BEYOND THE MULATTA (Studium Generale event)

How are Black and mixed-race women represented in contemporary advertising? And what histories and stereotypes are hidden behind these images?

In her book Beyond the Mulatta: Haunted Hybridity in Advertising, Lenore Todd traces representations of Black and mixed-race women within postcolonial visual culture. She demonstrates how contemporary Western advertising frequently relies on a recurring stock figure: a woman of African descent, with a light to medium skin tone and loosely curled hair. This figure echoes the historical stereotype of the “mulatta”, which refers to women of mixed African and European descent. During this evening, Todd argues that advertising is not neutral: it reproduces and reinforces stereotypes. By repeatedly depicting particular ‘types’ of Black women, advertising replicates and strengthens specific racial discourses, even as it claims to celebrate diversity. The woman on the billboard functions as an engine of middle-class aspiration, and an avatar of a ‘better future’ that is close at hand, but will never happen.