NEWS: Al Jolson for Africa

CULTURE: Al Jolson for Africa

You’d think the Germans would be acutely aware of racial sensitivity at this point. However, a recent advertising campaign by the German offices of charity organization Unicef shows images of cherubic Aryan children with their faces covered in mud shows that they’ve still got some work to do.

Apparently, though, black face, like ownership of a David Hasselhoff CD, doesn’t raise eyebrows in Germany like it does in America. In a letter explaining/defending the campaign, German Unicef spokesperson Rudi Tarneden said the objection raised by some to the ads came as a surprise.

They pulled the ads after some outrage was expressed online. The campaign was only composed of still images, so there are unfortunately no videos of the children singing “Mammy.” Unicef auf Deutsch considered the display to be a symbol of solidarity; they said in a letter that the intended message was “children may look different but are equal.” Maybe even a commentary on the disparity of the world’s wealth and the seemingly arbitrary way it’s distributed.

The problem is that the ads don’t exist in a vacuum. Intentionally or no, they reflect hundreds of years of cultural attitudes and assumptions. The issue is not so much why it’s bad to put on black face. The question is why anyone would want to put it on in the first place. It’s reflective of a very specific, damning kind of prejudice. Blackface was originally used so that performers could emulate black people, and once the makeup was smeared on, it was an orgy of laziness, stupidity and animal horniness.

With the Unicef ads, there’s obviously a whole different set of motivations than would be in an Amos and Andy show. The images actually show how acutely different the blonde German child are from their suffering African counterparts, which Guardian commentator argues is problematic in and of itself.

Why not just have a picture of an African kid? Is that too boring? This is probably a case of someone thinking too outside the box. Where’s Sally Struthers when you need her?

Yep, you pretty much nailed it here. It boggles the mind how many rubber stamps had to have been attached to this without any eyebrows being raised.

Leave Al Jolson out of this.

originally they were going to cover kids in giant condoms but they decided that they didn't want to obscure the cute kid's faces.

why does it always seem like white people are the first ones to be offended whenever something uncomfortable like race is the topic of conversation in any way?

Because if we were not offended we might be considered racist assholes, and nobody wants that. It also seems that we have lost our sense of humor.

And we wonder why Germans that are not white, like the large Muslim population in Germany, cannot fully integrate.

yeah, because black face is hiLARious.

yeah...that's why. Brilliant analysis.

No, it is not hiLARious, all i am saying is that you just have to learn to take a joke sometimes, and not be offended at something as dumb as this. There are other things in the world to be worried about.

Here's a thought: go worry about those things, then. Let the people who think this is a dumb-ass ad (not really sure why you think it's a "joke," not even the makers are claiming that) talk about it here. Leave the dopey "learn to take a joke" and "what does al jolson have to do with this" somewhere else.

This wasn't even remotely intended as anything but completely straight-forward; I can't believe people are STILL pulling out the "get over it, it's just a joke" card.

Well, in America eyebrows would raise at every turn, but in Germany, who knows? That it went through just fine even after public testing just goes to show that we're just being critical of a culture for not having the same standards as we do.

Yes, clearly this is why the German Muslim population cannot integrate.

Right, it's not like Germans have ever been involved with racism in their past.

[EDIT/ADD/WHATEVER] Um, that comment made more sense prior to Heathen_Dave editing his comment.

I edited my comment? News to me.

Honestly I can't see anything wrong in this ad, probably European and American culture are still too different and we have different standards to look at racial problems."Blackface" make up it's not intended as provocatory or offensive and also beforet reading the text I just get a positive message.

I wonder if the image would have been more striking if they had an African child with white paint, along with that child, facing one another, with their hands put up together or something. To show that children may be 'different colors, but equal'

(and no, I'm not advocating the use of blackface, just wondering if they could have made the point they are saying they wanted to convey with just a few minor tweaks)

Hell, why not do what others do and just get a bunch of racially diverse children and put them together without any color change at all.

Although, looking at the photo again, the enlarged eyes, with the HUGE smile and strained look on the kids face, it does kinda resemble blackface.

I'm not really sure. *sigh* I hate confusing myself.

Maybe I'm wrong here but I think that's projecting a bit. The problem surely doesn't exist in a vacuum, but what is reflected in your opinion is pretty distinctly American I think.
Germany never had a civil war over slavery. I don't think Germany ever had a roaring movie production industry or theater district where blackface was a popular method to represent black people with a negative image.
Sure , it is a damning type of prejudice, but I was always under the impression that it was a distinctly American prejudice.
Why would you expect the whole world to harbor your sensitivities based on a cultural history you don't share ?
Seems a bit like telling a Tibetan monk that those swastikas on his temple mean he's promoting annihilation of the Jews.

Also, I love DhD_PillowPants suggestion that it may have been more acceptable and even on point( from an American or whole world view point ) to have a black child with white face as well. That would have conveyed their meaning more clearly I think.

exactly. not every place in the world is america. "blackface" doesn't exist in germany..the concept, the whole slave thing...DID NOT HAPPEN THERE. so yeah, germans are not going to be offended. everyone in the world is not hip with what offends americans, you know?

not all black people in the world are african americans.

by the way the words mean "in africa kids would be happy if they could go to school and complain about it".

that's why he's making that goofy face.

it wouldn't go with the words. but for sure it would get the point across much better if it was just a picture.

I suppose the larger point about cultural lenses holds, but, though blackface was a decidedly American idiom, it was exported widely, at least as an example of "authentic" American culture. (Think about the way Jazz is fetishized in France, or Cheap Trick in Japan, as awkward paralells.) More damnably, it was one of the key ways that supposedly "black" American culture was presented to the outside world. So there is a history there in Germany, and one to which the ad makers should have been attuend.

More damningly, though, are the origins of those performers who performed in blackface, particularly at the dawn of recorded media. No, Joelson himself wasn't German (He was Lithunaian, and Eddie Cantor was US born, of Polish parentage, but the large number of German/Eastern European jews who immigrated to the US and later performed in blackface suggests that there is a deeply entwined and complex history.

not really, since those performers immigrated and no longer had anything to do with germany. obviously the culture where those pictures were used was OK with it and not shocked. to some hausfrau in munich it was just some goofy 8 year old kid who should be allowed to complain about school no matter where he lives or what color he is.

OK. First off, I think it's a silly ad. Just doesn't communicate the message well if you ask me. That said, the negative reaction too it is very much an American one (for all the above mentioned reasons).

It brings to mind another ad campaign that was shown here in The Netherlands last year (that also got pulled mostly due to pressure that came out of America). Though for a far less noble cause the ad also played on race to get it's point across.



There was a lot of discussion about this image. I know I was a little shocked buy it when I first saw it. Tim Buckley at Ctrl+Alt+Del did the best write up of it.

Two very true statements. Racism, after all, is a problem we create for ourselves. There is no natural cause to it. We choose to hate. We can also choose to stop.

On a side note: It is interesting (and depressing) that of the three pictures used in that campaign, the only one that comes up on a Google search now is the first one.