A detailed deconstruction of the Tide advertisment

 How and why are representations constructed in the Tide advert - PEA paragraph examples

The advertisement constructs a stereotypical representation of a white working class American housewife. This representation is constructed through the MES of the gesture of the housewife hugging the box of soap. This message is anchored through the MES of the cartoon-like hearts, and finally through the lexis, Tide’s Got What Women Want, a hyperbolic mode of address which emphasises the housewife’s relationship with the product. This all constructs the straightforward ideology that women love to clean and to wash clothes. By reinforcing an ideology that women clean, a reality is constructed where the female audience will agree with the hegemonic message of the advert, and more importantly will buy the product to buy into this lifestyle. 

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In the Tide Advert, a representation of a stereotypical, American, white working class housewife is constructed. This representation is constructed through the gesture code of the housewife hugging the box, confirming its importance. Furthermore, the anchorage of the colour red symbolically represents love and passion, which in combination with the cartoonish MES of the love hearts all construct a representation of an all American stereotypical housewife. This combination of media language constructs an ideology that white American women love to clean. This deeply sexist ideology would have been tolerated in 1950s America, as it would have been a dominant hegemonic value. Ultimately this advert would strengthen the stereotypical representation of women in 1950s America. 

A detailed deconstruction

The title

• The font is bold, which connotes both importance and excitement. 
• The colour red here connotes love, passion and excitement
• The letters appear to be painted on, which has connotations of being carefree, constructing a reality where women are carefree and less serious 
• The typeface follows a wave pattern, reinforcing the themes and symbolism of water
• The letters are sans serif, which has connotations of the working class
• The exclamation mark, in combination with the bold typography constructs a stereotypical representation of women. It represents washing as the most important aspect of a woman’s life. 
• The lexis suggests a universal love for cleaning. The binary opposite of want is do not want, with the suggestion that women that do not want to clean are wrong.
• The painted font suggests a quick process and a lack of effort. It represents women as a group who do not make effort. The plain san serif typography here suggests a plain and straightforward life
• The text takes the shape of a wave, suggesting silliness and a lack of effort, again reinforcing stereotypes about women

The insert image (housewife holding the sign)

• The use of red typeface has symbolic connotations of importance 
• The housewife’s expression is exaggerated to the point of ridiculousness, constructing a hyperbolic mode of address
• The housewife holds up a sign, connotative of her passion for this product
• The use of hyperbolic lexis here represents the product as beyond the quality of its competitors
• The MES of the woman holding the sign is connotative of the woman advertising the product.  This reinforces the ideology that the white working class American housewife believes 
• The MES of the housewife’s facial expression is also ridiculously hyperbolic, constructing a representation of a stereotypical stay at home housewife 
• Finally, the MES of the overflowing washing machine is connotative of the power of the washing, again reinforcing the power of cleaning in the lives of contemporary women

The comic insert

• The facial expressions are exaggerated, with the MES of the exaggerated smiles of the women in the garden constructing a symbolic code that women enjoy washing and hanging clothes
• The setting constructs an everyday activity. Yet the representation is exaggerated and clearly fake. The MES of the speech bubbles are iconographic of comic books, a medium that tends to target younger people. This childish mode of address assumes the target is less educated, reinforcing a stereotype about women. 
• The lexis ‘there’s like proctor and gamble’s tide’ is connotative of advertising, and constructs a world where women only talk about the quality of cleaning products.
• The sans serif font of the discussion reinforces the overall style of this advertisement. Sans serif here connotes bold and eye catching, constructing a reality where the less educated female audience will be able to engage with this advert
• The binary opposition formed by the colours, with the multicoloured clothes compared to the stark white background constructs a reality where ‘washday’ is an exciting day
• The cartoon speech bubble is connotative of a much younger audience. Yet the target audience is much older than the audience for comics. Not only does the MES of the speech bubbles connote childishness, it also suggests that words are literally being put in to the mouths of the women by the producer.
• The lexis ‘there’s nothing like proctor and gamble’s tide is completely unrealistic and forced, suggesting this advert is trying every trick to convince and even manipulate the target audience to buy it. It subjectifies the audiences 

The ‘conclusion’

• The facial expression of the housewife here borders on mania. Her expression is so exaggerated it is ridiculous once again reinforcing the ideology that women adore tide. This condescending mode of address assumes a low level of education. The tone is annoying, insistent and even manipulative. 
• The endorsement by Good Housekeeping magazine reinforces the quality of the product, and is an example of brand synergy 
• The dominant ideological perspective on women in America in the 1950s is that they should cook, clean, look after the house and have/rear children.
• “Cleaner than anything you can buy” - highly manipulative mode of address that infers that not agreeing with the dominant ideology would be stupid. 
• “The best” - exaggerated language
• The housewife appears 4 times in the advert, reinforcing the definitive target audience for the advert. It also reinforces hegemonic standards of being a woman
• There is an endorsement by Good Housekeeping magazine, reinforcing the values and quality of the product. 
• Finally, the graphic encouraging the target audience to ‘remember’ reinforces the idea that this audience is less educated