Advertising pannel Rhum Negrita 

Gender and ethnicity

Gender and social class

Advertising regularly uses stereotypes, in other words, simplified images of what a certain category of person should be, in order to ensure that the message reaches the future buyer directly. Very commonly, stereotypes are accompanied by prejudices, which are also conveyed by the advertisement and assimilated by the collective imagination as a matter of course. Among the elements involving racial discrimination is the use of the diminutive negrita to refer to a black woman, stressing the infantilization and submission of African women and cultures with regard to the Western white male. Another noteworthy element is the use of a woman of African origin to highlight the exotic nature of the alcoholic beverage being advertised. And lastly, we have the depiction of this black woman as a person of low social class, as the clothing and actions of the sign’s protagonist refer to a worker who serves someone else, or in this case, all the Western men who purchase the product. This advertising sign for Rhum Negrita was produced in the 1930s. We may therefore believe that the stereotyping it exhibits is a thing of the past. However, the fact is that the brand remains on the market today, with the same name, and its image is still linked to that of an African woman.