“The Uncle Sam Range” advertisement is inundated with excessive American imagery; The image features the iconic red, white and blue “stars and stripes” visual language of America on the carpet, curtains, wall coverings and clothes worn by some of the subjects in the picture. In addition to this vast presence of American imagery, also featured centrally to the composition of the piece is Uncle Sam himself with an eagle upon his shoulder— a noted representational, personification, embodiment even, of the American government and country as a whole. The typography featured in the bottom sector of the composition, which too is communicated through a decorative, western-style, perhaps brash decorative type, is almost lost in translation as a result of the complexity of pattern and energetic background it is set on. Due to this, it could be considered that the true subject of this advertisement, being the Uncle Sam cooker range, is overshadowed by the nationalist symbolism and busy aesthetic of the image. The concept of the advertisement I believe is to entice people not only in America, but around the world, to buy into “The American Dream,” or at least a part of it through the ownership of an “Uncle Sam Range” cooker. The right-side of the image depicts persons sat around a table, the most prominent being an image of a personified globe with arms and legs, with an illustrated face on Africa, whom is holding a bill of fair (receipt) for the food being prepared by young black boy at the cooker in the left of the image. This is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, the advertisement was created 11 years after the abolishment of slavery in America (1865) and yet the illustrated advertisement still features imagery of this through the black subject. Secondly, the personified continent of Africa on the globe implies a deeper racial context, whilst his possession of the receipt of food bears strong suggestion of America’s cultural superiority as it “feeds the world” despite the known poverty in Africa. It is perhaps more likely this is representative of American laughing at the primitive nature of other countries. The notion of America as a country of greatness in the advertisement in my opinion is exaggerated, evidenced through the presence of the declaration of independence hung on the wall and the significance of the dates shown on the clock — these being 1876 and 1776. This symbolism is important as it signifies a hundred years from the independence achieved by the country is 1776 to the present day in which the advertisement had been created. It is my view that the image as a whole is desperately trying to deliver a message of America as the superior country despite having only gained independence a hundred years prior to the creation of the image. It has to be considered exactly how far they could have realistically progressed in what in the grand scheme of things was a short amount of time, and whether the abundance of American imagery featured in the piece is an overcompensation in trying to glorify the country beyond measure in attempt to sell the “Uncle Sam cooker Range.”
The Empire Marketing board’s “East African Transport Old Style” and “East African Transport New Style” posters by Adrian Allison, from the “Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity” series — displayed December 1930-January 1931; Waterlow and Sons Ltd (major worldwide engravers of currency, postage stamps, stocks and bond certificates, London) also feature imagery suggestive of cultural superiority. The old style poster depicts native East African men and women travelling across grassland transporting large, heavy objects with their own strength, with no aid of technologies available at the time in other parts of the world. Juxtaposing with this image is the scene identifiable in the “new style” poster.
In this image evidence of technological progression can be seen through a constructed bridge, boats and trucks. The other significant change in this second image is the presence of a white presumably British male, stood authoritatively in the foreground of the image, whilst behind him are the men of East Africa working behind him, or perhaps beneath him as he directs their labour. This changes bears significance in that it depicts man as the leaders of the new world, a new prejudiced way to live. The two images are clearly depictions of the colonialism of East Africa through the British Empire. The purpose of these images are not only to spread the message of the empire as a positive force to gain investment in further colonialism, but to also promote the act to the colonised in attempt to convince them of its advantages. This makes the target of the image both investors, including the rich, upper classes of East Africa, but also those who have had the colonialism forced upon them. The series of posters have the aim of presenting the patriotic British Empire as the reason for the cultural advancement and progression of East Africa, with colonialism being the positive driving force for change and betterment of the native society. The reality of these images is the British Empire enforcing their culture on others, the downtrodden, for purposes of wealth and promotion of the ruling empire being the leaders of progress via imperialisation.
Both the “Uncle Sam Range” advertisement and Empire Marketing Board’s “Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity” series posters celebrate cultural superiority. All these images present ideas of the prosperous being the rulers of society, with growth and progression presented as the highest in importance above all else. They seemingly justify the act of slavery, as the black subjects of the images are enslaved and dominated by the superior white American / British. Also evidenced in here is the social attitude of women being secondary to men in society. The significant message these images have in common however are their attempts to communicate technologically advanced civilisation as they key to future development — naive in their belief that without technology, advancement cannot be achieved.
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