Race and Pre-World War II Marketing

During the Pre-World War II era blacks were often portrayed as second class citizens in every possible way.  These ads show that with their common portrayal of blacks.  This ad's setting clearly takes place in the antebellum South with the use of the Big House as a factor.  This ad places the role of blacks as slaves and uneducated using the words and grammar that the boy invokes toward the white woman.  It also places the perception that slavery during that time period was okay since the slaves were treated well.   

The photo next to it is an ad for a minstrel show which was popular during the time period and continued to be a popular medium for a show and in film until the late 1940s.  Blackface was often used as caricatures for different black stereotypes.  The blackface would emphasize the lips by making them seem much bigger than the white wearer actually was.  Often blackface performances would make fun of black stereotypes such as black lack of education and how they were pure servants of whites. The use of blackface would often appear in advertising and film and at times still does appear today.

Many advertisements were also willing to deface the looks and stereotypes of black people.  This would include ads like these that would, again, increase the size of black's lips and also the size of their ears.  Often they would include black people smiling and doing something in a primitive matter.