November 20, 2009
StaHHr has been killin shit for the longest time.Been on the seen since Mid/Late 90’s.Killin’ and is still gettin’ business. Personally, she’s just getting warm. She has crazy talent and dimensions y’all don’t even know yet. Well let’s start with her first video… “Still Dope”. Directed by Atlanta’s own VJay Jay Force on WRFG 89.3. It’s a dope Video. Get to Know StaHHR!!! FISKKKKKK!!
November 20, 2009
You know the name and you know the Fro! If not…. LEARN YO’SELF!!!! HAAAAAA! Young KAOS is killin’ em. Oh, also be on the look out for young Kaos because the homie slice the Fro-top! So if you see him in the streets lookin’ bugged out…. it’s cause the fro is gone! ZINGGGGGGGG!!!!!
Also go get that “Walk Softly and Carry A Big Brick!”
November 20, 2009
You might know him as Supastition but his real name is Kam Moye. He got a new album out called “Splitting Image” and it is…. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! You needs to go and get that. It’s a Grown man album so if you are looking for some ol’ little boy games… you playing yourself! This is the Latest Single called “Let’s Be Honest”. DOpE, DOpE!!!!!! Enjoy!! FANGGGGGG!!!
November 20, 2009
This is a classic Vertigo Song for all that know.ZINGGGGGGGG!!!! For all that do not… “Vertigo” is a Group featured on the BINKIS Records Label consisting of Killa Kalm, Terra Touch and the Crow. Originally from the N.E.B.L.O.S. System(Hip-Hop Crew that helped birth Binkis) along with others(Talismen and Black Hole) in the mid to late 90’s created their own style of Hip-Hop that hasn’t been duplicated till this day. By way of Chicago, Boston, Houston and Birmingham, the trio perfected their skillz and decided to put out the album “The Essentials” at the turn of the century on the Binkis platform. After the group disbanded(musically), Killa Kalm became the third member of the group “Binkis Recs” which was named officially after his addition.
So, with all that being said… This is one of the leading cuts of “The Essentials” album. The song is “Live and Direct” and until further notice… the only way you can get this song or the album for that matter check Itunes or something else. HAAAAA!!! So check this out… Goldi Gold hooked up this fly video for the joint. Appreciate brah! Definitely FLY!!! FANGGGGGGGGGG! Enjoy peoples!
November 20, 2009
Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this. Yo, in honor of Friday Night Videos… I’m gonna start posting vids late night. In New York… we only had “Friday Night Videos”, “Hot Tracks” and “Video Music Box”. That was the only available visuals for music on regular T.V. It got harder when cable television became more of the norm and if you didn’t have it(like me), you was running over friends house just to see the newness. That’s how it was before things got saturated. It seems like video shows was fazed out in the last 2 years except for a few boring joints that never introduced music artists on a whole. So… this is my dedication to that. FANGGGGGGGGGGG! Let’s get business but first…. lets get into the history.
Friday Night Videos is a music video show broadcast on the American NBC television network from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002, and was considered network television’s answer to MTV. Belinda Carlisle was the guest host for the first episode.
Friday Night Videos actually had its roots in a show called The Midnight Special, which dated back to 1973 and, like FNV, was produced by Dick Ebersol (in conjunction with creator Burt Sugarman) and aired late Friday nights, until 1981. Ebersol chose to abandon Midnight Special when he took over an ailing Saturday Night Live, which had experienced serious ratings declines and cast problems under the leadership of Jean Doumanian. However, after several more years of struggle on SNL, Ebersol decided to try his hand yet again at a Friday night music show.
In its early years, MTV was still a phenomenon that only a minority of Americans actually could see in their homes, as there were many areas not served by cable television, and not all cable television providers offered MTV. Friday Night Videos took advantage of that fact and proved to be the next best thing for many viewers.
While it primarily showcased music videos by popular top 40 acts of the day, unlike its cable rival, Friday Night Videos tended to offer more variety, featuring artists from the genres of pop, rock, R&B, and rap.
In the beginning, the show ran 90 minutes long, and consisted of music videos introduced by an off-camera announcer. In addition to this, classic artists of the 1960s and 1970s occasionally appeared in Hall of Fame Videos, major stars were profiled in Private Reels, and new clips made their network debuts as World Premiere Videos.
The most popular feature was Video Vote. Two videos were played back-to-back, and viewers across the country could call in and vote for one of them, using nationwide 900 numbers for a small per-call fee. The winning video faced a new challenger the following week.
