Of Emotional Yams And Other Mystifying Imagery
Posted by Ross Rosenberg
I admit to being properly confused by this image for Don’t Cry Brand sweet potatoes. What is going on here? Is it the story of one man losing a game of dice to a sugary tuber, or maybe the other way around? Is the gentleman rolling dice in order to procure said tuber? Are they comparing the consumption of sweet potatoes to illicit gambling? If anyone can definitively explain the imagery here please, leave a comment. Any illumination would be most appreciated.
Don’t Cry sweet potatoes [Vintage Ads]
Categories: Illustration, Vintage, WTF, Ads, Food, Racism, Games
Posted at 9:23 am on May 1, 2008
12 Comments -
‘black people throwing dice’ is a racist stereotype. the ad is straight out of jim crow-era louisiana.
there’s your illumination.
Comment by relaxing — May 1, 2008 @ 10:11 am
Perhaps we are looking at it from the wrong angle, and it is in fact not an advertisement for sweet potatoes. Maybe it is a public service announcement, a cry out for help for the poor families whos’ sweet potatoes go out every night, gamble and drink the money away, and then come home drunk, bitter, and abusive. These brave men, women, and children do not speak up for themselves. Refuse to show their pain and tears. Please help prevent abusive tubers, and report them to your local Stop Potato Unawareness Department (S.P.U.D.).
Comment by Nightbug — May 1, 2008 @ 11:05 am
I’m going with Relaxing here. It is a racist marketing plan with black people in mind. “Black people like dice? And yams? Put them together!” Based on the date of the vintage ad, and the fact that it is in the South, is it really that hard to see?
Comment by yes. — May 1, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
sweet potatoes in the south are historically a food more commonly eaten by poor people. i’d interpret the ad to mean that even if you piss away most your money gambling that you can still eat sweet potatoes.
Comment by eugene — May 1, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
I don’t think the theme of the label really has much to do with the type of produce inside. As evidence, I cite the following gallery full of such lovely, obsolete art.
http://tinyurl.com/yjvhw4
Comment by Krazmo — May 1, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
Well, everyone knows that “No Woman No Cry” is actually about yams.
Comment by Rit — May 1, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
I wonder how effective the combination of emotional directive and root vegetable was. If it turns out to be a decent method of marketing, I wouldn’t mind seeing “Stop Whining” Onions, “Get Angry” Beets, and “Laugh, Damn You” Carrots.
Comment by CJ — May 1, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
WTF! You guys have never shot crap for sweet potatoes before? What am I an alien?
Comment by eltiburo — May 2, 2008 @ 2:07 am
@ KRAZMO
Thanks for the link. It’s a fine gallery of curiosities. Strangely, they all seem to be drawn by the same artists.
Man, the associations on some of them are just weird.
Comment by Evil Jim — May 2, 2008 @ 4:25 am
[…] attempts to dispel any attempt to discern an over-arching narrative for Don’t Cry sweet potatoes: I don’t think the theme of the label really has much to do with the type of produce inside. As […]
Pingback by ECTOPLASMOSIS! » The Peanut Gallery: An Exception To Every Rule — May 2, 2008 @ 10:21 am
as a botanist i have to say that sweet potatoes are not tubers- they are actually a modified root.
Comment by mike — May 4, 2008 @ 12:31 am
The young man is a ’shooter.’ He has just ‘crapped out’ by rolling a three, so he loses his bet. Now he has to place a new bet and shoot again. If was gonna cry about this, he shouldn’t've been in the game, man. Craps is what low-class people used to do before electronic entertainment replaced reading pulp magazines. When I was in the army, soldiers caught playing craps were severely punished, as it was a way that the old blisters used to fleece (rip off) the rookies (noobies). On Okinawa in the early 50s, I met a soldier named Wormy the Shooter. Craps was a plague in the armed forces during WWII. Ask your grand-dad.
Comment by Mogothe Mugger — May 15, 2008 @ 2:09 am