Displayed side by side with its competition in the supermarket or sales outlet, the product with the most appealing package is likely to be the consumer's choice. A product's packaging--along with its price, and the style of its advertising--contributes to its overall "image" in the mind of the consumer. The success of a marketing campaign frequently depends on this deliberate creation of an image--of quality, luxury, economy or whatever.

Packages rely on a complex association of color, design, graphics and trademark In many cases, accurate representation of the product is less important than the associations and appeal created by a persuasive mix of appearances. Consider the Dutch Cleanser box. The bold colors and sharply delineated trademark of the Dutch girl give this box a strong visual impact. The words "Purex QUALITY" and "Value. . . price!" are trigger words, meant to suggest reasons to buy the product. While the original identification of cleanliness as a Dutch cultural trait is probably lost on most contemporary consumers, the use of the Dutch girl for more than seventy-five years has been important in maintaining the identity of the brand.

The role of packaging has not always been so important. Before the Civil War, when most merchandising was conducted on a small-scale, localized basis, many goods were sold directly from large storage bins supplied by the manufacturer to the merchant. With the growth of large regional and national markets in the late nineteenth century and the entry of an avalanche of goods into the marketplace, competition intensified and the need for product identification increased. Storage bins began to be decorated with the product name, paving the way for the packaging of goods in individual containers.

One frequent means of using packaging to catch the attention of the consumer has been the employment of stock characters (often ethnic stereotypes) on product labels for humorous effect. A very direct and simple use of such a stereotype to sell products is illustrated in the label for Boyd & Company's "No Chinese" brand of cigars, produced around 1880. The label uses a cartoon image to elaborate on the brand name. The illustration shows a Chinese cigar peddler whose queue, or pigtail, has been tied to a fence by his competition--a young American boy (the Chinese made cigars that were underselling American brands at the time). Since Chinese immigrants were blamed for economic depression and unemployment of American natives, they were already a ready target for racism. The label played upon this anti-Chinese sentiment, while employing humor, to sell the product. The message was quite clear: your support of Boyd's (and the American cigar industry) will protect the country from the Chinese menace.

A more positive product image is illustrated in a turn-of-the-century advertising card for "Friends Oats". Such cards were used for store displays or given away as promotions. Here a young girl, wearing supposedly plain (but actually quite fetching) stylized Quaker garb, holds a box of oats with her picture on it. An endless series of images of the girl reinforces the product name ad infinitum, and an important psychological association is established between the wholesomeness of the Anglo-American girl and the nutritious value of the product.

Another effective means of packaging employs a visual appeal to the consumer's fantasy life. The crate label for Genova grapes, produced about 1935, suggests the fun the consumer can have if he buys the grapes (which can be used to make wine). It depicts a Mexican-American guitar player accompanying a barefoot, sensual dancer. Both are drinking "Genova" wine under the stars, with a comfortable adobe home in the background. The label offers the Anglo-American consumer the fantasies of self-indulgence and sensuality. By identifying with the Mexican stereotype, the consumer can safely engage his fantasies at a distance.

The "Genova" label--one of many packing crate and can labels from the 1920's and '30's included in the exhibition--is indicative of the considerable investment made by California's packinghouses in attractive packaging. More than simply describing the contents of a can or box, printed labels served a promotional purpose. At East Coast auctions, where carloads of fruit competed for attention in huge warehouses, the most arresting and memorable labels fared better than their competition. The California printers who specialized in their production played an important role in publicizing the state's products nationally and internationally.

The evolution of the Aunt Jemima image offers an interesting case study of how a package can change over time. Figure 5 is an advertisement for Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour as it appeared in a Ladies Home journal of 1924. Round-faced, grinning and wearing a kerchief wrapped around her head, Aunt Jemima was meant to represent an experienced cook and was reminiscent of a stereotypical slave "mammy." (The term "aunt" connotes the closeness, affection and trust in which black servants were held.) The image of Aunt Jemima figured prominently in the design of the 1924 box. By the 1940's, although the painted illustration of Aunt Jemima had become a more realistic photograph, her portly appearance remained essentially the same. She was still portrayed as a servant and her portrait continued to be a salient feature of the package design. On today's package, Aunt Jemima, who has been relegated to a small oval on the comer of the box, is no longer represented by a photograph. The portrait on the current box is a younger, slimmer image of a black housewife (a checkered sweatband substituting for the familiar kerchief). While the Quaker Oats Company, which has owned Aunt Jemima Mills since 1926, has transformed an outmoded representation of a black "mammy" to a younger, more upbeat stereotype, she is still recognizably Aunt Jemima. The continuity of the brand name has been maintained while the image of the product has been changed to minimize the suggestion of social inferiority and gain acceptance in today's market.

Gail F Stern, a specialist in American material culture, has been Museum Curator of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies since 1979.

Bibliography

Martineau, Pierre, Motivation in Advertising, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1971.

Ogilvy, David, Ogilvy on Advertising, N.Y., Crown Publishers, 1983.

Salkin, John and Laurie Gordon, Orange Crate Art, N.Y., Warner Books, 1976.