Nick Michaels and Scott Muni were the off-camera announcers.
“Many of our viewers aren’t familiar with music videos, so we’re going to begin our first show with one of the best.” — so stated the announcer at the beginning of the first telecast.Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” was the video chosen for this honor.
During the early years, the Video Vote segment often received as many as 200,000 calls in one night. The first year ended with a final contest, pitting the videos with the most victories against each other. Callers chose ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” as the 1983 Video Vote Champion.
Occasionally, FNV was simulcast on radio stations, so viewers could hear the music in stereo (before stereo telecasts, and sets with stereo speakers, became commonplace). In December 1983, the show scored a ratings victory when it aired Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as a World Premiere Video.
In 1987, the show was cut from 90 minutes to an hour, and its starting time was moved back from 12:30 a.m./ET to 1:30 a.m., as a result of Late Night with David Letterman, which had become a major ratings hit by that point, adding an additional Friday broadcast at 12:30. In 1989, FNV gave out its own awards, naming Michael Jackson the Greatest Video Artist of the Decade.
In early 1990, NBC sporadically ran a Saturday morning edition of FNV for viewers who missed the show hours earlier because of its late night timeslot. That fall, the network premiered a clone show on the Saturday morning line up named Saturday Morning Videos, which followed Saved by the Bell and was basically a campier version of FNV that targeted the lead-in teenage audience. It was cancelled in 1992.
In late 1990, much like what was occurring gradually on MTV, FNV began to move away from an all-video format. Regular bumper segments were added, featuring Judy Tenuta (The Goddess of Gossip), Richard Belzer (Ask the Belz), Kim Coles (Girl Talk),Tom Kenny (Music News), and James Stephens III (Rapitorials).
In 1991, live in-studio musical performances were added. Tom Kenny, meanwhile, became the regular on-screen host, while popular radio personality Frankie Crocker hosted his own feature, Frankie Crocker’s Journal, which highlighted important dates in music history. Shortly thereafter, Crocker took over as host, sharing duties with Darryl M. Bell (who was later replaced by Branford Marsalis in 1993), while continuing to host Frankie Crocker’s Journal.
In January 1994, after years of falling ratings and seemingly becoming more and more insignificant in the wake of the cable television boom that allowed more households to have access to MTV, the show was retooled in an attempt to stay relevant. Moving to NBC Studios in Burbank from New York, the name was shortened to Friday Night, and became less of a music video show and more of a general entertainment and variety program, featuring celebrity interviews, stand-up comedy, movie reviews, live performances, viewer polls, and comedy sketches. Subsequently, the show now only made room to air approximately two music videos per episode. The new format brought two new hosts: comedians Henry Cho and Rita Sever. In 1996, Sever took over as sole host. The old Video Vote segment, meanwhile, was resurrected and renamed “Friday Night Jukebox.”
For the host segments after 1998, Sever would be seated or standing in front of the giant videoscreen on the right side of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno set, near the guest’s entrance.
In 2000, despite having its highest ratings in years, the show was once again reformatted by NBC for budgetary reasons. Under that title, Friday Night’s last telecast was December 29. On January 5, 2001, the show returned under the name Late Friday. Discontinuing the music and feature segments, the show now solely revolved around stand-up comedians doing their stage routines. After 65 episodes, it was replaced by Last Call with Carson Daly, which was extended to five nights a week. The cancellation marked the end of 29 years of NBC programming weekly-only shows in the overnights on Fridays.
November 19, 2009
(Photography by Ann States and can be accessed here)
You must recognize the greats when you hear them. Curtis Mayfield one of the greatest artists to ever manifest! I’ve been on his music for the last week and let me tell you… I knew but… I didn’t know! HAAAAAAAA!!! FANGGGGGGGGGG!!!! Peep the history. Young cats…. if you don’t know, get acquainted!
Curtis Mayfield Bio(from the official CurtisMayfield.com):
He was born July 3, 1942 in the Cabrini-Green housing projects, Chicago’s North Side, part of a single parent, seven member family in a small apartment. Mayfield first sang before the public in his grandmother’s Traveling Soul Spiritualists’ Church at age 7, the church where he obtained and retained his lifelong appreciation of black gospel music. He would also appreciate the electric blues music, newly flourishing around him in Chicago, a form of black music soon to have such an impact on young white rockers the world over. Completing the circle of Mayfield’s talent was his mother’s enthusiasm for poetry that he inherited and turned into the song lyric.
