Civilizing Pears Soap

During the nineteenth century Pears Soap managed to brand itself as the quintessentially British product. Part of what this meant, of course, was bringing "civilization" to all non-white people. Thus, these rather bizarre ads that appeared in British papers.

This ad refers to an actual event. The British soldiers who invaded Sudan wrote the phrase "PEARS SOAP IS THE BEST" on a rock to mark the point of their furthest advance into the country. The ad fantasizes about how the "Dervishes of the Desert" must have reacted when they stumbled upon this piece of imperial graffiti.

This ad is captioned, "The Birth of Civilization -- A message from the sea." The message presumably is: the British are about to invade your country!

Posted By: Alex | Date: Mon Sep 08, 2008 | Comments (1)
Category: Hygiene, Advertising

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All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.