Race and sex have long been some of the most debated topics in advertising, however the prior has received notably less attention than the gender stereotypes in the ads that line the pages of magazines we read and TV commercials we see each day.
Historically blacks have been ridiculed in ads since the beginning of pamphlets and etched drawings because they were slaves and thus, objects that could be done with what the owner wished.
African Americans are by far one of the most heavily (and negatively) stereotyped minorities in media.
Grotesque images like this were very common and slowly helped to build a negative and harmful image of African Americans. This degrading image of blacks has trickled down throughout the years and is still seen on such products as Uncle Bens and Aunt Jemima’s.
Aunt Jemima's marketing tactic was particularly harmful in that it played-off of the character of a "mammy", the stereotypical house servant in the old south (i.e. Gone With the Wind).
This image has been changed over time to one thats more socially acceptable but still reminiscent of it's racist roots with literally the same face, just a different hair-do.
Uncle Ben's is another figure who's background people seem to be unaware of.
As Mayo, Mayo and Mahdi state in their journal "Skin Tones in Magazine Advertising: Does Magazine Type Matter?", "advertising symbols and characters such as Aunt Jemima and the Gold Twins have stood for and defined African Americans in advertising over the years. These characters have placed images of African Americans in the American psyche." They go on to explain the historical implications of skin tone saying "discriminations and privileges based on skin color have been experienced by African-Americans since slavery. Lighter-skinned Blacks generally were given indoor domestic work while those individuals with darker skin worked in the fields."
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