Revision: Tide Question

Compare how gender is represented in the Tesco advertisement and the Tide print advertisement you have studied (30 marks)

In your answer you must:

• discuss the similarities and differences between the two texts in terms of gender representation
• consider how different audiences might respond to these representations
• make judgements and draw conclusions about how far the representations relate to relevant media contexts

Gender in Tesco

Gender in Tide

women do the domestic work within the house dressed very conservatively - not sexualised more of a split representation of household jobs man in the advert is shopping with her - not taking responsibilities and instead choosing the "fun" groceries domestic work (grocery shopping) is stressful and has a lot to consider less makeup - not a sex appeal to men women are funny and informal - "nah bring it on"

women do the domestic work within the house - men are not shown on the advert at all dressed very conservatively - not sexualised only appeals to women women enjoy doing the domestic work "Tide had got what women want" full face of makeup and tied up hair - sex appeal for men? serious representation of women

Kneejerk reaction: Both advertisements present gender in similar ways, both arguably following hegemonic representations of gender in order to appeal to a mass target audience to increase the sales of their business and in return make a profit. Representation is the re-presentation of a person, social group, object or thing which conforms to the ideologies of the producer to convey the producers message to the audience. In this essay, I shall argue that the representations of gender in both of these advertisements is complex yet still remains to follow stereotypical representations in order to engage the target audience.

Tide is an advertisement which was released in the 1950s to promote Tide, a washing detergent produced by Procter and Gamble. The advertisement features the main image as a woman hugging a box of Tide, visibly expressing her love for the product through her body language as well as the hearts that appear above her, and this conforms to the representation that women love doing the domestic work within a household. This ideology is further reinforced through the anchored text of "Tide's got what women want!", which only targets female audiences, and makes the product seem desirable for them, enticing women into wanting to purchase the product as they are arguably manipulated into believing this product is what they need. Another way that this ideology around gender is reinforced within the advert is the lack of a male model on the advertisement, despite the washing line in the cartoon style image on the bottom right having a men's blazer and trousers being hung upon it. In the 1950s it was not seen as a man's job to complete domestic work, and by reinforcing this ideology within the advert, it could be argued to create a straightforward representation that appeals to an audience directly, without the need for in depth analysis to try and encode the ideology being transmitted through the producer.

The Tesco advertisement is from 2016 and a part of their annual Christmas advertisement. While this advert does still follow hegemonic representations, the Tesco advertisement leans towards a more equal representation of gender, however still shows women having a responsibility for the main domestic work - in this case grocery shopping. The advert follows a mother around Tesco while she thinks about all the stresses of Christmas while reminiscing about last year, and towards the end features an appearance of a man, presumably her husband, bringing her a box of mince pies, while the woman cracks a joke "go on then". In this advertisement, gender is constructed to show that domestic work is still a hegemonic responsibility of women, and this is constructed through the mise-en-scene of actors within the advertisement being predominantly female, and the adverts narrative focusing around the inner monologue of the woman. Like Tide, one reason Tesco has chosen to do this is to appeal to a mass target audience and maximise its levels of profit.

One way gender is represented in both advertisements which subverts hegemonic representations of women in advertisements is that neither women are overly sexualised within the adverts. Both women in the adverts and dressed very conservatively.