The Big Issue

Compare the stereotypes in Tide and Wonder Woman

The tide advert very strongly reflects the historical context of the time it was made. The main portrayal of the female character it is being a good housewife. The 1950s ideology was women staying at home and doing domestic work as well as having children and taking care of them, whereas men were meant to study and work and supply for their families. As the majority of women did not go through further education, they were only able to have the stereotypical housewife life. Women did not have jobs, therefore resulting in their husband being the main supplier, which made an imbalance of power; that imbalance results in the women needing \their husbands and making them vulnerable, and even seen as incapable of being independent. Hall’s theory could imply here as the stereotype of women being incapable of taking care of themselves comes from the imbalance of power that was created due to the gender roles at the time. The female character in Tide is shown to be very happy and grateful for having Tide; the quote “Tide’s Got what women want” means that Tide is a good product that they should use, but it further connotes that having Tide will make them good housewives that will please their partners. The product is being marketed through the use of the aspirational figure, such as the woman. She is dressed in modest and fashionable clothing for the time, and her hair is done in a way that is very practical and implies that she’s hard-working, so therefore the 1950s female audience would aspire to be like her, and would achieve it through washing with Tide. The colour red has been used throughout the advert, although the woman seems to not be sexualised, and red is used rather to represent the love that she has for Tide as it makes her a “good housewife”. The picture in the bottom right corner shows the women comparing their laundry and the products they’ve used. However, the clothes are male, connoting that the domestic work that they do serves their husbands and that the housewife’s purpose is to please him. Even though she has not been sexualised, she is still objectified as she is represented as someone that is there to serve her husband and is inadequate out of the house and in social settings.The wonder woman poster is completely the opposite in terms of stereotypical gender representation. She is shot from a lower angle connoting that she is superior and also has greatly confident posture and facial expression, whereas in Tide she is happy and smiling and the audience could interpret that as her being stupid. Wonder Woman is still an aspirational figure, but for different reasons, she is shown as powerful and confident, whereas the woman in Tide is financially dependent on her husband. The context in Wonder Woman has an influence on the representation as movements such as MeToo have empowered women to speak up. She has gold on her clothing, that could represent wealth and power, further implying independence. Also, as the actress Gal Gadot portraying it is an Israeli Jewish woman this portrays women from Middle Eastern countries better, as they stereotypically are portrayed as oppressed by the Western Media. She has her hair down and has a very feminine look to her and some natural makeup, portraying her as feminine breaks stereotypes of femininity making you weak and vulnerable. Overall, the different time periods and historical context have a great influence on gender stereotypes, and social movements help break the toxic and sexist stereotypical ideologies that are portrayed in the media.