I chose the vintage Palmolive commercial. I remember watching it as a young girl. Madge's perfect hair and fresh lipstick; so cheery at her work. The woman in the salon reminded me of my mother who went to the salon every week for a manicure and set.
As a child, this was my reality. My mother really went to the salon and the ladies there were always happy to see her. She seemed to leave there in a better mood than when she entered . As a child I identified with this scenario; a trusted nail technician. I would never have thought that anyone was left out of the picture because all of my mother's friends also went to the salon every week.
From the cinematic perspective, it spoke to the new suburban housewife who was always doing dishes to keep up with her growing family. Her work was manual and her hands paid the price for the luxuries her husband could afford for her. Scrubbing the dishes, floors, and children in their nightly baths was an activity that truly took its toll on a woman's hands. The commercial addressed this demographic because it was the largest growing segment of the country post WWII. Soldiers came home, factory jobs were plentiful, and life was good. Men's salaries permitted their wives to stay home to raise their families while enjoying some pampering for their hair and nails. But their hands needed the touch of Palmolive dish detergent to keep their manicures and hands in the softest condition between salon trips.
While it wasn't clear to me at the time, the commercial was directed to the growing middle class segment of the population; white, successful, well dressed, and well spoken. I didn't realize that the people who were left out, those who weren't successful, well dressed, well spoken, and white even existed. Television didn't portray minorities in commercials, at least in my mind, because they were being excluded from the financial success of the white middle class.
Daley (Educase, 2003) says that "the language of the screen enables modes of through, ways of communicating... and methods of publication and teaching that are essentially different than those of text" (p 34). Reflecting on only the spoken words in this commercial, which essentially came from a written script (text), the reader could not possibly have been moved to feel the sense of familiarity that I felt when the words were married to the images and voices.
Petterson (TechTrends, 2009) writes that message design "deals with the organization to bring forward scientific knowledge of artifacts" (p 39). Petterson (ibid) writes to the collection of society, art, aesthetics, language, and cognition together as an interdisciplinary melding of influences that, in this case, can be used to persuade. When Madge says that 'it's so mild, you're soaking in it now", there is an implied sense that the detergent has a scientific basis for it. I don't ever remember wondering if there was any truth to the statement. But I know that when I had to do the dishes, I wanted Palmolive dish soap there to keep my hands soft!
It seems to me as I examine this commercial from the production perspective, Madge is wearing a cool blue smock; blue is the color used to imply trustworthiness and honesty. Madge's hair, makeup and demeanor are meticulous; implying honorability and personal integrity. Who would doubt Madge? The background is muted but clean; the voices are clear and there is little distraction from the two characters in the initial scene. This commercial was made for television to reach the rising number of housewives who had televisions; quite a novelty at the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEkq7JCbik&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEkq7JCbik&feature=related
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