Aunt Jemima

For this written task I had to analyze a text and its effect on a certain culture or race. An Aunt Jemima ad was given to me in which I immediately noticed a smiling black woman. She is dressed inplaid clothes with a bandana on her head. At first I was not fazed by the image since I do not naturally have a racist state of mind. To me it was just a smiling black woman who represented thedelicious maple syrup. The fact that she was black did not affect the way I felt about the product. To me it would have been the same if the syrup model was black, white or Asian.

As I look back at thehistory of humanity and racial discriminations I was able to see the ad from the point of view of a different era. If I look at the ad from the year the campaign was released, during the 1960’s and now Iwould see how the advertisement could be seen differently and perceived as racist through the years.

Aside from the smiling black lady, the Aunt Jemima ad shows a pancake plate, the product and ina bubble says, “Lawsee! Folks sho’ cheer for fluffy, energizin’ Aunt Jemima Pancakes.” This advert is clearly not written in proper English. If it were written properly it would read, “Lawsee! Folkssure cheer for fluffy, energizing Aunt Jemima Pancakes.” The spelling and pronunciation of the real advert suggest that the black woman, the person from who the speech bubble appears to be comingfrom, is from the south and is not properly educated. In the 1930`s this would represent the actual state of mind that most people had about black immigrants. Not only was the black community marginalizedand criticized but also mocked for their unique way of speaking. For the blacks to be part of a white society they had to work as maids, nannies, gardeners, farmhands and cooks. The unique way ofcooking that the black people had made them become known, such as “Aunt Jemima” and her cooking.

Although during the 1930`s this ad was perceived as degrading and racist, during the 1960`s, when...