A Learning Curve. Self taught on guitar by his very early teens, Mayfield’s approach to this instrument was also distinctive, tuning the guitar to the black keys of the piano. It was to provide him with a idiosyncratic sound throughout his career (learning bass guitar, piano, saxophone and drums came later). He was also singing, in a gentle tenor voice that made much use of falsetto.
High School Drop Out. At age 16. Mayfield quit school, leaving to form a five piece group called The Roosters. Later the name would change to The Impressions. The lead singer was Jerry Butler, fellow member of Mayfield’s grandmother’s congregation. In 1958, a year after Mayfield left school, The Impressions scored a national hit “For Your Precious Love” – one of the songs heralding the emergence of Chicago Soul of the Sixties. Butler (and his lead voice) went solo after “For Your Precious Love,” leaving most of the responsibilities for The Impressions to Mayfield, who shouldered it well.
Making An Impressions. Mayfield was now in charge of a group that had morphed from five to three pieces, a rarity, vocally, in the r&b/soul field at that time. But Mayfield turned it to his advantage, taking over (that distinctive falsetto, again) as lead singer and putting together arrangements and harmonies for three voices that worked to set the group apart. Result: The Impressions became a powerhouse group of the Soulful Sixties, with a consistent string of chart hits. The group even managed to take a stand against the arrival of The Beatles as chart dominators. When the British Invasion started – 1964 – The Impressions racked up no less than five Top 20 hits that year, all crafted and tailored by Mayfield.
The Anthems of the Sixties. In 1964 Mayfield wrote the prescient “Keep On Pushin’,” a sign that he was entering another phase of his career and, as a young black man, was paying heed to what’s going on and what has to be addressed. . “Keep On Pushin’” served as a civil rights anthem, a favorite of Martin Luther King, as was another Mayfield composition, probably his best known, “People Get Ready.” The two songs became embedded in the national movement for civil and social rights, heard at all the rallies and marches, songs-as-inspiration.
Making the Point. Mayfield expressed the need for change in his songs. But he was ever the businessman and he made sure the songs would, to put it bluntly, get airplay and sell records, With its gospel background and soul harmonies, “People Get Ready” is delivered without stridency or alienation, the fist in a velvet glove. The message, though, is positive and firm. Mayfield wrote and recorded other songs to reflect America’s black population’s growing self awareness and the need for change. “We’re A Winner,” “This Is My Country,” “Choice of Colors, “Check Out Your Mind.” and more. ”People Get Ready” in particular resonates at any time, whatever the cause, one reason why National Public Radio chose it as one of the 300 most important records of the 20th Century.
Amen, Superfly! An early hit for The Impressions was a gospel powered Mayfield original, “Amen.” Picked for the soundtrack of a 1963 Sidney Poitier movie, “Lilies Of The Field,” it became Mayfield’s calling card to Hollywood. But Mayfield would have to wait almost a decade before he made his real impact, via his most commercially successful recording, the soundtrack to “Superfly,” a “blaxploitation” movie. Here he showed the film capital, that “you didn’t need a room the size of a football field to lay music in…. to be a Henry Mancini.” For the “Superfly” soundtrack, Mayfield was writer, performer, producer and he provided a concise picture-in-song of ghetto existence and its collision with street drugs. “Superfly” and “Freddie’s Dead,” from the movie, have been listed among the greatest inner city soul songs. While graphic, they do not revel in the excesses of the culture of violence, actually creating a counterpoint to the film’s storyline. By the time he created the “Superfly” music, Mayfield had left The Impressions. His music was going through yet another change, the guitar playing becoming more prominent, rhythm-based, Critics have noted that Mayfield’s work on the “Superfly” soundtrack in 1972 pointed the way to the gritty realism of the rappers and hip hop artists that followed two decades later. Rolling Stone magazine placed “Superfly” at #69 in the list of the 500 greatest albums. Other Mayfield soundtracks followed: the much underrated “Claudine” (with Gladys Knight), “Sparkle” (Aretha Franklin), “A Piece of the Action” (Mavis Staples) and “Short Eyes” (in which Mayfield also acted). In all these Mayfield was writer, performer, arranger, producer.
Flying Solo. By now Mayfield had his own label, Curtom Records and was severely in danger of claiming the Hardest Working Man In Show Business title, producing The Staple, Mavis Staples, Leroy Hutson, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Impressions and more, for Curtom and other labels. He moved into funk, acknowledged the Disco Generation (notably with “Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here” (from the “Short Eyes” soundtrack). All this was some way from “People Get Ready” but was cut from the same groove.
