Key Assessment One

Explore how meaning is created through the combination of media language in this advert for Gap. You may wish to make reference to:

• Polysemy

• Semiotics (Barthes) 

• Structuralist approaches (Levi-Strauss)

• The conventions of print adverts (eg lexis, layout, Z-line rule etc) [15 marks, 30 minutes]

 

The mise en scene of the bright colours used in the advert create a feeling of positivity and is also a symbolic code. The only colours used in the advert are bright colours like white, bright blue, and bright purple etc and the colour used for the fonts is also bright colours. This connotes to the audience that this advert is meant to be a positive one with a positive message perhaps also saying that buying their product will make you happy and a brighter person.

A hermeneutic code is also denoted in the advert. The people standing next to her while she is sitting can’t be seen fully with only their lower bodies being visible in the shot. This could be telling the audience that they are perhaps to not take away attention from the model and making her the centre of attention/focus.

Using the Z line theory, we would first see the model’s face who is making eye contact with the audience which is a direct mode of address, then we would see the trousers which are a range of different colours, we would then move to the bottom left seeing the white shirt and also reading the text, then finally to the right which shows us this is a GAP product with the logo. 

The font used for the text is sans-serif which hints at the possible target audience being more middle/low class people. This is further hinted by the lexis used being very simple and not sophisticated. 

The slogan “be you, be true” is telling the audience to have their own identity. This tells us that the advert is promoting self confidence in one’s self and being true to who you are instead of hiding it. This advert saying “be bright” could be connoting to be positive about your true self.

The text in the small font has a line that reads “LA-designed”. Los Angeles is a huge town which is mostly famous for the fancy lifestyle it offers and hollywood. The advert telling us this is promoting the fact that the product offers a fancy lifestyle like LA does.

 

Compare and contrast the representation of gender in the Persil Ultimate Powergems [Extraordinary Powers] TV spot advert with the representation of gender in the Tide advert you have studied. Make reference to:

• How gender roles are constructed through media language

• The construction of ideological perspectives, including hegemonic norms

• How intertextuality can construct meaning

• Historical factors and their relation to representation [30 marks, 45 minutes]

In the Persil advert, the girl at the beginning is shown using powers making her seem powerful to the audience and the other woman presented in the advert is a woman who watches her partner using the product. The advert immediately subverts the stereotype of bike stunting being a male activity since we see a girl hanging out with them on her bike as well. We also see her moving the earth around telekinetically which creates the sense of her being strong. Later in the advert we see a hegemonic norm being subverted when a man is depicted using the washing product when men are normally expected to be working and not doing housework.

This is in contrast to the Tide advert which shows that only women would use their product. We know this because the mode of address is addressing women by saying “you women” constantly telling us that their target audience is just women. 

Another difference between the adverts is who is depicted using the washing product. In the tide pod we are shown only women using it meanwhile in the Persil advert, we are shown a man using it while his girlfriend presumably walks past him with a hot beverage. One other thing is that men are actually physically represented in the Persil advert while in the Tide advert they were absent and the only hint we got was because of male clothes being dried. 

The Tide advert was made in the 1950s when women were expected to stay at home doing chores while men were out working. The stereotype of women being housewives was very popular at that time and even true. This contributes to why women are represented as housewives in the Tide advert in contrast to Persil which was made in 2017 where feminism is a strong cause and men and women are seen as more equal, which is another contrast to the Tide advert which presents the ideology that women aren’t as good as men.

Another thing to compare, the mode of address in the Tide advert is very condescending towards women which is quite the opposite of what we see in the Persil advert where girls are shown having superpowers.