The advert is aimed at women, therefore it uses them various times across it. The main image is of a woman hugging the Tide washing powder. It is an unusual image, suggesting exaggeration to an audience of the 21st century, however to a 1950s audience it would be appealing. This is mainly due to the glamorous aspect of the woman, with a costume that'd be trendy for the time, shaped after Hollywood movie stars, as fashion and celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe were on the rise. This suggests to women that you can be glamorous and do the domestic chores in the house, making Tide's main image an aspirational figure for its audience. The advert is very insisting, expressed by the constant utilisation of exclamation marks and capital letters. It enhances it with the red colour to highlight certain lexis and the tagline "tide's got what women want". It is informal and catchy due to the alliteration employed, making it marketable. In general, the advert indicates all women want is to clean and be a housewife, which follows Hall's theory of representation, as women are associated with domestic roles even in the media of today, due to their historical background. More specifically, they are associated with them as part of gender roles. Women are being used by Tide to sell the product by the glamorised image, which Van Zoonen's feminist theory condemns, as women are being somewhat objectified.
On the other hand, one could look at the advert as a less condescending but rather helpful one. Postwar American wealth meant money was actually available to buy products and Tide washing powder could have helped many women, hence the positive facial expression and the hugging. Furthermore the consumer and technological boom of the 1950s brought about plenty of brands, so a company like Tide would have had to set itself apart from the competition. It is effectively done here, with the target audience being aimed at through the the listing of "world's cleanest wash!", "world's whitest wash!" and "actually brightens colours!", developing a unique selling point to associate with the brand. This is stressed throughout, not only utilising language features like repetition (e.g. "no soap- no other 'suds'- no other...") but also imagery with positive facial expressions and speech bubbles with an illustration of two women hanging clothes, demonstrating they find the product helpful. Therefore the Tide box represents the positiveness of the 1950s consumer and technological boom through Barthes' theory of semiotics, as the women would have more time for recreational activities.
The advert is specifically targeted at white women, due to the rise of the suburbs. At the time black people and other minorities were not allowed to buy residences from the newly- created suburbs as they were racially segregated. This is why there's no wide representation in the advert. It is not really specific according to class though, as it employs the American dream of success and upward mobility to sell it. This is evoked by the choice of colour, with red, white and blue, (the colours of the American flag) being employed.