The Lion In Winter. August 13, 1990. The day Mayfield was doing something he’d done a thousand times, the soundcheck for an outdoor concert, onstage at Wingate Field, Flatbush, Brooklyn. But high winds toppled the stage lighting rig and Mayfield was underneath. He survived but paralysed from the neck down, his spine crushed in three places. Amazingly, Mayfield found his way back. Unable to play guitar (or any other instrument), he could still sing even through it meant overcoming some daunting obstacles as his final “New World Order” revealed. Teaming with a new generation of artists Mayfield returned to the recording studio. Keeping on writing. Keeping on teaching. Keeping on pushin’.
Curtis Mayfield died, aged 57, on December 26, 1999. He left behind Altheida, his widow, six sons, three daughters, and seven grandchildren. And millions of devotees around the world.
November 18, 2009
(from Rare-Posters.com)
Can you say “Cream of Wheat”! HAAAAAA! Let’s keep it going!
Cream of Wheat, RASTUS(Wiki’pedia):
Cream of Wheat is a hot breakfast cereal or porridge invented in 1893 by wheat millers in Grand Forks, North Dakota.[1] The cereal is currently manufactured and sold by B&G Foods. Until 2007, it was the Nabisco brand made by Kraft Foods. It is similar in texture to grits, but made with farina (ground wheat) instead of ground corn. The product made its debut at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
In addition to its wheat-based products, the rice-based Cream of Rice is also produced as part of the product line, and is often a recommended early food for infants and toddlers and for people who can’t have wheat or gluten.
The original boxes of Cream of Wheat were hand-made and lettered, and emblazoned with the image of a black chef produced by Emery Mapes. The character was named Rastus, and the image was included on all boxes and advertisements and continues to be used today with only very slight changes. A stereotypical black icon was fairly common for U.S. commercial brands at the time of the cereal’s creation; for other examples, see Aunt Jemimaand Uncle Ben. It has long been thought that a black chef named Frank L. White was the model for the chef shown on the Cream of Wheat box. White, who died in 1938 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Leslie, Michigan, had claimed to be the model for the Cream of Wheat box. In June 2007, a headstone was erected for Mr. White. The headstone contains his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.
Rastus is a pejorative term traditionally associated with African Americans in the United States. It is considered highly offensive.
The name is sometimes given as ‘Rastus, and it is likely a shortening of Erastus, a disciple of St. Paul mentioned in Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, and 2 Timothy 4:20. “Rastus” has been used as a generic, often derogatory, name for black men at least since 1880, when Joel Chandler Harris included a Black deacon named “Brer Rastus” in the first Uncle Remus book. Contrary to popular belief, however, “Rastus” has never been particularly popular as a Black name. For example, the 1870 census reported only 42 individuals named “Rastus” in the United States, of whom only four were Black or mulatto.
Rastus—as any happy black man, not as a particular person—became a familiar character in minstrel shows (see, for example, Every Time I Turn Around: Rite, Reversal, and the End of Blackface Minstrelsy, retrieved May 3, 2006, and Racism and Poverty in Ford City, PA, 1959: Minstrel Show, retrieved May 3, 2006), in books such as Adventures of Rufus Rastus Brown in Darktown and Rastus Comes to the Point: A Negro Farce, in popular songs such as Rastus, Take Me Back and (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown) What You Going to Do When the Rent Comes ‘Round, on radio, and in films, most notably the Rastus series of short films, with titles that included How Rastus Got His Chicken and Rastus Runs Amuck.
“Rastus” is also the name of the African-American character that first appeared on packages of Cream of Wheat cereal in 1890 and whose image remains the Cream of Wheat trademark today. The image is believed to be from a photograph of Frank L. White, a Chicago chef who reportedly was paid five dollars to pose in a chef’s hat and jacket. His face has been featured on the box with only slight modifications until the present day.
(From Rare-Posters.com)
November 18, 2009
HAAAAA! This also can can be view the same way but judge for yo’self! It’s wild how this is the figure head for “Mammi”. We all know who that is don’t we? If not check this:
O.K. Lets get into Auntie! FANGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!
Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. The Quaker Oats Company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April, 1937.
The term “Aunt Jemima” is sometimes used colloquially as a female version of the derogatory label “Uncle Tom“. In this context, the slang term “Aunt Jemima” falls within the “Mammy archetype“, and refers to a friendly black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of whites. The 1950s television show Beulah came under fire for depicting a “mammy”-like black maid and cook who was somewhat reminiscent of Aunt Jemima. Today, the terms “Beulah” and “Aunt Jemima” are regarded as more or less interchangeable as terms of disparagement.
