10 of the Most Racist Ads of All Time In American History

Fairy Soap N.K. Fairbank Co. was founded in 1875 and produced Fairy Soap. The ad that presumably ran in the 1940s shows a little white girl asking a Black child why her mother won't wash her with Fairy Soap, insinuating she is Black from dirt. Dove Released in 2011, the ad shows a dark-skinned woman under the "Before" sign for ugly and cracked skin and a white woman under the "After." Dove received backlash for this, though they denied any allegations that this was the intent of the ad. Maxwell House This Maxwell House coffee ad ran in the 1950s and portrays the Black men as extremely ugly servants pouring coffee into a white woman's cup. If you look close enough, you don't have to look hard to see that the Black men are actually white males in blackface. The text on the ad is also broken English and presents the Black men as uneducated. Pears Soap The cleaning of Black people seems to be a trend in advertising. In the 1920s ad for Pears soap, the soap is advertised as being so good it can even clean a Black person up. Borden's Borden's dairy company ran a string of shockingly racist ads in the 1940s. In all the ads, a Black person is shown to be less human and less intelligent than the Borden cow. African Boy The African Boy ashtray features a small, wrought iron boy. His sickly stick figure is advertised as "African." His eyes are classified as "beady," giving him a demonic air. Nigger Boy Cigarettes Produced in the 1950s and '60s by the National Licorice Pty Ltd., it was renamed Y&S Candies Inc. in 1968, and in 1977 became a part of Hershey's Foods. The box features a depiction of a Black boy as the candy's mascot and pictures him as a tobacco dealer. Gold Dust Twins The Gold Dust Twins were the trademark for Fairbank's Gold Dust Washing Powder products starting in 1892. Named "Goldie" and "Dusty," the twins are usually seen in a subservient manner working together to help their "master" or "owner." The patriotic-themed ad also makes references to a U.S. President Roosevelt scouring Africa, while the twins scour America. Kentucky Club Tobacco This 1941 ad for Kentucky Club Tobacco features a row of Black men looking almost inhuman and chomping on some watermelon as white men pass by. The tobacco also makes a selling point out of being "all-white." AC AC Spark Plug Division ran this ad in the 1940s showcasing a Black man as an incompetent monkey, who is shining a horse's shoes.

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