s, target audience is 30+. Her holding bag over her chest suggests abstinence and properness which is what psychographic aspires to be. She fills the frame- if you this product you'll be the centre of attention. Direct mode of address builds relationship between brand and consumer, this alongside mid-shot makes consumer feel as though they're in front of her and they're in her world (this is emphasised by the flowers enveloping the camera) this makes the product feel far more attainable.

Music video revision

  Music videos are not products, they are adverts for products. They're generally freely accessible and free in price. In America they&#...