Next they’ll be advertising Oshkosh with Buckwheat
Buy our clothes!
The Angry Black Woman is rightfully outraged by i-D Magazine and American Apparel for their racist advertising campaign. I’m going to take a cue from The Angry Black Woman, and refrain from too much editorializing, since in this case, the pictures speak volumes:
The American Apparel image directly references the “Mammy” archetype, which refers to an image of African-American women that has its origins in the slavery era. Just as “Uncle Tom” refers to a kindly, old, ignorant slave who is absolutely devoted to the well-being of his “master,” “Mammy” refers to an old, overweight, defeminized black woman whose only purpose in life is to serve her “master” and his family. Hattie McDaniel’s character in Gone With the Wind is an almost perfect depiction of this racist archetype. Mammy imagery was ubiquitous during the Nadir, with a large number of corporations using the imagery to sell and advertise (Aunt Jemima found her origin in this period).
As racial attitudes among white Americans became a bit more sensitive, and as African-Americans became much more assertive and forward about their rights, these images faded away in American pop culture (though for various reasons, they are still rather prevalent around the world).
The above advertisement isn’t the only example of racist imagery in marketing, recently UNICEF put forth an advertisement that featured little blond children in blackface:
My only real response to all of this is “what the hell are they thinking?” Do they not realize that these images legacies of terrible oppression for African-Americans? Or do they just not care?
I’m hoping that the African-American community speaks out about this (if they already haven’t), as the more we tolerate these things, the more they will propagate, and frankly, I’m really not in the mood for a resurgence of racist imagery.
Share this post :