The name “Jemima” is biblical in origin. Jemima is the King James Version’s rendering of the feminine Hebrew name יְמִימָה (Yəmīmā), the first of Job’s daughters born to him at the end of his namesake book of the Bible. Aunt Jemima is frequently pronounced, “Ain’t Cha Mama”, slang for “am/is not your mother” in popular discourse.
Aunt Jemima was most frequently depicted as a plump, smiling, bright-eyed, African-American woman, originally wearing a kerchief over her hair. She was originally described in marketing materials as a former slave. The original Aunt Jemima image is the most commonplace representation of the stereotypical “mammy” character.
Nancy Green was the first person to portray the Aunt Jemima trademark. Green became a spokesman for Aunt Jemima products in 1890, although Green was not overweight. Green was followed by a succession of other actresses who played the part of Aunt Jemima, most of whom more accurately matched the canonical physical characteristics assigned to the Aunt Jemima character.
In addition to being an advertising icon, the Aunt Jemima character was also commonplace in vaudeville and minstrel shows throughout the late 1800s, and well into the 1900s, independent of an association with the Aunt Jemima brand. For example, comedienne and singer Italian-American Tess Gardella played an “Aunt Jemima” character in vaudeville, film and radio in the early 20th century.
The image of Ethel Ernistine Harper served as the basis for most Aunt Jemima print advertising starting in the 1950s. Margaret Shufelt Anderson was the model for the current image, created by J. Frances Chase and released in 1968.
The direct inspiration for Aunt Jemima was Billy Kersands‘ minstrelsy/vaudeville song “Old Aunt Jemima“, written in 1875. The Aunt Jemima character was prominent in minstrel shows in the late 19th century, and was later adopted by commercial interests to represent the Aunt Jemima brand.
St. Joseph Gazette editor Chris L. Rutt of St. Joseph, Missouri and his friend Charles G. Underwood bought a flour mill in 1888. Rutt and Underwood’s Pearl Milling Company faced a glutted flour market, so they sold their excess flour as a ready-made pancake mix in brown paper sacks without a trade name (which Arthur F. Marquette dubbed the “first ready-mix”). Aunt Jemima is also a known name for the delicious syrup in many American and International supermarkets for its rich syrup ingredients and plethora of Aunt Jemima products, from the popular syrup to the pancake mix. The Aunt Jemima syrup has been a household and restaurant favorite for many waffles and pancakes across the world. For its the picture and the name, “Aunt Jemima”,that connects us to home cooked breakfasts, and fond memories of tasting the savory sweet liquid on our pastries.
Rutt reportedly saw a minstrel show featuring the “Old Aunt Jemima” song in the fall of 1889 presented by blackface performers identified by Marquette as “Baker & Farrell”. However, Doris Witt was unable to confirm Marquette’s account. Witt suggests that Rutt might have witnessed a performance by the vaudeville performer Pete F. Baker, who played a character described in newspapers of that era as “Aunt Jeremiah”. If this is correct, the original inspiration for the Aunt Jemima character was a white male in blackface, who some have described as a German immigrant.
Marquette recounts that the actor playing Aunt Jemima wore an apron and kerchief, and Rutt appropriated this Aunt Jemima character to market the Pearl Milling Company pancake mix in late 1889 after viewing a minstrel show. However, Rutt and Underwood were unable to make the project work, so they sold their company to the R.T. Davis Milling Company in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1890.
The R. T. Davis Milling Company hired former slave Nancy Green as a spokesperson for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1890. Nancy Green was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and played the Jemima character from 1890 until her death on September 24, 1923. As Jemima, Green operated a pancake-cooking display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, appearing beside the “world’s largest flour barrel.” Marketing materials distributed at the fair included the Aunt Jemima marketing slogan, “I’se in Town, Honey”.
The Davis Milling Company was renamed Aunt Jemima Mills in 1914. The Quaker Oats Company bought the brand in 1926.
In 1933, Quaker Oats hired Anna Robinson to play Aunt Jemima as part of their promotion at the Chicago’s World Fair of 1933. The Quaker Oats company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in 1937.
The Aunt Jemima character received the Key to the City of Albion, Michigan on January 25, 1964. An actress portraying Jemima visited Albion many times for fundraisers.
