Ad Link: Racism in a Chinese laundry detergent advertisement

Racial stereotypes have been around in the media for a long time. We’ve witnessed over time the implications of negative stereotypes, and how damaging it can be in shaping the perceptions of a society. We’ve also seen these negative representations be challenged and corrected as the society evolves. However, we don’t often realize that stereotypes can spread across different cultures, leaving a lasting impact on how other cultures might adopt these damaging perceptions. Even when racial depiction in media is corrected by one society, it doesn’t determine how another might use and respond to these representations. This leaves a “lag” that can be problematic across different cultures increasing the gap in our understanding of each other and how we make sense of the world. This paper aims to explore how American racial stereotypes in the media spread damaging ideologies across different cultures in shaping the social perceptions of that society. By examining the different stereotypes at play in a Chinese advertising for laundry detergent, we can see how other cultures like the Chinese have adopted certain negative ideologies towards the black community and shape their perceptions around them. 

A Chinese laundry detergent company “Qiaobi” launched a disturbing ad in April of 2016 for their detergent. The storyline starts with an asian female in her laundry room. A black male enters the room with paint marks on his face and shirt. The male whistles to the lady and they exchange suggestive looks and the girl calls him over. Suddenly she puts a detergent tab in his mouth and shoves him into the washing machine. The woman sits on top of the washing machine with a grin as you hear muffled screams coming from the machine. Then, a fair-skinned Chinese man emerges from the machine and the woman looks delighted. The ad ends with Qiaobi products being showcased.

The most obvious stereotype at play seems to be the association of fair-skin color to purity and cleanliness and superiority to colored skin. There are many signifiers that portray this message. The black male appears with paint smears indicating that he is dirty and unclean. The dirty messaging is reinforced by the act of shoving the black male into a machine that “cleans”. The association with skin color is established with the “clean version” of the male emerging out of the machine with fair-skin. Although the use of this ideology is surprising in the twenty-first century, this is by no means the first of its kind. The spread of this representation can be attributed to the historical context of the colonization of Africa in Europe and America’s history for its racial messaging against people of color. In fact, the use of this stereotype can be seen in many other soap ads in the past as well. Similar representation is found in a British and American advertising for Pears soap from the early 19th century (Fig 1). The ad shows a black baby bathed and stripped of color using pears soap by a white baby. This coded-iconic message suggests dark skin color being unclean, and fair-skin symbolizing purity. The comparison between the white and black baby is made with how they are portrayed as well. The well-dressed clothing and the act of cleaning suggests the white baby to be more intelligent while the black baby is represented to be barbaric and inferior by the empty expression of the nude black baby and comparable distinction of its incompetence compared to its counter white baby. Similar to the Pears ad in the late 1800s, Qiaobi ad uses the association of dark skin as a metaphor for dirty and impure skin to promote the effectiveness of the soap.

Figure 1.

Pears (A. & F.) Limited. Pears’ soap : matchless for the complexion / Pears. Welcome Collection Museum, https://wellcomecollection.org/works/fmg9u8f8/images?id=gfkygc4c. 

Although at first glance the most dominant message appears to be focused on the pigmentation of skin and its relevance to cleanliness, there are many other hidden layers to this message. The violent nature of the man being shoved into a washing machine is made comical in the Qiaobi ad. The muffled screaming coming from the machine should present itself to be disturbing, however the woman sitting on top of the machine seems un-bothered and humored. The violent nature of how people of color have been represented in its historical lineage of white supremacy has normalized the association of violence towards people of color, and especially Black people . See Fig. 2 for example. This trade card advertising for a Druggist Joseph R. Hofflin shows two black children getting caught stealing watermelons with a figure in the back holding a rifle. This violent imagery is presented light-heartedly, rather than concerning. Violence and aggression in general have been associated with the black community not just historically but even in modern-day pop culture. Ads like the Qiaobi ad reflect the adaptation of these ideas in Eastern culture.

Figure 2. Hofflin, Joseph R. Trade Card for Joseph R. Hofflin, Druggist and Dealer in Patent Medicines featuring the theft of a watermelon, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota Digital Library, https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/mpls:22202#?xywh=-145%2C-333%2C2658%2C1616. 

 

Another coded-iconic message can be decoded by examining the first scene of the Qiaobi detergent ad. The lip biting, whistling, and suggestive looks exchanged between the black male and the Chinese woman suggest the exploitative and sexualized attitudes towards people of color. This hyper-sexualized portrayal of black people, especially black women, dates back to as early as 1630s (Pilgrim,2002). An article in the Jim Crow Museum website explains that the promiscuous stigma towards black women has been established and reinforced through the historical context of colonization and features of the slavery institution, “The enslaved, whether on the auction block or offered privately for sale, were often stripped naked and physically examined. In theory, this was done to insure that they were healthy, able to reproduce, and, equally important, to look for whipping scars – the presence of which implied that the enslaved was rebellious. In practice, the stripping and touching of the enslaved had a sexually exploitative, sometimes sadistic function. Nakedness, especially among women in the 18th and 19th centuries, implied lack of civility, morality, and sexual restraint even when the nakedness was forced. The enslaved, of both sexes and all ages, often wore few clothes or clothes so ragged that their legs, thighs, and chests were exposed. Conversely, white people, especially women, wore clothing over most of their bodies. The contrast between the clothing reinforced the beliefs that white women were civilized, modest, and sexually pure, whereas black women were uncivilized, immodest, and sexually aberrant” (Pilgrim, 2002). 

By examining how other cultures adapt stereotypes, we can see how damaging it can be to society in shaping negative perceptions of one to another which creates more misunderstanding and division. This is because although one society may evolve their perceptions toward a group of people, it does not mean other cultures will quickly adapt to the new changes. These impressions can leave a long lasting imprint that can be hard to correct. And it’s because of this is why it is important to take into consideration our own designs and aim to bridge the gap across different cultures, rather than further it.

Works Cited

Grady, John. “Advertising images as social indicators: depictions of blacks in LIFE magazine, 1936-2000.” Visual Studies, vol. 22, no. No.3, Dec. 2007. EBSCO, https://research-ebsco-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/c/nyazoo/viewer/pdf/e2fplxf2ez?route=details.

Hofflin, Joseph R. Trade Card for Joseph R. Hofflin, Druggist and Dealer in Patent Medicines featuring the theft of a watermelon, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota Digital Library, https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/mpls:22202#?xywh=-145%2C-333%2C2658%2C1616.

Pears (A. & F.) Limited. Pears’ soap : matchless for the complexion / Pears. Welcome Collection Museum, https://wellcomecollection.org/works/fmg9u8f8/images?id=gfkygc4c.

“Pears’ Soap Advertisement Analysis.” Visual Culture Blog, 26 Mar. 2014, thefutureisvisual.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/pears-soap-advertisement-analysis/.

Pilgrim, David. “The Jezebel Stereotype.” Jim Crow Museum, Ferris State University, July 2002, jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/jezebel/index.htm.

Saini, Raminder. “Soap, Race, and Cleanliness.” Dalnavert Museum, Dalnavert Museum, 17 Sept. 2019, www.friendsofdalnavert.ca/blog/2019/1/17/soap-race-and-cleanliness.

Tsoi, Grace, et al. “What’s behind China’s ‘racist’ Whitewashing Advert?” BBC News, BBC, 27 May 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36394917. 

Final:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jvfQ_a8jnIjlg6Wl3_e97qIUE9TOb-ozCPXFenQjNUk/edit?tab=t.0

Rough Draft:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VUuhKtCyuW6fNZkLMBEBIHcABYV5gBYWTqxdrznu7gg/edit?tab=t.0

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