Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Carlos V

The article Mike posted traced the racist derivations of some advertising images of black people such as Uncle Ben and El Negrito. Racist images or, if you're Mexican or Spanish, possibly just cariñosas. (That's the word the basketball team used to defend the slant eye gesture.) Not to trivialize the writer's argument, but her article did bring up for me the question of whether and how Carlos V of candy bar fame has changed over the years. I don't know about y'all, but for me the Holy Roman Emporer is looking remarkably like Richard Harris in Camelot, but with a brighter smile.

4 comments:

Mike said...

I guess including the famous Habsburg chin wouldn't entice people to actually want to eat chocolate.

Shandy said...

While it may seem an anachronism, I suppose I can see Carlos V's mug on a chocolate bar. Can you imagine other monarchs' images being used for similar purposes? Say, Philip II. What consumer product might that pale and somber countenance adorn, high fiber cereal?

Kent said...

I can picture some of the later Habsburgs, say Charles II, advertising skirts or lipstick.

Traductor said...

What about Pedro el Cruel?