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Print

1890 - 1910 (made)
Artist/Maker
A. & F. Pears Ltd. (publisher)
Unknown (made)
Place of origin
England (made)

Colour lithograph pictorial advertisement for soap depicting a racist image. A caricatured woman of colour is shown on a porch struggling to bathe a baby in a wooden tub who resists her efforts. Three more people of colour (a man and two boys) look around the side of the building and the caption, printed as if it were hand-written in the bottom left, includes two offensive racist terms implying that the woman wants to wash the baby white. On the wall behind her is a Pears soap poster depicting an elderly white woman washing a white boy with the caption 'Dirty Boy'.

Object details

Categories
Prints
Advertising
Ephemera
Object type
Print
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph
Colour Lithograph
Brief description
Anonymous pictorial advertisement for Pears Soap. Britain, circa 1890-1910.
Physical description
Colour lithograph pictorial advertisement for soap depicting a racist image. A caricatured woman of colour is shown on a porch struggling to bathe a baby in a wooden tub who resists her efforts. Three more people of colour (a man and two boys) look around the side of the building and the caption, printed as if it were hand-written in the bottom left, includes two offensive racist terms implying that the woman wants to wash the baby white. On the wall behind her is a Pears soap poster depicting an elderly white woman washing a white boy with the caption 'Dirty Boy'.
DimensionsVarious sizes.
Subjects depicted
Racism
Racial
Association
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria & Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illlustration and Design & Department of Paintings, Accessions 1919, London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1921.
  • The term 'nigger' is inscribed in the bottom left of this card has been used to describe people of Black African heritage. From the 1800s it carried strong derogatory intent. The term is repeated here in its original historical context. The term 'golly' is also inscribed. Used as an expression of surprise derived from an American euphemism for God, it is used here as a reference to the 'golliwog', a central character in a series of books by Bertha and Florence Upton published between 1895 and 1909. Florence, the illustrator of the stories, based the golliwog on a doll she had acquired in the USA in the 1880s. The appearance of this doll was influenced by the Blackface performance tradition. From the late 19th century until the 1960s, the golliwog flourished as a toy. Its image featured on toys, games, textiles and ceramics and was also used widely in British advertising. From the 1970s the golliwog’s popularity began to wane but nevertheless, such racist stereotyping remained in company branding for many including Robertson's jam which continued with its 'golly' branding until 2001. Pears soap adverts such as this continue to have an insidious impact on 21st century advertising. In 2017, the soap company Dove released an advertisement featuring a black woman taking off her shirt to reveal a white woman beneath. It was intended to look like the product appealed to a diverse client base, yet most viewers compared it directly to the racist Pears soap adverts of the late 19th and early 20th century. It was met with widespread condemnation and was quickly retracted with an apology.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1066-1919

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O828037/print-unknown/
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