QUALITY STREET: Media- Paper 1, Section A

• Quality street: Product context

  In the 1930s, only the wealthy could afford chocolate boxes but the creator Harold Mackintosh aimed to sell them at a more reasonable cost to appeal to working families. By the 1950s, when this campaign started, society was in a post-rationing period where luxuries were once again becoming an acceptable part of grocery shopping.
• Quality street: Historical context

  In the Regency era, Britain went through a period of elegance with regard to Fine Art and Architecture. The Regency era could also be compared to the 1950s for its significant social and cultural development. Between 1811 and 1837 the country was under the rule of Prince Regent and developments in technology, fashion and architecture were mirrored by a population boom. These similarities can be compared to England in the 1950s.
• Quality street: Social and cultural context

  The 1950s saw a change in “high culture”, a time where fine art, decadence and theatre that had previously only been accessed by the upper classes and those with money were now going to be made more affordable to the mass audience.

  The Conservative Party’s 1951 election campaign was spearheaded by the slogan “Set the People Free”, and this supported drastic change as entertainment and arts became more accessible and affordable.
• The anchorage of the gold frame in the advertisement creates a halo effect around the man and the product.
• The typical triangular geometric composition of the poster helps in the secondary anchorage of the product.
• The product takes central framing in the advertisement.
• The typography in the advertisement, forming the bottom third of the poster, and the strong purple colour stand out to draw the consumers’ eyes to the name.
• The hand-drawn, artistic nature of the design, with a rich colour palette of primary and secondary colours, links to the post-war consumerist culture.
• Persuasive language techniques such as alliteration, emotive language and superlatives are used in the advertisement, indicative of a well-read educated audience; further enhanced by the bold, serif font styles connoting richness.
• How media Language creates narrative

  Connotations of the female characters being dressed similarly to the sweets that are shown close-up on the bottom third of the poster.

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  Inference of a dilemma can be investigated at two levels:

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  male ‘hero’ choosing between two ‘damsels in distress’ (Propp’s theory)

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  females choosing the chocolate.

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  Costume and dress of male character indicating

  the formal nature of his dilemma; connotations of a higher class and richer society.
• Quality street intertextuality:

  The characters in the gold frame, Miss Sweetly and Major Quality, are part of the brand Identity of the product since 1936.

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  The characters are symbolic of the Regency era of British history referenced by the dress codes of the characters in the gold-framed picture at the back of the advert.
• Quality street: More social and cultural context

  The product itself was designed and planned for working families and the imagery is very aspirational of a higher class which links to the post-war era in Britain. Much of the branding indicates that the product was symbolic of elegance and aspiration. The two female characters appear to be of a lower class than the man in the suit, and the man in the suit is of a lower class than the two characters in the gold frame. The item that brings all these classes together is the product at the centre of the image.
• The image suggests a male dominated society with regards to 'choice' - he is in control of the product and is centrally framed.
• The male character anchors the audience's eyes to the product which has significant phallic symbolism.
• The dress code relates to the modern working businessman who may be the 'provider' of the brand.
• The women have two stereotypes being relied upon in the advert: firstly, that of their need for chocolate, a common and very traditional stereotype that still exists today, and secondly their subservient body language to the dominant man.
• The implication is that to be successful you will need to be romantically led by a man.
• There is also a secondary and deeper analysis here - a sense of manipulation with the women distracting the man through romance to access the 'prize' that is the product in the gentleman's lap.
• This advert could be seen to be representative of the way in which society was moving at this time.
• The historical representations of the Regency characters show typical strong feminine colours, and the showing of flesh for Miss Sweetly, and the formal uniform dress of Major Quality signify importance and power in their own relationship.
• Quality street: representation of age

  This advert is purposely for the young to

  middle aged adults (25–40), and the target audience could see themselves in the characters in the main section of the advert.