Advertising revision - exam question
Explore how media language combines to make meaning in the following media products: the Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) teaser poster and the Tide print advertisement (1950s)
Make reference to
In both the Wonder Woman 1984 teaser poster and the tide print advertisement poster, media language in encoded to make meaning within the products. Roland Barthes, theory of semiotics can be used to show meaning. In Tide, the woman's lips are pursed which functions as a proairetic code as it informs the audience that she is going to kiss the box. This connotes a loving and meaningful relationship with the box of tide suggesting that it is the most important thing to her. Her lips are also a symbolic code of romance as the mise-en-scene of the red lipstick connotes love and affection. As well as this, the mise-en-scene of the heavy red lipstick and makeup suggests that if people bought tide, they would also become glamorous and sexually attractive like the model. In the Wonder Woman teaser poster, the woman's stance is a proairetic code due to the fact she is standing with her knuckles clenched as though she is going to fight someone. This mid-shot image subverts from the hegemonic stereotypes of women normally being feeble and emotional and shows her as strong and powerful. This ideological perspective would have an effect on the audience, as they may begin to feel empowered by the women in the poster. Unlike the Wonder Woman poster, the model in Tide is very stereotypical. The mise-en-scene of her outfit is a stereotypical 50's house wife outfit with a spotted dress and her hair tied up which is fashionable and classy. The target audience of the Tide outfit is housewives aged 30-50 and the stereotypical representations that are encode within the outfit, bring in this target audience as they would be able to relate to the model. In the Wonder Woman teaser poster, there is very little lexis. This is because the poster is only a teaser. However, the sans-serif font of the release date brings attention to the audience as to when the film will be released. However, in the Tide advert, lexis is used extensively to give the audience information on the product. The lexis used within the advert is very simple and used basic language skills which suggests that the women reading this won't be very well educated, as during the time this advert was made woman were brought up to stay at home and be in the kitchen. The blunt phrase of "no wonder you women buy more tide.." excludes them from society and has a forceful and rude mode of address. It reinforces the hegemonic norms that all women want to do is wash and clean. The tide advert also uses lexis like "whitest" and "cleanest". The superlative language suggests that there is no better cleaning product than tide. The lexis of "whitest" connotes that because it is white, it is the best which could be seen as a racist view. Lastly, there is nothing within the advert about hard facts or conditions to prove tide is a better product, but because they are a trusted and large company, they are used.
The Tide print advertisement was made in the 1950's by the D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowels advertising agency. The socio-historic context of the advert has stereotypical representations of woman from the time it was made. In the 1950's a woman's job was to stay at home and cook and clean while the man went out and worked. This is shown in the advert due to the fact there are no men included. The 5 females within the advert are all carrying out a stereotypical task of what a woman would have done in the 1950's whilst wearing stereotypical outfits which connotes that it is purely a women's job to clean as men aren't even included within the advert. George Gerbner's cultivation theory shows that if an audience is exposed to an idea for a prolonged period of time, they will begin to share the same viewpoint. During the period of time in which tide was made, it was very much a patriarchal system where a man was at the top of the household and the woman was weak, and because this stereotypical ideology was constantly reinforced through adverts and other media products this was how women began to act. However, the Wonder Woman 1984 teaser poster was released in 2020 which shows how the socio-historcal context is different to Tide. In the Wonder Woman poster, the woman is placed in the middle of the poster which connotes that she is the most important part of this whole film. Women are now able to do almost everything a man can do which is why she is presented as powerful and strong. This ideological perspective subverts hegemonic norms that are included in tide advert, however now women are somewhat equal to men in the things women can do, like have the same job as a man and not just stay at home to cook and clean. The audience would have a positive response to the socio-historic context use as it represents how society has evolved since the mid 90's.
Lastly, genre conventions have become more apparent and clear overtime. In Tide the genre is somewhat unclear but the main genre follows standard commercial advertising which is reinforced through the generic paradigms included within the advert. For example, the use of a Z line starts at the top with lexis explaining how good tide is, then the main photo of the woman holding the tide box illustrating its incredibly important to her and then the writing at the bottom. There is a significant amount of information and so much text which reinforces how it is a print advert. Generic fluidity is demonstrated through how genre is clearly shown in the Wonder Woman poster. The mise-en-scene of her clenched fists and stern expression on her face is a strong generic paradigm of an action film. The bright colours used in the background further emphasise this as it creates an exciting yet confusing poster. Steve Neale's genre theory suggests that producers rely on audiences to see repetition and difference of genre conventions. This has been used in both media products because the tide advert has used a similar layout of what many other commercial adverts would use yet Wonder Woman has changed the action genre slightly by including a woman as the main character instead of a man, which is normally used, however her stance and the background are genre paradigms of an action movie.
To conclude, both media products have extensively used media language in order to make meaning of the adverts, yet they have used also used representations to allow the audience to relate to the advert and identify with the people in the product.
