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Fun on the Farm

What seems a charming stop-motion rhapsody for Bourn-vita chocolate reveals some unpleasant racial insensitivity.

Advert 1935 5 mins Silent

Overview

The first part of this Cadbury’s cinema advert is delightfully charming. A troop of eggs are woken by a cockerel and march away in ranks. An accident on route sees the arrival of egg stretcher bearers to carry away the invalid, and two others go AWOL. But things get more troubling when our runaways are joined by two young black boys from a chocolate shop window.

The appearance of stereotyped black characters in 20th century advertising is sadly not uncommon. What makes it particularly insensitive here is that as the eggs, wheat and milk dance into a tree trunk to be followed by the boys, it becomes apparent that these twins are being used to directly represent the ingredient of chocolate itself. The short was produced in Gasparcolor, with the cel animated logo of the bird at the start of the film common to all productions in this format.

Featuring

Olive Groves

Genres

Advert and Animation & Artists Moving Image

Country

United Kingdom

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

Subjects

Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate

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