Keagan Lulf

English 102
Civil Rights Essay
27 Sep 2016
For Sale: Racism
Money commands the world. More specifically, if any individual wants to live even a
rudimentary life, money is a necessity. In any way, shape, or form people will try to make a
profit. Most people are so blinded by dollar signs that they will do whatever it takes to make a
quick buck as they are oblivious to whom that may hurt. Companies will use whatever tactics it
takes if it makes them money. This being said, racism is one of the methods used by companies
to achieve success in their given industry. Companies use racism to promote their products
because racism invokes feelings and is an attention grabber which can help in some one buying
the item.
Racism in brand name companies may be something people are not familiar with because
they do not even realize it is racist. Companies such as Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's, Cream of
Wheat and many others have used race to brand their company. It may not seem racist to the
regular shopper but they have branded their name by using a certain race. Aunt Jemima uses an
older African American woman in a cooking outfit holding a tray of food. The picture they use
also gives off the effect of it being in the past. Presumably, the Company Aunt Jemima is a using
a slave as a way to brand their product. Even more racist about Aunt Jemima is in the mid 1900s
on the box of Aunt Jemima products was actually a white person wearing a black mask and
was dressed up as servant (Gritz 1). To make matters worse, the commercials advertising Aunt
Jemima would feature slogans that were grammatically incorrect and this would portray the
thought that African Americans were illiterate. Uncle Bens is another example of a company

being racist to brand their product. In the 1900s the word uncle was often used describe an
elderly black male slave (Moore 1). The image on Uncle Bens rice depicts a bow tie wearing
servant. However, Ben was not a servant, he was actually a farmer. Cream of Wheat is another
Company that uses a certain ethnicity to label their company. When the company first opened in
the 1910s, it used a series of racist ads to publicize their company. Fortunately as time has gone
on, the racist advertisements stopped, but the company kept the image of an African American
cook from the past (Gritz 1). Companies using a certain race to market their brands is
unacceptable. For one, the company and the certain race they use are hardly intertwined and
relevant to each other and it is just not morally correct to use a race to gain a profit.
There are advertisements all around us. Any where you go you will see hundreds of
advertisements. This is because there are numerous ways to promote products and many different
ways to produce propaganda that will convince a person to buy a certain item. Companies will
do whatever it takes to make a quick buck and this has caused companies to ignore ethics. The
goal of a profit will be stopped at nothing at companies often ignore feelings of others in their
ads. There have been commercials and advertisements that have been produced that are blatantly
racist and raise eyebrows. However, that is exactly what the company aspires for because it
brings attention to their product. Besides racism being displayed in advertisements, the way
companies create these ads can also be racist. We all know of the commercials aired on Super
Bowl Sunday. Prior to Super Bowl XLVI, Acura was searching for actors for their commercial
that would be broadcasted during the Super Bowl and they asked for A not too dark AfricanAmerican to be in the promotion (Minato 1). This is just one example of numerous racist
incidents that happen when advertisements are in production.

Taking advantage of someones pain for your gain is one of the worst things you can do.
A benefit should never come at the cost of someone elses happiness. Nonetheless, companies
seem to flock to these types of incidents in the world to make some kind of money. After the
recent shootings that have seemed to plague the United States, we have seen certain groups and
movements arise from these horrific events (Deggans 11). There have been many shirts that have
been made after these occurrences to seem to favor a certain side, but are they really for that
certain group or are they just using it as an excuse to make money? People are losing their lives
but people are still focused on making money that ethics do not even cross their minds. Even
worse there have been instances of news and media making racism comments during these
events. In fact many media based companies have had to terminate many employees who have
made these types of remarks. Metro Company, a newspaper company in New York, was under
intense scrutiny after one of the head executive made racist remarks and jokes about African
Americans while at a convention discussing race (Willis, Erin, and Chad Painter 1). Other factors
that are caused by these types of events are on social media. Posts containing subjects from
trying to sell the clothing line to popular celebrities commenting on the current event. Leslie
Jones, an African-American comedian, went on a tweeting rampage about white people. Spewing
out cuss words and making derogatory remarks about the Caucasian race and then in return
standing up for the African American race (Andrea 1). This type of behavior is unacceptable in
the twenty first century. It is absolutely impossible to overcome racism with more racism. All of
these cause and effects coming from a single event is absolutely terrifying for society. All of the
ripple effects start with the biggest factor of money. One way or another somebody is trying to
turn a horrendous matter into a profitable gain.

The fact that money is more important than anything else in the world is absolutely
horrendous. Since advertising came about, it has been racist. Using race to promote a product is
not morally or ethically correct. Companies seem to lose these ideals and lower their standards
because it is all about money. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Bens and Cream of Wheat are just few
examples of what is completely wrong with companies ignoring common sense (Moore 1).
Those companies and products were built on the foundation of racism and they have yet to
change. Moreover the companies that use racism in their actual advertisements are just as
immoral. There are many ways to grab a consumers attention rather than use racism, yet
companies time and time again are told that they have to remove one of their advertisements
because of the obvious racism used. Racism is not as prominent as it once was and this is even
more of a reason for companies to completely abandon the use of race in their products and
advertisements to add to the effort of abolishing racism. As stated early in the essay, it is
impossible to end racism with more racism. This means that companies, celebrities and everyone
else have to be conscious of what they are saying or displaying when it comes to race. Racism is
absurd and should not even be around in the first place, however society is just adding more fuel
to the fire.

Works Cited
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Gritz, Jennie Rothenberg. "New Racism Museum Reveals the Ugly Truth Behind Aunt
Jemima." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 23 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Minato, Charlie. "10 Recent Racist Ads That Companies Wish You Would
Forget." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 07 June 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Moore, Andre. 12 Racist Logos You Didnt Know Were Used By Popular Brands
AtlantaBlackstar.com. May 2014. Web. 27 September 2016.

Willis, Erin, and Chad Painter. "Race Prominent Feature In Coverage Of Trayvon
Martin." Newspaper Research Journal 37.2 (2016): 180-195. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27
Sept. 2016.
Zanoni, Carla. "Newspaper comes under scrutiny after executives make racist
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