Trackbacks & Pings

1. Lest We Forget » The Primary Contradiction on 24 Apr 2007 at 10:58 pm

   [...] to Racialicious: A slide show on Slate.com traces the history of racist iconography in advertising. Some of the ads [...]

2. CNN misses the point of the 7-Eleven Simpsons controversy at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 11 Jul 2007 at 8:46 am

   [...] Using racist stereotypes to dehumanize entire peoples has been an effective political strategy for centuries. If you can engrain these stereotypes into the public consciousness using popular culture and the media, even better. Exhibit A: giant Negroes. Exhibit B: rat-eating Chinamen. [...]

3. Threadless promotes yet another racist T-shirt at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 17 Jul 2007 at 12:00 pm

   [...] Spicy Sauce,” who knows what’s really in that dish! You know what they say about those rat-swallowing, cat-eating [...]

4. 50 Years of American History « Reading While Black on 27 Sep 2007 at 9:35 am

   [...] together, to appreciate differences without stereotypes or the extremely troubling existence of colonialist attitudes towards [...]

Comments

1. deb wrote:

   Oh, snap! This kind of reminded me of an exhibit I saw at the New York Historical Society a few years ago. The exhibit was called “The Games We Played.” It showcased 19th century boardgames. The ones that really caught my attention were the racist board games. There was a jigsaw puzzle called “Chopped Up Niggers”.

   I found a review that mentions a few others. (Oddly, enough, I came across another that made no mention of them at all!) “The object of Jim Crow Ten Pins…was to knock down smiling minstrel figures.” And “The Game of Watermelon Patch…shows three black men dancing in the moonlight near a giant watermelon they have apparently stolen.” WTF!? Clearly, those Victorians had too much leisure time on their hands.

   There is a book available (The Games We Played. I’d buy it, but ONLY if it includes these racist games.

   Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 9:44 am ¶

2. deb wrote:

   Oops! Sorry for the long link.

   Posted 24 Apr 2007 at 10:13 am ¶

3. Y. Carrington wrote:

   I hope that Slate’s editors aren’t under the delusion that racist advertising is a thing of the past. Memory lane ain’t exactly a memory for people of color when it comes to advertising.

   Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 12:10 am ¶

4. CavMom wrote:

   Advertising is quite interesting in different areas of the US. I have always wondered why certain cultures are not shown in commercials in the Northwest. All the actors are snowy white… Yet, here in the South we have a better mix.

   Maybe Northerners are afraid to purchase a product that any other ethnic groups might use.

   (That seems to be the fear in the marketing dept.)

   Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 8:30 am ¶

5. Rob Schmidt wrote:

   Good slide show, but a bit out of order. Americans probably used Indians to advertise products a century or two before they used other minorities. An Indian maiden was an early symbol for America itself.

   Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 9:27 am ¶

6. HighJive wrote:

   Customer: “How do you manage to get rid of rats and vermin, Mr. Lee?”

   Mr. Lee: “Ancient Chinese secret. Burp.”

   Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 1:27 pm ¶

7. Afrobella wrote:

   Funny! I was fascinated by this slide show, and also a Trinidadian blog I read often, The Manicou Report, just wrote about racism in advertising in my homeland.

   http://www.themanicoureport.com/2007/04/no-indians-in-advertisements.html

   If you care to read. It’s a continuing trend all over the world, apparently.

   Posted 25 Apr 2007 at 2:36 pm ¶

8. Colin wrote:

   Yolanda,

   It doesn’t seem like the Slate peeps think racist advertising is over, but they’re damn-near close. To them, Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima are the only remaining “vestiges of Jim Crow America”, whatever that means. Well if they believe that, then just direct them here:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkiz1_d1GsA

   And maybe find the Corker/RNC radio ads with the drums. Oh and show them this Sony billboard:

   http://news.agendainc.com/archives/2006/07/sony_under_fire_for_racist_adv.html

   and this over at angry asian man:

   http://www.angryasianman.com/2007/01/tao-of-racism.html

   So racism is still prevalent in advertising, basically.

   Posted 26 Apr 2007 at 1:58 am ¶

9. Colin wrote:

   Don’t forget about the cream of wheat guy

   http://www.rare-posters.com/p617.jpg

   Posted 26 Apr 2007 at 1:59 am ¶

10. Lizza Littlewort wrote:

    Can anyone help me? I’m an artist in South Africa, and I want to make work that makes people aware of the destructive role racist advertising has played in the traumatic history of this continent.
    I’ve seen a couple of pictures of the kind of racist advertising of the colonial era that caricatured African people to look like baboons, or look really insane, but so far I have only managed to source one image to work from. Does anyone know where I can find more?

    (The one pic I have is classified as Victorian-era advertising, and it’s for Pears Soap and comes from the Illustrated London News. If any of that helps)

    Posted 27 Nov 2008 at 1:55 pm ¶

11. Speechless! wrote:

    I never thought I would see in 2009 White Supremacist Aryan advertising to promote cheese, but here it is.

    Tillamook’s “Tastes better because it’s made better” print campaign includes a still photograph of an elevator holding seven individuals.

    Of course, the ones who stand out are a tall blonde woman wearing white and smiling across the elevator at a tall Anglo man wearing a blue shirt and yellow tie and holding up Tillamook cheese.

    The other five individuals in the elevator stand a foot shorter and are apparent minorities with dark hair, dark clothing and unhappy expressions. The contrast, heightened by key lighting, in the print ad is striking.

    The comparison might be defensible if any of the other individuals had any cheese in their possession, but they do not. Thus, the “Tastes better because it’s made better” comparison, combined with the clear contrast between the Aryan and minority models, can only be applied to the individuals who appear in the ad itself. The double meaning here is unmistakable.

    Please review the advertising yourself (appeared in the last 10 pages of Better Homes and Gardens, Feb. 2009, and presumably elsewhere). If you agree that such advertising is inappropriate and offensive, please refrain from purchasing Tillamook brand cheese.

    Posted 14 Jun 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