Aunt Jemima as an Example Racial Superiority and Stereotyping - Essay Example

Aunt Jemima as an example racial superiority and stereotyping Introduction: One of the ways that companies adopt to promote their products is throughadvertising. It can be through the print or visual media; it can also happen by developing a brand or a highly recognizable logo for a company’s products. But, in some instances an advertising strategy (subtly or blatantly) racist. An ideal example of this form of brand recognition is the case of Aunt Jemima, a company (later acquired by Quaker Oats) that markets food products such as pancake and waffle mixes and syrups.

The paper reviews the concept of racism and stereotyping of a particular class or race as a means of promoting their products.Aunt Jemima and stereotyped racism:The origin of the logo for the company was said to have come up when Chris Butt, who had developed a recipe for self rising pancakes happened to see a minstrel show by two comedians Baker and Farrell (William & Mary University). Rutt and his partner took inspiration from a character portrayed by the minstrel show and the logo of Aunt Jemima was born.

Initially, the picture showed a colored woman dressed as a typical Southern slave with a headdress that used to be worn by such classes during the time of slavery. While the promoters of the product claimed that the logo was an indication of Southern hospitality, many others felt that it portrayed a benign or subtle form of racism and stereotyping. By the 1950s, protests against the logo grew especially among the African American community. The company then changed its (popular) logo, depicting younger Jemima without the headdress.

The final version of the logo showed a graying African American woman with earrings was brought out in 1989. This, according to the company intended to portray the message that the lady in the picture was a working mother (and not a slave). But the racist angle still remained because she was colored and not Caucasian or White. The Company also removed their punch line, I’se in town, honey’, which was typical of the language used by the community at that time. A society dominated by whites, exploitation of colored people in the form of entertainment and business was seen as acceptable and even reassuring superiority of class ("Exploiting race and ethnicity").

According to the article, consumers (White) were comfortable when colored people were seen as contented plantation workers who were ignorant and comical fools. Author M.M. Manning agrees with the view that Aunt Jemima logo does portray and image of race superiority. White women could imagine the lifestyle early Americans had during the time of slavery - a complement of slaves to do all the manual labor and a lifetime of leisure and fun. “The mammy in Aunt Jemima ads served as a guide to that lost paradise where White men were gallant, women were unburdened by the kitchen, and children played happily around cheerful black servants who would never leave” (Manning 112).

The protests against the brand grew to such an extent that Aunt Jemima was seen as the female of version of Uncle Tom, another icon now considered to be a symbol of benign white superiority. Artistic expressions of protests also began to emerge illustrating the stereotyped image of racism as portrayed by the logo. An ideal example would be the work done by artist Jon Onye Lockard, titled ‘No More’ in 1967. The picture shows Aunt Jemima, fuming, with a clenched fist, dressed in typical slave fashion.

A more violent expression of the frustration felt by African Americans is depicted in the work done by Betye Saar, titled ‘The liberation of Aunt Jemima’ (1972). The work shows two images of the lady. One shows Jemima (with a lighter colored skin) carrying a white baby. Dominating this image is a larger picture of the lady holding a gun in her left hand and a broom in her right one. In the background the original logo of the brand is displayed a number of times. The former image shows contentment while the larger one portrays anger.

Both these two artistic works have one thing in common, namely the frustration (simmering rage) of being caricatured as subordinates of superior white society (Wallace-Sanders 142). The latter work is more explicit and seems to indicate that violence may be a solution to subordination. Conclusion:It is obvious that people at the receiving end (African Americans) are outraged by the logo of Aunt Jemima. It may not be obvious to a typical consumer who buys the company’s products. But observations made by authors and reputed organizations (universities) state that there is a subtle racial stereotyping that (whether consciously or not) appeals to the white consumer.

To conclude, the fact remains that white superiority is still a matter of concern in American society. References"The Yellow Kid on the Paper Stage." Exploiting race and ethnicity. University of Virginia, n.d. Web. 8 Aug 2011. Manning, M.M. Slave in a box: the strange career of Aunt Jemima. University of Virginia Press, 1999. 112. Print.Wallace-Sanders, Kimberly. Mammy: a century of race, gender, and Southern memory. University of Michigan Press, 2011. 142. PrintWilliam & Mary University.

"Aunt Jemima." N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Aug 2011. William & Mary University, Initials. (n.d.). Aunt jemima. Retrieved from