Advertising Revision - Tide & Queen Of Outer Space

Component 1 Section A

Comparing a text we've studied with an unseen text.
Advertising, music video, or newspaper industries.

Media language and representation - Textual analysis

"How do these adverts reflect the sociohistorical context of the time they were made?" [30]

Tide & Queen of Outer Space

Kneejerk Reaction -
Both heavily feature beauty standards of the time. The Queen of Outer Space is in the image of Marilyn Monroe. Sexualised. Tide is more stereotypical of the times (end of 50s start of 60s). The women in the Tide advert are domestic and quite plain - QOS has a 'Queen' and an empowered looking woman. She is in a short costume, the tagline reads "Mankind's First Fantastic Flight To Venus - The Female Planet!" This could be used to objectify and sexualise the women as an object in order to sell to a teen male audience - the typical audience for Sci-Fi films.

The Tide advert, make in the 1950's, reflects a highly consumerist, conventional ideology that uses stereotypical representations of gender to not only sell the product but a lifestyle too. In contrast, Queen of Outer Space presents arguably more progressive representations through familiar sci-fi iconography, offering a more polysemic, challenging depiction.

Step 3 - Plan

Put key terms on the page:

Key Words -
Sexualisation
Objectification
Domestic
Sci-Fi
Iconography
Time period - 50s
Colour theory - red and yellow
Stereotypical representations
Ideologies
Gender Roles
Beauty
Male Gaze
Hegemony
Mise-En-Scene
Binary Opposition
Gender Performativity
Gender Binary
Patriarchal Hegemony
Symbolic Annihilation

Theories -
Van Zoonen / Sexualisation
Hall / Representation
Barthes / Semiotics
Judith Butler / Gender Performativity
Bell Hooks / Feminist Theory
David Gauntlett / Pick and Mix

Step 4 - Introduction

Define 

Sociohistorical context is the values, the social climate, the cultural zeitgeists of the time that the product was made. In terms of context, it is based around how all of these are applied to the product, and what this means to how we construct it as audiences.

"The way in which ideologies, trends, attitudes relating to a certain time and place can be reflected within a media product (Represented, audiences, industries).

Argument

What argument am I trying to make around my keywords?
Example: "While contrasting, both Tide and Queen of Outer Space both strongly reflect ideologies, particularly in regards to consumerism and representation, of the time in which they were made."

Context

What do we know about Tide?
Tide advertisement was made in 1950s
The advertisement was produced by Procter & Gamble (The parent company of Tide, it is a large American company)
Tide was and still is a market leader, but was the number 1 choice in the 50s especially.

Full Introduction:

Sociohistorical context is the values, the social climate, the cultural zeitgeists of the time that the product was made. In terms of context, it is based around how all of these are applied to the product, and what this means to how we construct it as audiences. While both of these print advertisements heavily contrast in terms of type of product, I strongly believe that both of them show clear examples of patriarchal hegemony, and both of the advertisements objectify and sexualise women, a strong marker of representing the traditional roles of women in the 1950's, when both posters were made. Tide is a market leader in the detergent and cleaning industry, they are owned by Procter and Gamble, a large American conglomerate. Queen of Outer Space is a movie poster (created in 1958), which was the same time that the space race was peaking in interest, the film was made to capitalise on this and is a Sci-Fi film.

Sociohistorical Context of Tide Advertisement

The lexis in the title - "Tide's Got What Women Want|!" makes assumptions that women will want this, and implies that you aren't a real woman

Rosie the Riveter pose - Intertextuality to the famous poster, meaning is hijacked to sell Tide

Direct Mode of Address - "You" is mentioned a lot, is targeting the audience directly

Dress Code - Typical housewife adverts for the time (1950's)

Text is quite small, and there is a lot of information - Informative about the product because there was a lot of competition.

Binary Oppositions - Tide is anchored as a market leader because of the three points to the bottom right of the page.

Post WWII Consumerist Boom

Consumerist Ideology - Buy things and your life will improve

Sociohistorical Context of Queen Of Outer Space

Painting Style - Cartoons and that style was recognisable for that time

"Colour by Deluxe Cinemascope" - Reflects the new colour cinema of the time

Clear Sci-Fi iconography - Planets, spaceships and monsters

Costume - Typical dress codes and hairstyles of the same, woman on the front looks like Marilyn Monroe, the pinnacle of beauty at the time

Subverting Patriarchal Hegemony - Men are being held down and oppressed by the Amazons

Colour Scheme - Red is a symbolic code of love and passion, main woman's dress code is red.

Venus, The Female Planet - Subversive again, an entirely female planet. 

Main Body

PEA Paragraph

The dress code that is seen within the Tide advertisement is very reflective of sociohistorical context of the 1950's. This can be seen within the Tide advertisement because of how the woman seen all over the advert have a very domesticated style of uniformity. The headbands and spotted dresses are clearly symbolic codes for housewives of the 50's. This could be due to the fact that there was a strong sense of conformity at the time - everyone wanted to fit in and be a trophy wife for their husband, which demonstrates Bell Hook's theory of feminism - portraying patriarchal hegemony. A dress code is also seen within Queen Of Outer Space, although it is used much differently. As can be seen within the poster, the women on the advertisement are in short and skimpy dresses, as well as a quite suggestive red dress taking off a lot of the space on the poster. This demonstrates Van Zoonen's theory of feminism - as it shows the objectification and the sexualisation of women. This reflects the sociohistorical context of the time, as well as seeing women as domestic objects, they were also seen as model objects, something to be looked at and demonstrating the male gaze.