Questioning Representations of the Unclean: Racism in Victorian Soap Advertisements

Abstract

The racial prejudices of the Victorian era are reflected in various facets of the period. A very direct portrayal of the Victorian mentality rooted in the colonial times is visible in the advertisements, especially in those of Pears Pure soap. These advertisements utilized the assumed equation of racial superiority and skin colour to assure and promote the cleansing power of the product. They make use of Kipling's idea of the White Man's burden which clearly speaks about the burden of civilizing the natives and of soap as contributing to the civilizing project. The visuals used clearly represent the polarization that others the colonized as subjects. Stuart Halls comments on stereotyping is at play in these advertisements which perpetuate the binaries of black and white, civilization and savagery.

Keywords-Cleanliness, Race, Stereotype, Identity, Victorian, Advertising