Analysis Of Pear's Soap Advertisement

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This British advertisement represents the supremacy of the white race over black, therefore, marginalizing black social groups. The evidence has been portrayed through various imagery and symbols within the two main images. Within the images, intended messages are conveyed both at the explicit and implicit level of ideas and communication. The explicit one emphasizes the functionality of the soap in removing blackness and impurities while implicitly calling the black race a stain or an impurity that needs to be washed out. Thus; it reaffirms and establishes the supremacy of the white race.

Advertisements sell more than just a product to their consumers; they sell ideas. In this advert, the depth of this idea revolves around ethnicity, class and beauty. The Pear’s Soap advert is also selling a lifestyle since its messages display what the benefit of the consumption of such product provides the consumer. This technique is used to convince the customer that by consuming more, or using certain brands, the customer will achieve a higher status and possibly social station.

The black toddler is pictured as a caricature with big heavy eyes paired with an over exaggeration of red lips. All these characteristics add a “comedic effect” resulting in nurturing the fallacy that black kids are dumb and unclean. The posture of the …show more content…

It began with the expansion of Britain colonialism towards West Africa that led to the production of cheap materials for soap and thus resulted in its massive production. However, the production was not only for economic salvation but also for the cleansing of the so-called “impure” during the Victorian era. By the 1900s, Britain had control over 60% of India, which later ignited a civil clash. The advert may have displayed the thoughts of white society on this issue showing that black people need to be grateful when under the rule of

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