Ad #8: Aunt Jemima

Critical Analysis: 

The target audience of this advertisement is mothers ages 24-32. The image of the happy child eating Aunt Jemima's Pancakes is meant to appeal to a mother who wants to see her children that happy at breakfast time. Also, the copy of the ad stresses that the pancake mix is "ready-mixed", which would be appealing to a mother because it means that she would have to do less in the morning. She could make pancake mix from scratch-- a more time consuming method-- or she could grab a box of Aunt Jemima's and save time. I think the image of the happy child makes this advertisement very effective. Every mother wants to see her child happy, especially in the morning when children can be hard to handle. The happy kid is eating a huge pile of Aunt Jemima's pancakes, suggesting that the pancakes are what's making the little boy so happy. The advertisement utilizes popular culture by advertising yet another ready-made food item that can cut back on cooking time and free up time for women to do other things. Instead of stressing about cooking a home-made, filling breakfast for her children in the morning, a woman can open up a box of Aunt Jemima's and go about her morning with ease. 

Comprehensive Analysis: 

This advertisement is selling Aunt Jemima's Pancake Mix. This advertisement was published in the 1920s. The central advertising method used in this advertisement is celebrity endorsement. At this time, Aunt Jemima was already an established house-hold name. Aunt Jemima had credibility and was considered to be a celebrity. In this ad, Aunt Jemima's face is the largest thing you see, bringing attention to it automatically. Also, the copy of the ad is in quotations, suggesting that it it is a quote directly from Aunt Jemima. Aunt Jemima is endorsing the product in her quote by telling the reader that its time for some delicious, ready-made pancakes. She gives the advertisement credibility when she mentions her "secret-recipe". This product would be important to someone in this time period because it made people's morning routines a lot simpler. Mothers have a lot to worry about in the mornings. They have to get the kids out of bed, dressed, and packed up for school, and before ready-made breakfasts were on the market they'd do all of these things while cooking a home-made breakfast. Ready-made pancake mix made the morning routine a lot easier. All a mother had to do was add a few simple ingredients and throw the pancakes on the stove. There are definitely racial stereotypes portrayed in this advertisement. First of all, Aunt Jemima in general is a racial stereotype because at this time, black people were limited to menial jobs such as cooks and housekeepers. Second, the copy in this advertisement is stereotypical. The copy is not written in proper english, suggesting that Aunt Jemima (a black person) doesn't know how to speak correctly and is poorly educated.