Thread: the difference Uncle Ben and Uncle Tom?

Originally Posted by Nacian

wow...this thread has taken a turn of its own...the question that stands for me now is :
should we still be using images of uncle Ben or anything similar say on packaging to sell to customers across Europe and the world?

Well, I think if you look at Aunt Jemima, she's one of the few instances of a mammy caricatures still present in modern advertising. But she's lost her head scarf and leaned up a bit, so I think there's been some moves to try and soften the racial connotations of her imagery.

As for selling around the world, your question reminds me of the case a year or two ago when Harry Connick Jr went to Australia to judge a variety show reunion competition. One of the acts did a blackface routine to the Jackson Five decades ago, and were reprising their role. Now, blackface doesn't have the same connotations in Australia that it does in the USA, but Harry's from the States so he reacted waaay differently than the Australians.

I think what this says to me is, and this is important as a writer, you should know your audience and localize as able. If you're designing advertising for a car to be sold in Greece, you better make sure the name you choose doesn't mean "slow piece of junk" in Greek. If you're going to sell pancakes in the States, don't use visual imagery that recalls slavery and oppression.

So if Uncle Ben just looks like some old dude to the Swedish, slap his face on the package. If you're selling rice in China, maybe they don't think some old black dude from the South makes it better than some old asian dude from Mongolia.

Originally Posted by Capulet

Well, I think if you look at Aunt Jemima, she's one of the few instances of a mammy caricatures still present in modern advertising. But she's lost her head scarf and leaned up a bit, so I think there's been some moves to try and soften the racial connotations of her imagery.

thanks for the explanation funnily enough I have never heard of aunt jemima...I was sure you had meant something else.
check my next post.

As for selling around the world, your question reminds me of the case a year or two ago when Harry Connick Jr went to Australia to judge a variety show reunion competition. One of the acts did a blackface routine to the Jackson Five decades ago, and were reprising their role. Now, blackface doesn't have the same connotations in Australia that it does in the USA, but Harry's from the States so he reacted waaay differently than the Australians.

I think what this says to me is, and this is important as a writer, you should know your audience and localize as able. If you're designing advertising for a car to be sold in Greece, you better make sure the name you choose doesn't mean "slow piece of junk" in Greek. If you're going to sell pancakes in the States, don't use visual imagery that recalls slavery and oppression.

So if Uncle Ben just looks like some old dude to the Swedish, slap his face on the package. If you're selling rice in China, maybe they don't think some old black dude from the South makes it better than some old asian dude from Mongolia.

the problem I am having it is well and good to be advetising products but is it fair to print some kind of a human face, that I might believe existed or not, to sell a product is a more pressing question?
there is a fine between slavery and product carrying a human face as a packaging design to sell isn't there?

my next question is :

is there a link between
AUNT Jemima in this picture


and

Jemima Puddle Duck in this following picture?

Originally Posted by Capulet

Well, I think if you look at Aunt Jemima, she's one of the few instances of a mammy caricatures still present in modern advertising.

Don't forget about Mrs. Butterworth.

Originally Posted by Blood

Don't forget about Mrs. Butterworth.

Mrs. Butterworth in a shape of a bottle??
where the MR. then ?
or is he a mystery?

never of butterworth till now....