Pears’ Soap

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Pears Brand Logo

Pears’ Soap is a brand of soap first produced and sold in 1807 by Andrew Pears, at a factory just off Oxford Street in London, England. It was the world's first mass-market translucent soap. Under the stewardship of Thomas J. Barratt, A. & F. Pears initiated a number of innovations in sales and marketing. Lever Brothers, now Unilever, acquired A. & F. Pears in 1917. Products under the Pears brand are currently manufactured only in India for the global distribution. [1]

Pears’ Soap advertisement “Lightening the White Man’s Burden.” McClure’s Magazine, Oct. 1899)
The original Pears soap advert based on the fable Washing the Blackamoor white, published in the Graphic for Christmas 1884

History

Andrew Pears, the son of a farmer, was born about 1770 in Cornwall and moved from his native Mevagissey to London around 1787. He completed his apprenticeship in 1789, established a barber's shop in Gerrard Street in Soho and began to produce cosmetic products. At that time, Soho was a high-end residential area, and Pears' clientele included many wealthy socialites who took pride in their appearance. The fashion among the wealthy of the period was to have pristine white complexions; tanned faces were associated with those who laboured outdoors.

Pears found that his powders and creams were frequently being used to cover up damage caused by the harshness of the soaps and other beauty products that were in general use at the time, many of which contained arsenic or lead. Pears began to experiment with soap purification and eventually managed to produce a gentle soap based on glycerine and other natural products.

Pears soap is now made in India by Hindustan Unilever, a company in which Unilever now has a 67 percent share.[2]

The Racist Advertisements

Looking at the advertisement Pears’ Soap launched in 1890, it can be seen that there is a very clear linguistic message ‘The White Man’s Burden’ at the ad. The ‘White Man’s Burden’ is often seen as the legitimization of white rule over the barbaric indigenous people of their colonies. In smaller letters it is clearly stated that Pear’s Soap can be used as a tool to clean the black people overseas.[3]

As shown in the ad, the ad can be distinguished into two parts. A man in an oval frame and the background on which this oval is placed. In the center a man is seen washing his hands with a bar of Pear’s Soap placed next to him. The porthole and white uniform suggest that watchers are looking at the captain of a ship. In the background the ships are seen at sea and a beach. On the beach a white person is handing out soap to a black person. The black man is crouching down and seems to be begging for the soap.

Second racist ad from Pears' Soap rhymes the same with the first one. The white boy hands the black boy a piece of Pears’ Soap while bathing. When the black boy gets out of the bath his body has turned white after using the soap. When he sees his new white skin in the mirror for the first time he is smiling. Above the picture, it is stated that the soap is not only good for your hands, but also for the complexion. The ad is not telling people that the soaps increases hygiene, but that by using it you can climb the social ladder by gaining a white complexion.

To top it off, the characters are not realistic portrayals of actual toddlers. In Pear’s ad, the impression of a black person’s skin is exaggeratedly dark, and is paired with bright red lips to create this caricature of a typical black person would look and act like as a comedic effect. This gives an illusion to white consumers, that they should view black people as lazy, dumb, or dirty. In the contrary The white boy is well dressed and has a calm expression, to show that he is elegant and of a higher class. The posture of the well-to-do-white boy suggests that he is assuming the role of a teacher towards the other boy. Pears is implying that the first boy, or white boys in general, are more knowledgeable than those of colored skin, therefore he should teach others about pears soap to become more white like himself.[4]

References

  1. Pears’ Soap. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  2. Pears’ Soap. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  3. Pears’ Soap: Washing the blacks white, esmee'sculturalhistory, 28 November 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
  4. Pears’ Soap Advertisement Analysis, Visual Culture Blog. Retrieved December 29, 2020.