Quaker Oats introduced Aunt Jemima syrup in 1966. This was followed by Aunt Jemima Butter Lite syrup in 1985 and Butter Rich syrup in 1991.
The Aunt Jemima image has been modified several times over the years. In her most recent 1989 make-over, as she reached her 100th anniversary, the 1968 image was updated, with her kerchief removed to reveal a natural hairdo and pearl earrings. This new look remains with the products to this day.
Aunt Jemima frozen foods were licensed out to Aurora Foods in 1996, which in 2004 was absorbed into Pinnacle Foods Corporation.
(Also peep: This)
November 18, 2009
Y’a Bon Banania!!!!! I don’t know what the hell that means yet but I will. This is a wild image(like most images)! It can be taken as racist or as a tribute. These days off top… when you see an Asiatic with a banana…. you automatically think “You Coon!” or more notably… “You Monkey”. HAAAAA! Not… an ad with a black dude promoting a banana based cocoa drink. There is an explaination for the image(as told to Wiki’pedia) but you can’t help but wonder why the Moor is present. A Moor? Yeah, from what many say is the original inhabitants of the planet and recognized by the Fez being worn. Interesting. Hey, I got the Wiki’pedia version so you can see the origin of the product but if you want to get into the origin of the Moor or Fez… you gotta get business with your research. FANGGGGG!! Oh, Y’a Bon means… It’s Good!
(For more info on The Moors… peep here, here and here.)
Banania is a popular chocolate drink found most widely distributed in France. It is made from cocoa, banana flour, cereals, honey and sugar. There are two types of Banania available in French supermarkets: ‘traditional’ which must be cooked with milk for 10 minutes, and ‘instant’ which can be prepared in similar fashion to Nesquik.
During a visit near Lake Managua, Nicaragua, in 1909, the journalist Pierre Lardet discovered the recipe for a cocoa-based drink. When he returned to Paris, he started its commercial fabrication and, in 1912, began marketing Banania with the picture of an Antillaise. Her image was replaced in 1915 with the drawing of a widely smiling Senegalese man.
At the outset of World War I, the popularity of the colonial troops at the time led to the replacement of the West Indian by the now more familiar jolly Senegalese infantry man enjoying Banania. Pierre Lardet took it upon himself to distribute the product to the Army, using the line pour nos soldats la nourriture abondante qui se conserve sous le moindre volume possible (“for our soldiers: the abundant food which keeps, using the least possible space”).
The brand’s yellow background underlines the banana ingredient, and the Senagalese infantryman’s red and blue uniform make up the other two main colours. The slogan Y’a bon (“It’s good”) derives from the pidgin French supposedly used by these soldiers (it is, in fact, an invention). Slowly but surely, the slogan and the character became inseparable as the expression was coined: l’ami y’a bon (“the y’a bon buddy”).
The form of the character has since evolved, so that now all that remains is the name. However, the original advertising has become a cultural icon in France. Posters and reproduction tin-plate signs of the pre-war advertising continue to be sold.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Banania sponsored the zoller of the Tour de France.
The advertising slogans and images have been labelled racist and colonialist by some who argue that it reinforces the old cliché of a friendly yet stupid African. Some French black people connect this stereotype with aggressive colonialist policy in Africa of the global group Unilever, the old unique owner of the brand.
In France the Banania brand is now owned by the newly-founded French company Nutrimaine, which acquired it from Unilever in 2003.
November 17, 2009
I mean, they already not the main characters. Keep them on the poster at least
U.S. Version
by Matt Ufford
A racially-tinged advertising decision has gone awry for the movie “Couples Retreat.”
Marketers of the Vince Vaughn comedy, which stars four couples in a tropical paradise, removed black actors Faizon Love and Kali Hawk from the promotional poster used in the United Kingdom after the U.S. version used all four couples. In response to outrage over the move, a Universal spokesman said the altered poster aimed “to simplify the poster to actors who are most [recognizable] in international markets.”
U.K. Version
While Love and Hawk aren’t generally as well known as the film’s other six stars, it’s still a questionable motive. As noted in a 2007 New York Times article, American films with black stars typically struggle in the overseas market. According to the article, Will Smith, the undisputed king of the American box office, ranks no better than twelfth when it comes to ticket sales internationally. Simply put, said industry watcher James Ulmer, “The international marketplace is still fairly racist.”
However, there’s good news for those who believe the removal of Love and Hawk from the UK poster was racist: Universal issued a statement regretting any offense it caused, and the studio has scrapped all plans to use the modified poster in other overseas markets.
