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Ciarlo, David. Advertising Empire : Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany, Harvard University Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cwm/detail.action?docID=3300927.

Ciarlo, David. “Mass-Marketing the Empire: Colonial Fantasies and Advertising Visions.” German Colonialism in a Global Age, edited by Bradley Naranch and Geoff Eley, Duke University Press, 2015. Proquest Ebook Central,

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cwm/detail.action?docID=1884073.

German Colonialism, Visual Culture, and Modern Memory, edited by Volker Langbehn, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cwm/detail.action?docID=481106.

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German colonialism spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth century coincided with the rise of the consumer class, mass marketing, and advertising. As Germany began its colonial pursuits in the 1880s, enthusiasm for the colonial project was found mainly in intellectual circles among people with “scientific” interests in colonialism. However, as the German empire expanded, by the turn of the century the colonial fantasy had disseminated to the general public. This colonial fantasy involved feeling a sense of power over the non-white “other” and witnessing their subjugation, as well as a fascination with the exoticism of the distant lands and their indigenous people. Companies capitalized on this colonial enthusiasm among the general public and produced commodities centered around colonialism and/or wrapped in colonial images as advertisement despite the product usually having little to no actual connection to the colonies. The commercialized depictions of the German Empire and its colonies both reflected the colonial imagination of the German people and shaped it as they reached a wider audience than the intellectual literature of the 1880s ever did and became a representation of German colonialism to the German people.

The products that appealed to this colonial fantasy through elaborate illustrations or simply advertising as foreign gave the German consumer the feeling that they were getting a glimpse into an exotic new world. Depicting non-white indigenous people as subjugated and/or inferior gave the German consumer a feeling of power over them, that the indigenous people were inherently inferior and that their labor went into the product the German consumer can now purchase.

Through the commercialization process, colonialism’s role in capitalism expanded beyond a process of exploitation by which natural resources and cheap labor are accrued. Instead of only the acquired resources and labor being profitable for certain companies, the cultural idea of colonialism itself could be utilized by any company regardless of direct ties to the colonies and made profitable. The German colonies themselves were not very profitable but the colonial fantasy as it existed in German culture was and continued to be even after Germany lost them in 1919. Colonialism as a cultural idea was  a commodity sold to the German people divorced from its material conditions either in Germany or its colonies.

This exhibition examines the commercialization of German colonialism through several colonial objects. However, they are not colonial in the way that an object originating from a colony would be described as colonial. I do not believe they can provide insight into the historical reality of any of the German colonies either from the indigenous perspective or the German colonizers’ perspective. I believe they demonstrate the domestic view of German colonialism as a commodity. The incomplete perspective of the colonizer is further warped as, to the average German, the colonies are an abstract concept only given shape by the colonial imagination of the wider culture. The objects are products designed to evoke the colonial fantasy in the consumer as a marketing tactic. The goal of this exhibition is not to uncover what these objects can tell us about the indigenous people German colonizers subjugated and committed violence against or even the German perpetrators of that violence. This exhibition is meant to investigate the German culture that produced and consumed these objects and what that can tell us about popular attitudes and conceptions about colonialism within that culture.

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"German Colonies," a Hartwig & Vogel's Tell-Cacao trading card from 1909, copyright Willi Goffart.

The colony depicted in the card is Kaiser Wilhelmsland, modern day New Guinea. As an Oceanic colony its exotic appeal was more pronounced among Germans, along with an increased fetishization of the indigenous people. The colonial and exotic motifs found in trading cards such as those exhibited here, were significant in their mass popularity and subsequent profitability. They caught the attention of the consumer better than the everyday household products that accompanied them would on their own.

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Hartwig & Vogel's Tell-Cacao Trading Card

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"Our Colonies," from the 1938 Kaiser's Weekly Calendar, copyright by Willi Goffart. Image from Volker Langbehn's book, German Colonialism, Visual Culture, and Modern Memory.

The phrase "Our Colonies" invites the German viewer to feel that they themselves hold a claim over the colonies. The contrast between the boats in the picture emphasize a difference between "cultured" and "natural" people.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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"Cannibals! Alive" Seelig Coffee Substitute Trading Card

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"Cannibals! Alive" Seelig Coffee Substitute Trading Card

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"Cannibals! Alive," Seelig's Coffee Substitute collectible card was made after 1900, copyright by Willi Goffart. Image from Volker Langbehn's book, German Colonialism, Visual Culture, and Modern Memory.

The profoundly racist depiction of Africans on this card follows the common stereotyped physical characteristics. The reference to cannibalism is exoticism to the extreme, meant to draw the viewers interest and attention. Cannibalism on a trading card such as this would draw attention to the accompanying product making it very profitable.

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"Coffee with the German Flag" Advertisement

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"Coffee with the German Flag" Advertisement

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"Coffee with the German Flag," advertising illustration trademarked by J. Kaufmann of Hilden in 1900. Image from David Ciarlo's book, Advertising Empire: Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany.

The fallen African in the illustration appeals to the colonial fantasy of subjugating the non-white "other". The German flag gives the illustration a nationalist tone and implies German sovereignty over the foreign land. The white man holding the flag, standing over the African, establishes the superiority of both Germanness and whiteness.

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Demeter Dimitriadis Company Cigarette Packaging

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Demeter Dimitriadis Company Cigarette Packaging

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Demeter Dimitriadis Company cigarette packaging, produced in Hamburg 1898. Image from David Ciarlo's book, Advertising Empire: Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany.

The image is specifically appealing to exoticism as a marketing strategy. It is not depicting any specific German colony, the artistic motifs are simply meant to signify a general foreignness. Cigarettes in particular were often marketed as foreign and exotic despite being produced domestically.

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Aecht Frank Coffee Company Herero Genocide Trading Card

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Aecht Frank Coffee Company Herero Genocide Trading Card

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"The Herero Uprising in German West Africa: Omanbonbe Plundering the Farm of Mr. Gamisch," a collectible trading card by the Aecht Frank coffee company made after 1904. Image from David Ciarlo's book, Advertising Empire: Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany.

The illustration offers the German viewer a glimpse into an exotic and dangerous world while evoking sympathy for the German colonizer in the viewer. This illustration was a representation of the conflict produced by the German mass market for consumers. It reframes the German perpetrators of the Herero and Nama genocide as the victims.

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"Samoan Violets," a small decorative box probably used to hold soap. Its place of origin is unknown it was made sometime between 1900-1930. It is currently housed in the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum).

Items like this were sold in shops specializing in "colonial wares". Samoa in particular was a focus of the German fascination with the exotic. By specifically labelling this box as Samoan, the box and its contents are made more appealing to the consumer through its apparent exoticism.

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"Lost Territories," a card game produced in Germany sometime after 1935, currently housed in the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum).

After Germany lost its empire in 1919, the colonial era was heavily romanticized in the wider culture especially once the Nazi party began to gain more prominence. Even after the end of German colonialism companies were still producing colonialist toys/mementos, capitalizing on the revisionist romanticized view of colonialism in German culture and perpetuating it through their distribution.

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Translated text (top-bottom): "German Imperial-Colonial Clock" "No Sunset on our Empire" "Our Future Lies on the Water"

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"German Imperial Colonial Clock," produced in Germany around 1905, currently housed in the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum).

The clock displays the time in German colonies in addition to Germany. The elaborate artwork gives the viewer a glimpse into an exotic, foreign land. The colonial times displayed allows the German owner of the clock to feel as if they are overseeing the colonies themselves in a way, making them feel powerful.