Gold Dust Twins

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A box of Gold Dust Washing Soap featuring the iconic "Gold Dust Twins", 'Goldie' and 'Dustie'

Gold Dust Twins is the trademark for Fairbank's Gold Dust washing powder products, appeared in printed media as early as 1892. "Goldie" and "Dusty", the original Gold Dust Twins, were often shown doing household chores together. In general use since the early 1900s, the term has had popular use as a nickname on several occasions.[1]

Gold Dust washing powder was an all-purpose cleaning agent first introduced in the late 1880s by the Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank Soap Company based in New York City. Gold Dust Washing Powder came in a bright orange package with a black and white illustration. Two young African-American children were pictured washing dishes in a large tub. The very recognizable trademark was drawn by E.W. Kemble who was staff artist of the Chicago Daily Graphic.[2]

This ad campaigned slavery

Racial Issue

The Gold Dust Twins used recognizable mascots, two asexual African-American children that promote racist stereotype.

"Are you a slave to housework?" Gold Dust washing powder advertisement

By the 1903 launch of a national advertising campaign, renderings of the twins had been transformed into a cartoonish pair of caricature, bald, black children of unspecified gender shown wearing tutus that sported the words "Gold" and "Dust" on them. On product containers and in advertisements, they were often comically depicted, along with a huge stack of dishes in a washtub, with one twin cleaning, the other drying.

Also in 1903, Fairbanks & Co. launched its national Gold Dust Twins campaign under the slogan “Let the Gold Dust Twins Do Your Work.” The face of the campaign was Goldie and Dustie—dark skinned, subservient minstrel characters who set white America at ease.[3]

Phased Out

By the 1950s sentiments about the use of black children in advertising became less favorable. The arrival of Tide laundry detergent on the market also had a significant effect on the sales of Gold Dust. The entire brand folded in the mid 1950s.

External Link

Gold Dust Twin Soap advertisement at El Dorado Republican (El Dorado, Kansas), 20 Sep 1901, Fri, Page 1, newspapers.com

References

  1. Gold Dust Twins. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  2. Schock, Barbara. The Gold Dust Twins, sandburg.org, 1 July 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  3. Thomas, Velma Maia. YOUR ADVERTISEMENT TROUBLES ME: ATLANTA’S GOLD DUST TWINS, atlantastudies.org, 27 July 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2020.