Empire Marketing board - 'East African Transport Old Style' and 'East African New Style' by Adrian Allinson, from the 'Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity' series of posters.
The Uncle Sam Range (1876) Advertising Image by Schumacher and Ettlinger, New York
These images both display pride of colonisation and empire. It is promoting the idea that the West (particularly the U.S and the U.K) is culturally, socially and technologically wise superior to the rest of the world. In the current time both of these images could be seen as racist or xenophobic in it's themes whereas at the time they would have been socially acceptable. Both images are patriotic to either America or the British Empire.
'Uncle Sam Range' is an advertisement for a range cooker. This advertisement is in the 100 year anniversary of America's independence (1879) which is marked by the clock .The gold title indicates wealth to depict that if you buy this cooker you'll be seen as wealthy - probably being sold to the aspirational middle class. It is a garish and bright poster, using the American flag in every chance it gets to really show how patriotic these Range cookers are. To give the sense that you'll be a 'real American' if you buy it. The range isn't even the focal point of the cooker which shows how big the celebration on the anniversary is. During times of national occasions, companies usually use these to sell their products even if two and two do not go together and the product has no relation to the occasion. The advertisement is trying to show how strong the U.S has come since becoming independent and shows that with the metaphorical bill which has mocking list of stereotypical foods that immigrants of the East Coast of America would eat i.e Irish immigrants would have moved America because of the potato famine and America has helped them. This advertisement also portrays the backwards-ness in social attitudes at the time. The white man in this picture looks tall, powerful, well dressed and affluent. Whereas the woman in this picture is serving the man, kept in her place, not necessarily allowed at the dinner meeting. The black man is even smaller, demoting his worth.
The Empire Marketing Board's advertisments are less so to sell a product and more to sell an idea. These posters will have been to prove that the empire is still a good idea to the people of Britain and also to encourage the wealthy people of East Africa who would probably had British education to invest in new infrastucture. The Old Style shows women, men and children working together, slowly and have unhappy/ angry faces to say that this style is not working for them. In the New Style, it is only black men working maybe implying that women are to weak to do these building jobs. I think it's trying to say that the new style would benefit everyone, however the bridges they have built are probably purely to benefit Britain with importing goods and the African people are just dehumanised workers. The white man is higher than the African workers to show he has the power. He is the hero of the colony and without the white man's intervention Africa would carry on being 'backwards'.
Both of these advertisements are trying to promote inclusivity and 'working together' but the white man is still the focal point and he will always be superior. They put black people at the bottom and dehumanise them from actual humans with minds to just simple workers - slaves perhaps. Even though both of these advertisements were created after the abolishment of slavery, proving that the idea of black people had still not progressed. These images try to justify stealing other people's land through nationalism and depictions that we're better than them so it's acceptable for us to steal their land. In a historical view, these advertisements try disguise the horror and brutal attacks within these areas of history while still blatantly showing them up through the undermining images of black people.
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