Translate 
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis article examines a wave of Orientalism‐inspired food commercials that appeared on television in France between 1975 and 2000. Older commercials for couscous were more banal, emphasizing a given product's superiority or affordability. Around 1975, however, there was a concerted shift in the advertising; new spots contained exoticized visions of harems, fantasies of white domination and expressions of unbound sexuality and violence on the part of nonwhite actors. This shift coincides with a portentous change in immigration to France. As the economy slowed down, expressions of enmity about ‘foreign’ workers and their families skyrocketed and found new bases of political support from far‐right parties, with women in particular targeted as problematic in French society. This article places the Orientalist images in conversation with these political and demographic developments, using an intersectional lens to demonstrate how food advertising reveals deeper anxieties among the French populace.
Published Version
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
