Christeah Dupont, Curatorial Assistant
Content Warning – Racism
In our new exhibit, Springs and Scavengers: Waste and Water in Victoria, 1842-1915, the politics of cleanliness is on display. One artifact visitors might recognize is a bar of Pears soap. This particular bar of soap probably became part of the Point Ellice House collection in the 1960s when Inez O’Reilly, likely aware of the prevalence of the Pears brand in the Victorian period, put it on display in the house. Despite the simplicity of this object, a closer look at Pears soap tells us a surprising amount about social status, imperialism, personal hygiene, and racism.
By the middle of the 19th century, Pears dominated the bar soap market – its brand developed alongside expansion of the British Empire. As British and European powers occupied various territories around the globe, exploitation of people and resources led to new products and entrenched particular societal views – especially about the supremacy of whiteness. To reflect these changes, advertisers created marketing campaigns to target white consumers within the growing middle and upper-middle classes. These campaigns were evident in many different household products (consider Aunt Jemima), but are especially associated with bar soap.
Throughout Pears marketing efforts, race and racial difference were central. For example, a series of advertisements show Black children being washed “clean” of their colored skin. Pears linked its brand with imperial efforts to “civilize” non-white peoples around the world. Unilever, the company that bought Pears in 1917, adopted the statement “Soap is Civilization.” White and upper class bodies represented cleanliness and Pears soap claimed to help consumers achieve both status and hygiene.
There are still examples of this kind of “commodity racism” today. In 2017, Dove brand released a short video in which a Black woman takes off her shirt to reveal a white woman in a pale shirt underneath. Unilever (the company that owns Dove) apologized saying that they “missed the mark,” but the ad clearly mirrors racist soap advertisements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Visitors to our Springs and Scavengers exhibit will note that someone (probably Inez O’Reilly) has handwritten “Good Morning Have You Used” on the soap’s packaging. This was a well known slogan of Pears and is a reminder that our understanding and interpretation of artifacts – even something as simple as a bar of soap – is an ongoing process.
Historical Pears Soap Ads (Content Warning: Racism):
- “The White Man’s Burden”
- “Pears Soap Produces Soft, White, and Beautiful Hands”
- Children in the bathtub
