Mammies, Jezebels, and Pickaninnies: An Analysis of Benetton's Advertising Practices Submitted by Karintha Tervalon As part of a tutorial in Cultural Studies and Marketing April 30, 2003 Chatham College Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Acknowledgements This project took much time and effort on my part, but it would have not been possible without the support and encouragement of others. I would like to first acknowledge God, whose support and faith in me enables me to do much more than I would be able to do on my own strength. I would also like to thank my mother, who gave me much needed advice and words that let me know that there are other things in life that are important to think about as well. I would like to thank my friends who were able to still be my friends after not being completely sane during the completion of this project. I would like to thank my tutor, advisor, professor and dear friend, Dr. Anissa Wardi. She made herself available to be able to help me with this project, provided great insights, supported and encouraged me greatly. I would like to thank my board for being willing to discuss and interrogate my tutorial, which will help me to defend my work in the future. Table of Contents Chapter One: Brief History of Advertising in United States and the Early 1 Runaway Slave Advertisements 4 Advertising Ephemera 8 Chapter Two: History of the Mammy, Uncle Tom, and the Pickaninny in 10 History of The "Mammy" 10 Aunt Jemima 12 History of Uncle Tom 15 Rastus: The Cream of Wheat Chef.. 15 Uncle Ben 18 History of the Pickaninny 20 Racist Foundations of Advertising in the US 22 Chapter Three: The Practices and Ethics of Benetton's Advertising 25 Racial Difference 29 The Pickaninny 31 The Jezebel 32 The Mammy 33 Conclusion 38 List of Exhibits: 43 Bibliography 58 1 Chapter One: Brief History of Advertising in United States and the Early Representations of African Americans The beginning of print advertising in the United States started with the emergence of newspapers. The first regularly issued newspaper, the Boston News-Letter, started the industry of newspaper advertising. There was only text used to describe the product or service for sale. Pictures were not in existence and illustrations did not come to be used in advertisements until 1728. At this time, the first newspaper to use illustrations was the Pennsylvania Gazette. More than 50 years later, in 1784, the first known use of the word "advertiser" was used in the title of the Pennsylvania Gazette's later version. This later version was called the Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser. It is significant that this is the first time that a newspaper company officially recognized the capabilities that it had not only to inform its readers with the local and national news, but it had become a medium of selling products and services to potential consumers. Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser becomes integral in the ways products and services were marketed ever since the newspaper producers recognized its advertising capabilities. While this is true, it is also important to recognize that without advertising, Pennsylvania Packet & Daily Advertiser could not have been produced daily. The amount of advertising occurring in newspapers from 1759-1789 averaged 20-30% of the total space of the paper (Adams 82). Most of these advertisements promoted health and beauty aids, as well as other products and services. The advertisements made this newspaper successful, not just because of their impact on consumers, but also because of technology. At that time, it took 13 hours for the printing to dry, and because of this, printing on both sides of each sheet of paper would have required more than a day of 2 drying time alone. This does not include the time required to set type, print and distribute. This situation created a solution that would have everlasting effects. The solution was to first print the ads and then print the news on the other side the day before publication. Since pages one and four were printed first, the most current news items were printed on the inside, on pages two and three. The newspaper readers would immediately see and read the advertisements on the front. The advertisements would be on the back as well, so that any way the paper was physically positioned would display the advertisements. This gave an importance to advertising and made it a priority in the production of goods and services in the United States in the conception of newspapers. Newspapers account for more advertising history than any other medium. Newspapers and magazines did not really start to use color and vibrantly promotional messages until the second half of the 19th century. The reasons are the development of mass production, the branding of goods to distinguish them from their competitors, the development of national markets, and improved printing technologies. The number of newspapers greatly impacted the United States consumer. The Eighth Census of 1860 placed the number of newspapers circulated at 2,400. The amount of advertising is also important because it shows how much value was placed in the ability to affect consumer demand: The increase in newspaper and magazine circulation reflected the growing population, an increasingly literate public, and the rapid economic development of the United States. The increasing revenue available from advertising undoubtedly fueled the growth in media. An 1848 estimate placed the number of newspaper 3 ads of the previous year at approximately 11 million; 50 years later the number was estimated to exceed 350 million a year. (Norris 28) In the above passage, Norris explains the relationship between rapid economic development and the increased amount of newspaper advertisements. Within a fifty year period, newspaper advertisements increased by three hundred and thirty million, which reveals the extent to which companies relied on advertisements to promote their goods and services. This also describes the impact of these advertisements because they were reaching millions of consumers as early as 1848, less than one hundred years after the first newspaper appeared in the United States. Advertising of national proportions was first targeted towards Euro-Americans because there needs to be a market for the advertisers to target. This market must consist of buyers and sellers, and not until 1916 were African American consumers seen as buyers in the United States market by national producers. In 1916, a gas company in Rock Hill, South Carolina, working with a church group and the local government, advertised a cooking school for "Negro" servants (Dates and Barlow 464). In 1841, Volney Palmer set up the first advertising agency in the United States. His agency and others that were started at that time were only set up to broker space for advertisers in newspapers. In the 1870's and 1880's, advertising agencies started to become "full service" operations that provided consultation on marketing problems, product naming, package design, advertisement design and production, research. The agencies purchased media space and time to get the advertising message out to the public. These services became standard for advertising agencies in the 20th century. In the 1880's, professional literature began to appear instructing how to advertise effectively to 4 the masses. Journals, pamphlets, and books began officially to solidify the importance of advertising for United States companies. Advertising became essential to the existence and survival of companies in the United States market. Runaway Slave Advertisements Runaway slave advertisements depicted slaves as commodities; Africans were bought and sold and not regarded as humans. Therefore, slaves were seen as property that should be rightfully returned to their masters. They were objectified as slaves, defined by the work for which they were needed. Runaway slave advertisements appeared in newspapers and flyers. They were mostly used from the 1730's to the 1770's. They generally described the physical appearance, bad habits, trade skills, behaviors, possible locations, and rewards that determined how much the slave was worth to the owner. The following is an advertisement for one of Thomas Jefferson's slaves, placed in September 14, 1769 in the Virginia Gazette: RUN away from the subscriber in Albemarle, a Mulatto slave called Sandy, about 35 years of age, his stature is rather low, inclining to corpulence, and his complexion light; he is a shoemaker by trade, in which he uses his left hand principally, can do coarse carpenters work, and is something of a horse jockey; he is greatly addicted to drink, and when drunk is insolent and disorderly, in his conversation he swears much, and in his behaviour is artful and knavish. He took with him a white horse, much scarred with traces, of which it is expected he will endeavour to dispose; he also carried his shoemakers tools, and will probably endeavour to get employment that way. Whoever conveys the said slave to me, in Albemarle, shall have 40 s. reward, if taken up within the county, 4 1. if elsewhere 5 within the colony, and 10 1. if in any other colony, from THOMAS JEFFERSON. The advertisement above, displayed in Exhibit I, is just one of the examples of how slaves were objectified and only viewed in terms of what kind of worth they could be as workers, but not as human beings. Apparently Sandy was "inclining to corpulence, and his complexion light" explaining his physical appearance for the white readers of the newspaper. His drinking habits are listed, which suggests to the reader that he was "greatly addicted to drink, when drunk is insolent and disorderly, and in his conversation he swears much." This leads the reader to have negative associations with Sandy.