Smokin' Joe Ain't J'Mama
Hank Willis Thomas American
Not on view
For his series Unbranded, Thomas re-photographed historic magazine ads as a way to "track blackness in the corporate eye"—an eye that seeks to sell products and also to defuse racial tension. Sourced from a campaign for Blue Bonnet margarine, this image reflects a base corporate initiative to boost breakfast sales among Black consumers. Hired to role-play an Aunt Jemima type, boxer "Smokin’ Joe" Frazier appears to re-appropriate the infamous "mammy" logo. He poses gamely in a bonnet, though his emasculating attire can also be read as a troubling effort by advertisers to quell the perceived threat of Black men to a white status quo. Thomas strips the image of logos and ad copy, allowing viewers to draw their own conclusions about the campaign.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