Make reference to
- How genre conventions change over time
- How audiences may respond to these products
- The sociohistorical context of these products
In both the Wonder Woman 1984 teaser poster and the tide print advertisement poster, media language in encoded to make meaning within the products. Roland Barthes, theory of semiotics can be used to show meaning. In Tide, the woman's lips are pursed which functions as a proairetic code as it informs the audience that she is going to kiss the box. This connotes a loving and meaningful relationship with the box of tide suggesting that it is the most important thing to her. Her lips are also a symbolic code of romance as the mise-en-scene of the red lipstick connotes love and affection. As well as this, the mise-en-scene of the heavy red lipstick and makeup suggests that if people bought tide, they would also become glamorous and sexually attractive like the model. In the Wonder Woman teaser poster, the woman's stance is a proairetic code due to the fact she is standing with her knuckles clenched as though she is going to fight someone. This mid-shot image subverts from the hegemonic stereotypes of women normally being feeble and emotional and shows her as strong and powerful. This ideological perspective would have an effect on the audience, as they may begin to feel empowered by the women in the poster. Unlike the Wonder Woman poster, the model in Tide is very stereotypical. The mise-en-scene of her outfit is a stereotypical 50's house wife outfit with a spotted dress and her hair tied up which is fashionable and classy. The target audience of the Tide outfit is housewives aged 30-50 and the stereotypical representations that are encode within the outfit, bring in this target audience as they would be able to relate to the model. In the Wonder Woman teaser poster, there is very little lexis. This is because the poster is only a teaser. However, the sans-serif font of the release date brings attention to the audience as to when the film will be released. However, in the Tide advert, lexis is used extensively to give the audience information on the product. The lexis used within the advert is very simple and used basic language skills which suggests that the women reading this won't be very well educated, as during the time this advert was made woman were brought up to stay at home and be in the kitchen. The blunt phrase of "no wonder you women buy more tide.." excludes them from society and has a forceful and rude mode of address. It reinforces the hegemonic norms that all women want to do is wash and clean. The tide advert also uses lexis like "whitest" and "cleanest". The superlative language suggests that there is no better cleaning product than tide. The lexis of "whitest" connotes that because it is white, it is the best which could be seen as a racist view. Lastly, there is nothing within the advert about hard facts or conditions to prove tide is a better product, but because they are a trusted and large company, they are used.
The Tide print advertisement was made in the 1950's by the D'Arcy Masius Benton and Bowels advertising agency. The socio-historic context of the advert has stereotypical representations of woman from the time it was made. In the 1950's a woman's job was to stay at home and cook and clean while the man went out and worked. This is shown in the advert due to the fact there are no men included. The 5 females within the advert are all carrying out a stereotypical task of what a woman would have done in the 1950's whilst wearing stereotypical outfits which connotes that it is purely a women's job to clean as men aren't even included within the advert. George Gerbner's cultivation theory shows that if an audience is exposed to an idea for a prolonged period of time, they will begin to share the same viewpoint. During the period of time in which tide was made, it was very much a patriarchal system where a man was at the top of the household and the woman was weak, and because this stereotypical ideology was constantly reinforced through adverts and other media products this was how women began to act. However, the Wonder Woman 1984 teaser poster was released in 2020 which shows how the socio-historcal context is different to Tide. In the Wonder Woman poster, the woman is placed in the middle of the poster which connotes that she is the most important part of this whole film. Women are now able to do almost everything a man can do which is why she is presented as powerful and strong. This ideological perspective subverts hegemonic norms that are included in tide advert, however now women are somewhat equal to men in the things women can do, like have the same job as a man and not just stay at home to cook and clean. The audience would have a positive response to the socio-historic context use as it represents how society has evolved since the mid 90's.
Lastly, genre conventions have become more apparent and clear overtime. In Tide the genre is somewhat unclear but the main genre follows standard commercial advertising which is reinforced through the generic paradigms included within the advert. For example, the use of a Z line starts at the top with lexis explaining how good tide is, then the main photo of the woman holding the tide box illustrating its incredibly important to her and then the writing at the bottom. There is a significant amount of information and so much text which reinforces how it is a print advert. Generic fluidity is demonstrated through how genre is clearly shown in the Wonder Woman poster. The mise-en-scene of her clenched fists and stern expression on her face is a strong generic paradigm of an action film. The bright colours used in the background further emphasise this as it creates an exciting yet confusing poster. Steve Neale's genre theory suggests that producers rely on audiences to see repetition and difference of genre conventions. This has been used in both media products because the tide advert has used a similar layout of what many other commercial adverts would use yet Wonder Woman has changed the action genre slightly by including a woman as the main character instead of a man, which is normally used, however her stance and the background are genre paradigms of an action movie.
To conclude, both media products have extensively used media language in order to make meaning of the adverts, yet they have used also used representations to allow the audience to relate to the advert and identify with the people in the product.
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