Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

by Marilyn Kern Foxworth

Overview

This book provides a mirror to our past—a past that has been ignored or overshadowed for too long. From the foreword by Alex Haley

Kern-Foxworth chronicles the stereotypical portrayals of Blacks in advertising from the turban of the century to the present. Beginning with slave advertisements, she discusses how slavery led naturally to the stereotypes found in early advertisements. From the end of the slave era to the culmination of the Civil Rights movement, advertising portrayed Blacks as Aunt Jemimas, Uncle Bens, and Rastuses, and the author explores the psychological impact of these portrayals. With the advent of the Civil Rights movement, organizations such as CORE and NAACP voiced their opposition and became active in the elimination of such advertising. In the final chapters, the volume examines the reactions of consumers to integrated advertising and the current role of Blacks in advertising. Its truly novel subject matter and its inclusion of vintage and contemporary advertisements featuring Blacks make this a valuable work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313267987
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1994
Series:	Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies: Contemporary Black Poets , #16
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

MARILYN KERN-FOXWORTH is Associate Professor in the Department of Jourbanalism at Texas A&M University. In Spring 1994, she was the Garth C. Reeves Endowed Chair at Florida A&M University Department of Jourbanalism, Media, and Graphic Arts. She is the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. with a concentration in advertising. An accomplished, award-winning scholar, in 1993 she became the first person of color to receive the Kreighbaum Under-40 Award from the Association for Education in Jourbanalism and Mass Communication for outstanding performance in teaching, research, and public service. In 1981, she received a Kizzy Award from the Black Women Hall of Fame Foundation and was cited as one of 12 outstanding African-American women in America, and in 1993, she was one of several African-American women honored nationwide by the consortium of Doctors, Ltd. for her accomplishments as mass media trailblazer and pioneer.

Table of Contents

Dedication
Foreword by Alex Haley
Preface
Introduction
Slave Advertisements: A Mirror to the "Peculiar Institution"
Memories of the Way We Were: Blacks in Early Advertising
Myths, Lies, and Stereotypes: Black Advertising Symbols, Characters, and Models
Aunt Jemima: The Most Battered Woman in America Rises to the Top
Invisible Consumers: Gaining Equal Representation for Blacks in Advertising
Separate But Definitely Not Equal: Frequency of Blacks in Advertising
Blacks in Advertising: Critics Give Two Thumbs Up
Epilogue: Colorizing Advertising: A 21st Century Challenge
Appendix: African-American Museums and Resource Centers
Selected Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Judy Foster Davis Marketing Professor Eastern Michigan University

. . . make[s] a meaningful and long overdue contribution to the study of advertising and black history. It is obvious that tremendous commitment and passion went into this work.

Editorial Reviews

The portrayal of African Americans by the advertising industry has been at best stereotypic and two-dimensional and at worst demeaning or nonexistent. Kern-Foxworth (journalism, Texas A&M Univ.) chronicles African Americans' first appearances in advertisements in the United States (classified ads for the return of runaway slaves) to the modern celebrity endorsement spots of Michael Jordan and Bill Cosby. Most of her well-researched and -written book focuses on the early days of packaged goods when many of the stereotypically Jim Crow characters have their origins. The author does an excellent job of exploring the nuances of racial stereotyping. The only weaknesses are the occasional digressive cul-de-sac and the use of dated social science research to support the contemporary analysis. Recommended for history, black studies, and media studies collections.-Edward Buller, "Natural History," New York

Library Journal

A well-researched and written book . . . The author does an excellent job of exploring the nuances of racial stereotyping . . . Recommended for history, black studies, and media studies collections.” —Library Jourbanal

“[A]n important book, rigorously researched and quite readable.” —Everette E. Dennis, Executive Director The Freedom Forum Media

“Read Kern-Foxworth if you want to understand how the tricks of imagery that we all can see actually work.” —Black Issues in Higher Education

From the Publisher