Fairy liquid advert analysis

Fairy liquid has been a household product in British homes for many decades, its a well trusted brand and has been advertising to our homes since the 1960s, since then there adverts have changed dramatically, for a long period of time fairy liquid has had a running theme of a mother and daughter, this stock character theme has been carried out even today, the adverts display a close relationship in all their adverts usually a parent and child, this displays trust and relate ability to the audience. 

The stereotypical advert from the 60s- 90s would be a white mother and her daughter, here is an example of that very type of advert, the stereotypical story line over all these years would be the daughter asking her mother what the product is, the mother would list all of the benefits and the USP of the product which back then was how soft it made your hands. this is a great way to convey the benefits of the product to the viewing audience also. 

In 2000 fairly liquid released a new advert that displayed a young black mother and her son, this is something fairy had never done before, this was part of their effort to combat the problems they may face with race and ethnicity, it shows diversity within there product and how there product is made for everyone. this successful combats there issues with race and sexism and gives a clear indication of how the world is changing, compared to older adverts they have battled the typical gender roles within there advertisement that was a theme of several decades. 

With this advert of the black woman and her son, as well as a rebrand of characters and stock roles, the USP of the complete product has changed also, fairly liquid is entering a new world of own brands and low price products which means there selling point of soft hands was not cutting it, the audience wanted long lasting and value for money, in 2000 there USP changed to how long the fairly liquid lasts, "it lasts twice as long". making this change was vital to the popularity of the well known brand. 

looking at there most recent advert which was from 2015 its clear that the roles have changed once again, the role has been stereotypically a mother and child, the ole of the child has changed gender however it has been stereotypical of a mother and child, in this advert there is both parents however the father takes dominance. the story line is the same as all the other liquid adverts, its were the child will ask a statement, in this case the child wants to use the bottle for a spaceship and he asks his dad why its taking so long to use, the dad goes on to explain the USP of the product and how its last so good and the great value it has. the boy has a calendar that shows all the days the bottle lasts emphasizing its great value to the audience.  

Although the story may be the same the characters are not, their is a mother involved however she is shadowed in the background, this advert could be seen as sexist and all she does in the advert is wash up, whilst the dad reads his news paper. The dad also does washing up, this could be fairy way of trying to wash that sexism out of the advert. This advert is seen in a very traditional family home, maybe one of the past. If i was to compare this video to Vladimir Propps theory of characters i would say that the boy (main character) could be seen as the hero, he has something to focus on and work towards, he longs for the fairly liquid bottle and isn't going to stop till he gets it, the bottle could be a symbol of a princess or prize etc. In the end the child gets the bottle and everything ends happy, just like Propps theory would suggest. 

I think that you could relate most of the adverts over the decades to Todorovs five stages, all of the adverts start with the equilibrium, this would be the boy playing on the scooter in one advert, or the child and mother playing in the earlier adverts, though in the adverts there is usually an issue, which would be the disruption in his theory, this could be the dirty plates, or the young boy not able to get his bottle to make his spaceship, theres that sense of hardship or let down. 

it may then lead to the fourth point of the advert, the fairy liquid may be finished and then boy can then begin to build his ship, or it may be the mother finds the fairy liquid and can begin cleaning the plates. this points creates an answer to the question. this then leads on to the last point where the dishes are cleaned and its the end to a happy tory, and the boy has finally made his spaceship, everyone is then happy because of that one product, it proves the product can create happiness and has divers uses.