Racist Advertisements

The main purpose of this image was to sell “fairy soap” but it also serves as a political message in regards to race. To be honest if someone showed me this picture before this class I wouldn’t have seen the strong racism that this image portrays. Growing up in a predominantly white area, I don’t always realize or take offense to political images. Before this class I would have seen this picture and say “well ok” while a black person might look at this image and cringe. Now I am cringing.

In this picture we have two “raced” bodies. One is a little white girl and the other is little black girl. Both girls are representations of their races as a whole and this picture is quick to show the superiority of the white culture above the black culture. First of all look at how the two girls are dressed. The white girl is dressed in a nice blue dress, dark blue socks, and leather shoes. Both of these items of clothing show that she is very wealthy because blue fabric in past times were expensive due to the dye and only the wealthy could afford leather shoes. The other girl on the other hand is in a very tattered dress and she is very, very, very, dirty. Her dress which was once white is now yellow and she has no shoes. Because the little black girl is obviously poor compared to the little white girl, this picture tries to argue us into the position that black people are poor and dirty while the white race is rich and therefore superior.

This image also shows the white girl’s superiority over the black girl through the girls’ body language. The white girl stands boldly and in confidence with her feet wide apart and her arms uncrossed. She seems to be hunching in the direction of the black girl with a sweet look on her face. The black girl on the other hand stands nervously. Her arms are clutching her dress like she is petrified and her feet are in an awkward position, showing how much she is uncomfortable with the fact that a white girl is talking to her. She seems to pull back from the other girl and has a confused and unapproachable look. Through this body language this image is trying to argue that black people are awkward and shy compared to whites. The stark facial differences especially portray that whites are kind and approachable people while blacks supposedly lack intelligence, social skills, and kindness.

Also, because the little black girl's face is not as warming as the little white girl, she can come across as quite ugly. This makes sense with Leppert's theory that most artists will portray the rich as pretty and the poor as ugly. Because the little black girl is uglier than the white, we will tend to side with her.

Lastly the most important political symbol in this picture is the bar of soap. The bar of soap in which the white girl is holding symbolizes cleanliness and purity. Because she is holding this soap and the black girl is not, it shows that the white girl and therefore the white race are clean and pure compared to the black race. Overall this picture is trying to argue to us that white people are superior to blacks in wealth, cleanness, personality, and intelligence.