A brief history of racist imagery in advertising

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

That’s a real turn-of-the-century ad, believe it or not. Hat tip to MultiCultClassics for finding this fascinating slideshow on Slate.com, that traces the history of racist imagery in advertising. I would definitely encourage you to click over to view all the examples they found. From Slate:

Nasty stereotypes have helped move the merchandise for more than a century, and the history of their use and abuse offers a weird and telling glimpse of race relations in this country. Not surprisingly, the earliest instances were the most egregious. This circa-1900 ad for a rodent-control product called Rough on Rats doesn’t just exploit the then-popular urban legend that Chinese people eat rats. It also underscores the intensity of American xenophobia of the day. There were anti-Chinese riots at the time, as well as legislation like the Chinese Exclusion Act, a federal ban on immigration passed in 1882. (It was on the books until 1943.) In the ad, “They must go” refers both to the rodents and the Chinese.

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

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