Was going through some ad archives on work and found some old ads which might be potential world war material…
For a soap that is so popular – and has been for more than a century – Pears has managed some of the most politically incorrect advertising in the history of, well, advertising.
Starting with the ‘powerful enough to clean a black child’, way back in 1903 – when ‘black’ was less politically volatile – the ad intended to convey that black was unclean – and a soap that could clean black could clean anything…
And then the Happy Jappy ad in 1906 – a miniature Japanese woman squeezed into a smaller tub – and looking ecstatically happy… Happy Jappy as opposed to what – Grumpy Chinky? And the ad proudly says, for white hands….. and – the only soap used all over the civilized world – ‘developing nation’ as a term had evidently not been coined then…
From this site on japanese soap ads, …this “ethnic” image would have trumped the more staid pictures of Japanese women used by Jap Rose soap at the time. The image of the woman in a tub is authentic (except for the soap bar–the Japanese rinsed off soap before getting in the tub), similar to images in travel books. It is obviously meant to titilate by the woman’s “oriental” lack of modesty–as in the anecdotes quoted above, she seems quite ready to invite the viewer to join her in the tub. Pears in fact sometimes exploited sexual themes or innuendo (“He won’t be happy till he gets it”–a bar of soap or a kiss) and a famous early ad shows Lillian Russell naked in a bubble bath.
Look again at the picture and try to get titillated… And imagine squeezing into a tub that size… And now stop.
And then very recently, the Indian ad ends with the little girl peeping out from behind the soap to lisp to her mother – kuch nahi (nothing) – in answer to her mother’s question – accha aaj mein kya kapde pehnun? (what clothes shall I wear today?) – the background to this ‘perfectly innocent’ reply is the theme of the ad – which suggests that Pears is so pure it is transparent and contains nothing harmful blah blah – in short, usme kuch nahi…
Innocent? Or not so innocent?
Interesting. This should be on Boing boing or metafilter.
I agree. I’m still in a bit of shock. I’ve never even heard of Pears’ Soap. Thanks for posting.
Trish, you’ve never heard of Pears’ soap – it has been one of the most popular brand across the world – for more than a century now!
and the irony is that pears has always been positioned as pure, unspoilt, gentle – with cues like baby-mother, soft skin and so on…
Akshay thanks, I am thinking of doing a series on interesting ad campaigns – when I shake myself up and find the motivation, that is… if you are interested in advertising history, read my post on the new coke here – http://charukesi.com/blog/index.php?p=205
Informative. I am not using Pears soap now onwards(as if I use it now).
Old advts reminded me of the 100 year old (about) advts that used to appear on ToI Bombay Ed until a few years ago.
Neel, go right ahead and use Pears soap – it is undoubtedly a good product – and if we start boycotting every brand that has a politically incorrect history, most of them would be out of business:)
The ‘Can even clean black kids’ ad/campaign is undoubtedly politically incorrect/offensive for our age but I’m sure it passed muster back when it was aired.
I guess the larger point is that they found an insight relevant to the times and sensibilities of their TA and did this consistently enough to build a wonderful brand! Pears to me strongly owns equities of purity (demonstrated by transparency), mothers love and gentleness.
That said though, I’m not sure I really like the latest ‘kuch nahin’ campaign…
Apologies for the typo – here’s the right url for the comment above.
quid-quip-proquo 🙂 sure these were not offensies entiments at the time when the ads were made – two things about the post – one is the way words change and acquire new meanings – usually with changes in society/polity… and two, offensive or otherwise, such communiation boils down to exploiting an ‘insight relevant to their TA’ – what about social responsibility?
but pears is no doubt a wonderful product – and a super brand – the pure-gentle associaitrons are just too strong to be shaken easily…
(and are you in advertising, just saw your blog)
Charu, my comment about a ‘relevant insight’ was in the context of the ‘cleans black kids’ ad, at the time it was run. Assuming it was inoffensive at that time, I don’t think we can blame Unilever for neglecting their social responsibilities. OTOH if they were to run this ad today, we could question their lack of social responsibility and general lack of common sense 🙂
Analogous, perhaps, are the Fair and Lovely ads which generated controversy some time ago. Again, people talked about social responsibility (or HLL’s lack of it) but the fact remains that they thought the insight was relevant and the brand is doing really well. Am not trying to defend HLL here but I think they were just trying to grow the brand and didn’t really think about the social fallout. Most marketers, IMHO, are like that.. and perhaps we should think more about it.
ps – I’m in marketing, not advertising as you’ve prolly guessed by now 🙂
pps – Right url this time!
yeah… I guess it is rathe rnaive to talk about and expect CSR from marketing companies – esp from a compoany like Levers they have esome of the most offensive ads I have ever seen – of course, they have also suddenly opened their eyes(?!) and have started with ads like the Lifebuoy one – and the Surf Excel pani bachao one – and I am hoping noone is fooled… (irrelevant to the topic but this is one of my pet rants!)
Pears soap is a wonderful product and I shall continue to use it.
The first ad, ‘powerful enough to clean a black child’, reminds me of an incident from my childhood.
I am Anglo Indian and I have brown skin. I migrated to Australia in 1970, which was one year after the “White Australia (immigration) Policy” was abolished … needless to say, the general population weren’t used to seeing little brown skinned kids like me running around, but I managed, somehow, and I had many friends at school. One day, after I had been attending the school for 4 years, we had a lesson about Melanin and why some people have brown skin. After the class, my best friend came to me and said shyly
“I didn’t realise that you have more melanin in your skin … I just thought you were dirty!”
… Great. Thanks. Lol.
Celeste, thanks for sharing your experience – it must have been quite tough coping as a child… and back in those days when popele were less politiclaly correct!
And of course Pears is a wonderful soap – I use it too… the point here is just about their advertising campaign and how they have managed to get away with everything just by the sheer strength of their brand among consumers like you and me!
Just came across this blog when I was searching for Pears soap ads. I’m disappointed to read that some of the discussion dismisses the soap ads as simply “politically incorrect.” To say that these ads are merely a product of a less politically correct time dismisses the fact that, during the 19th century, companies like Pears were implicated (indeed, participated) in the project of colonialism/imperialism. If we seriously think about the violence and the long-standing aftereffects of colonialism (e.g., Celeste’s experience), we would not be so quick to dismiss the historical-social significance of these ads.
To learn more, read “Soft-Soaping Empire” (Chapter 5) in Anne McClintock’s “Imperial Leather”
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415908906/qid=1126823637/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-6253578-4927342?v=glance&s=books
I’m actually doing a research paper on just this topic. I’m focusing on Pear’s soap and Jap Rose soap ads from the turn of the 19th century. If anyone who frequents this blog has any ideas about where to look for further information on soap ads with Japanese imagery in them, or specific ad campaigns, or anything akin to what is discussed here, I would love to know. Thanks 🙂