Notebook 2: Intersectionality
Focus
I chose this TIME magazine cover depicting the Earth being hand-fed and cradled by Coca Cola.
Published on May 15, 1950
Coca cola is globalizing & replacing traditional drinks: Chinese serve coke instead of tea, Italians replaced champagne with it.
Myths: brazilians say it increases sexual prowess & makes people more bold
Luxury drink for the wealthy: businessmen, bankers, aristocrats, etc.
Relates back to the American Dream: success & prosperity
Why the drink is so attractive to consumers
Dissection of the picture:
A happy and carefree Earth → peace and prosperity in the world → happy people
Earth seems to be enjoying the drink
Earth is the baby and its mother is Coca Cola
Earth is being cradled and hand-fed by Coca-Cola
Depicts Coca Cola as a very caring and nurturing mother
Coca cola is depicted as milk → nutritious → aids in growth & development
Implications of the motherly role: always being there for their child, mother knows best, birthgiver and savior
In some perspectives (like mine), the Coca Cola’s smile seems a bit deceiving and its actions seems forceful; has a manipulative feel to it
The caption at the bottom of the magazine says, “WORLD & FRIEND” implying that the friend is coca-cola
Meaning that coca-cola has good intentions and wants what’s best for the world
A friend of the world means that it is a global drink; it is peaceful with every country in the world and does not discriminate against others; (an advertisement strategy → to appeal to everyone as it did with the concept of the American Dream)
Sources
Object of Circulations
Reference Pic 1
Reference Pic 2
Family-friendly drink; White “American” family with both parents; A friendly, Black server; family is well-dressed → wealthy, upper-class; on a train: have the money & luxury to travel and take family trips
Depicts the American Dream: graduation/Education, a nice house, everyone is happy and smiling, even grandma’s serving coke/enjoyed by all ages; grandpa & grandma: growing old happily, healthily, and financially stable
Subtle mentions of the word “friend” or “friendly”
National Binds
Whiteness: coca cola depicts what it means to be American
White people are used as examples and set the standard for “whiteness”
A social construction: upper or middle-class, white skin, polite, proper, well-mannered, father: fends for the family but also spends time with his family; mother: takes care of the family and is nurturing
American Dream: success in terms of education; the way the models are dressed: ties, well-groomed hair, wearing accessories, happy and enjoying life, not struggling, model reading books or playing cards: luxury of time
Property: Clean, white, picketed house with a patio
Colonialism:
Coca-cola originated in the US but the picture doesn’t just depict the US but the whole world
Coca-Cola= US; Earth = World
The US is the mother that knows best and the rest of the world should do/follow as the US says/does if they want to be successful
The world is content (happy earth) with doing as their told by the US
Intersectionality
Coca-cola defined what it meant to be “American”, it wasn’t just the color of your skin, but your social class, economic class, and the mannerisms associated with itSex: Either male or female
Girls wore dresses, but were conservative Boys wore ties and were neatly groomed Sexual orientation: promoted heterosexuality since it always depicted a family with a mother and father The object chosen does not display these intersectional concepts, but the two American advertisements used for reference doThis shows that the advertisements are targeted at specific concepts depending on its audienceIn America, coca cola promotes the “American way of life”The object chosen does not explicitly characterize the Earth or Coca-Cola as one sex or the other
Because it is targeted to everyone- globalization; needs to appeal to every sex and race