Promoting Racial Stereotypes
This ad shows a partnership between tobacco companies and the television show "Pick and Pat" from the 1930's that depicts two White men doing blackface and mocking Black people. It's presented as a "jolly program" for the whole family, and shows blatant concepts of racism in its promotion.
The show featured two White actors, Pick Malone and Pat Padgett, performing in blackface. Pick Malone and Pat Padgett would portray stereotypical and insulting representations of Black people in the show by wearing blackface makeup, featuring exaggerated Black features and lips. They frequently used exaggerated and unpleasant accents and acted in ways that reinforced negative stereotypes such as laziness, ignorance, and criminality, that did not reflect their true manner (JFK, 2013).
The history of blackface is strongly rooted in the history of minstrel performances in the United States, which were popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. These concerts frequently featured White performers in Blackface mocking and stereotyping Black people, and they played an important part in promoting racist attitudes and ideas. While "Pick and Pat" was a British show, it was part of a larger cultural context where blackface was used to perpetuate racist attitudes and stereotypes.
The advertisement itself shows tobacco companies taking pride in promoting the television show. This relates to the reification of race because it promotes certain traits that were centered around specifically being Black, which was an attempt separating them from White people and other races.
As history has evovled to present day society, it is argued that the presence of blatant racism has declined in advertisements. In turn, there have been more subtle displays of racism in advertisements that were originated by the well known historical ads of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben (Shabbir, 2013).
In this excerpt, the author is talking about suble stereotypes as opposed to ones that are blatantly racist, such as the previous tobacco ad and Aunt Jemima.
Subtle racist imagery in advertisements refers to the utilization of visual components or message that, while not openly racist, perpetuates negative stereotypes or bias against specific racial groups. These subliminal cues can be damaging because they help to normalize racist attitudes and ideas while simultaneously allowing advertisers to disclaim any intended harm or offense (Shabbir, 2013).
This excerpt describes how there are still racial and stereotypical themes in modern day advertisements. In this description, while the race of the individuals are not the forefront of the advertisement, the Black character himself is still portraying stereotypes to promote certain ideas (Bristor, 1995).
This connects to the reification of race because anthropologists worked to promote specific traits that separated Black people from other people in society, specifically their appearance, their intelligence and their speech.
References
Bristor, J. M., Lee, R. G., & Hunt, M. R. (1995). Race and Ideology: African-American Images in Television Advertising. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 14(1), 48–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30000378
JFK. “Pick and Pat.” Blackface Radio/Talkies: Amos & Andy; Pick & Pat; Beulah... - Nitrateville.com, JFK, 2013, www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=13788.
Shabbir, H. A., Hyman, M. R., Reast, J., & Palihawadana, D. (2014). Deconstructing Subtle Racist Imagery in Television Ads. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(3), 421–436. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42921503
Stanford. “Ad Collections.” SRITA, Stanford, 1939, tobacco.stanford.edu/cigarettes/african-americans/racist-ads/.