Guangzhou Tooth Paste Commercial 1938 (Blackface in China WW2-Present)

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While doing some research I found a photograph of the Japanese occupation of Guangzhou in 1938. The photo is of course not mine but part of a public archive. The soldiers tell one story, and the billboard tells another. The image should look familiar if you visit any supermarket in China, Malaysia, or Thailand. It's the same used for Darlie tooth paste.

This is a commercial for"Darkie" tooth paste, a Shanghai company which mimicked American stereotypes of black people. The "Darkie" title was still used across Asia until 1985. This is the idotic notion that dark skin equals clean teeth. A similar image was used to sell a German tooth paste known as Clorodont .

"Darkie" tooth paste was featured in the 2004 movie The Confederate States of America. This brand was owned by Hong Kong company Hawley and Haze, and then bought by Colgate in 1985. Colgate had a new challenge of making a 1930s blackface commercial PC for the 1980s. The solution was a name change. Replace the K with an L, and Darkie is Darlie.

The image is the same and the slogan is the same, translated as 'black people's tooth paste.' Hong Konger's love to think of themselves as more sophisticated than their mainland neighbors, so the name change was used as a gimmick for neo liberal consumers. Here is the 1990 Hong Kong Commercial.

What's interesting about Chinese society is that racism is very direct and not frowned upon. It's seen as an expression of the status quo. A reality that's very difficult for Americans to understand. Explaining to a Chinese customer that blackface is offensive is equally difficult.

Commercials like this risk offending a large consumer market, especially as China becomes a more diverse country. As a new world leader China has manifested degrading perception of black people, incorperating 20th Century American steryotypes. One example is a recent KFC commercial from Hong Kong depicting a goofy version of Barack Obama. Though it's horribly racist, poking fun of the 2008 election is a stroke of genious. It's postmodernism in a fast food commercial.

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Photos

Guangzhou 1938
"Darkie Tooth Paste" billboard Guangzhou 1938