By Kendra Belton, FCHoF Student Fellow
Blog Installment Six —
Please note: Certain citrus crate labels displayed in this post contain offensive language and/or visual representations of people, whether based on race, ethnicity, gender, or any other aspect of identity. These labels do not reflect the views of the McKay Archives, Florida Southern College, or the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame.
Just as advertisers use holidays to
sell products, advertising often depends on stereotypes. For example, many
commercials use athletes and actors to promote brands. People usually see these
promoters as strong and beautiful—ideal models. The products they advertise
make people think they can look and act like that ideal, themselves.
Stereotypes like this, especially those based on race and gender, can shape how
people perceive certain groups. If many people believe a group has a certain
trait, they expect to see that trait in ads. At the same time, seeing a trait
consistently in the media they consume can make people believe it even more.
For example, in Disney’s Peter Pan, Indigenous people are shown in a way
that gives children a false idea about how Indigenous people act. Additionally,
advertising often relies on stereotypes about the viewing audience, as
exemplified earlier with the assumptions about the interests of jobbers.
Citrus crate labels also used
stereotypes in their advertising. In Florida and California, there are clear
examples of sexual and racial stereotypes on these labels from the early to
mid-1900s. Companies in both states used common stereotypes like the sexualized
Indigenous woman, the Indigenous “Savage,” the Southern Belle, the sexy blonde,
the Aztec, and the Prophet. Many labels of women were sexualized, as the
packinghouses believed that it would be attractive to the jobbers. Other labels
were meant to be funny, like the stereotypical and caricatured labels depicting
Black men. One label uses poor grammar (“Dis Am Grown in Dixie”), and another
includes “Lazy Bones,” which some classify as a racial slur. Where the labels
came from mattered, too. Florida’s labels often showed the Black “mammy”
stereotype, while California’s labels used the exoticized Latina stereotype.
The “mammy” or “aunty” stereotype
was a common idea about African American women that started during slavery in
the United States. The idea became popular through minstrel shows, where white
actors wore blackface and acted out stereotypes like the mammy. The mammy image
was pervasive in advertisements and on product labels, including the old Aunt
Jemima pancake and syrup brand. It was also used in citrus advertising. People
saw mammies as “overweight, self-sacrificing[,] and dependent.” So, a mammy’s
“robust, grinning likeness” made buyers think that the product was good and
trustworthy, since white people perceived a mammy as a “trusted figure”
(“Popular and Pervasive Stereotypes”). Mammies were also thought to be
“sexless, eager to please, and happy with their place in the white world”
(White 2024). Because of these stereotypes, white buyers of Florida citrus
believed that the products were reliable. While this would have been good for
business, the stereotyping relied on pervasive ideas about Black women.
California’s
view of Latinas also showed up in citrus advertising. The crate labels often
showed Latinas as “exotic,” which has two main definitions that fit here.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2025), “exotic” means
something foreign or from a faraway place. It can also mean someone attractive
or glamorous because they seem unusual. So, whether a Latina on a label appears
in traditional clothing or sexualized attire, she is made to look exotic. This
stereotype shows Latinas as “showing more cleavage or wearing tight clothing,
ill-tempered or feisty, and curvy” (Berrios and Herman 2022). Even the images
of Latinas in traditional clothes often still show these body stereotypes.
These exaggerated images relied on “exoticization and sexualization” to support
white ideas about Latina culture in early to mid-1900s California (Rodriguez in
Gill 2023).
No matter if the woman on the crate
label is overly sexual or not, dependable or exotic, she is based on a
stereotype. These images were rooted in common beliefs in the first half of the
1900s, and the citrus industry deliberately used them. Companies knew that many
white Americans, particularly the wholesalers, would trust or be drawn to
familiar images and ideas. In Florida, the “mammy” and “aunty” brands made the
fruit seem trustworthy, just like the mammy stereotype. In California, Latina
women on labels were intriguing and exotic, attracting buyers in other ways.
Based on pervasive cultural ideas, these images sold fruit because advertising
always tries to appeal to what people believe.
Overall
Project Conclusion
Citrus
crate labels in Florida and California may both find their origins on the West
Coast, but their advent on the East Coast brought with it a new variation of
themes. From flora and fauna to modes of transportation, holidays, and
stereotypes, citrus crate labels certainly covered a wide breadth of
advertising tools to ensure that each brand found its own interested jobber.
The art on the labels is eye-catching, as are many of the subjects they depict.
Sometimes the content of the label directs the viewer and wholesaler’s
attention back to the producing state; other times, the label alludes to world
events or the buyer’s internal beliefs. Regardless of what the citrus crate
label displays and where it originates, the purpose is the same: to sell citrus
fruits and their products, and to accomplish that task with colorful imagery.
Bibliography:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YnuEs3oAUlnwe6uMgSDLNpKpRFnYq4YQ/view?usp=sharing
Images Cited: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19IXXoGwo7wfoX5_pUd4beO1750tpg4fl/view?usp=sharing
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