There was an interesting piece in the book where the author talks about British Imperialism and how imperial Britian did not have to pay to get herself "popularized". In this context he mentions the imperial leitmotif of the Pears' Soap Manufactures (Andrew Pears).
The first step towards lightening
The White Man's Burden
is through teaching the virtues of cleanliness.
Pears' Soap
is a potent factor in brightening the dark corners of the earth as
civilization advances, while amongst the cultured of all nations
it holds the highest place -- it is the ideal toilet soap.
The White Man's Burden
is through teaching the virtues of cleanliness.
Pears' Soap
is a potent factor in brightening the dark corners of the earth as
civilization advances, while amongst the cultured of all nations
it holds the highest place -- it is the ideal toilet soap.
Similarly, there were other products during that period that capitalized on colonial and imperialistic themes to drive home the advertisements - Parkinson's Sugar Coated Pills, Chlorinol, etc.
I was particularly interested in the other advertisements of such nature brought out by Pears Soap during those days and this is what I found :
- Ad. campaigns between 1890-1920 promised that the use of Pears would "civilize" and "whiten" a person.
- Another one showed a South Asian man standing on a ladder with a bar of Pears' and scrub-brush, beside an elephant, with the caption "The Real Secret of the White Elephant."
- Humorous Ads. like a little white girl commenting about another black girl, "She needs to use Pears" !!!
It was quite a surprise to discover product manufacturers would ride on their country's political themes to advertise without realizing the damage this could have on the other communities or even their own country's reputation.
Perhaps today, product Ads. are more sensitive to local senstivities and one would hardly find such blunt and rude Ads.
However it would be worth a search to find hidden subtle meanings in today's Ads. !
11 comments:
The name of the Book is :
EMPIRE - The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the lessons for Global Power.
- Niall Ferguson.
The British empire was perhaps the largest and most successfull global empire ever. The empire both directly and indirectly controlled one fourth of the land and ruled over a fourth of the world's population. Which by any scale is truely amazing.
This book starts from the beginning when Britian was in its teens and countries like Portugal and Spain had already been in the business of imperial conquest for over a century.
It talks about how Britian transformed from the sidelines to a power to be reckoned with. How she adopted and adapted herself to changing times, etc.
Book also talks about the peak days of the empire and how prominent citizens of britian forsaw her decline.
The book also derives quite logically as to why no other nation, other than the US, could have taken on the mantle from Britian to lead the world. After all the US was once a British colony.
Its a fantastic read for any one who wishes to learn lessons from history , foreign policy and imperial/colonial political machinations.
ISBN : 0-465-02329-0
Hope this helped.
Today's ads are not very behind compared to the Pears...If Pears was racism...Fair and Lovely was equally racist...They show a dark girl and she turns fair after using the product.. Her marriage gets fixed..etc etc...Does that mean that dark skinned will not be successful..
Rags, excellent point..
but on the other hand, a dark girl gaining a fair complexion is not the same as referring to a 'black' to become a 'white' - but neverthless your point is right...
Rags...bulls eye. Guess society's prejudices still manifest themselves in today's ads subtly.
haha! well I admire the marketing strategy of these guys! period. Racist or not I know that many indians still feel that white is beautiful. Until people decide to discard such thinking and start thinking more scientifically about their skin color and race this will continue. But, full marks to you on bringing this point home in your blog.
Eswar
Nice meeting you yesterday on the DC bloggers meet.
Excellent blogging.
ganesh,
namma idea followinga? hahah! enge vandhu soap pottutu apporama comments section thethikalaamnu ideava!!
Eshwar, your quiet ways belie the wealth of knowledge you possess. 'Twas nice meeting you yesterday and I had a great time.
Thanks :-)
Oru soap kulla ivlo matter'a ?
Ganesh,
idhu dhaan soap podaradhu nu pera ? lol
aravind nee dhan blog meetla pesinde irundha ivar onnume pesala aadhan
Eshwar,
Come visit the comments section of my recent blog, there is something important brewing.
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