Cosmopolitan cocoa farmers: refashioning Africa in Divine Chocolate advertisements

Leissle, Kristy

doi:10.1080/13696815.2012.736194

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Kristy Leissle's () work, also arguably, showcases the deliberate stylisation of Ghanaian female farmers in Divine Chocolate advertisements in British magazines and newspapers as Afropolitan farmers. Leissle argues that “the playfulness of their poses, combined with the invitation to enjoy chocolate, presents African women farmers as savvy luxury consumers, which suggests their individual participation in the privileged aspects of modernity narratives” (2012:134).…”

Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jesse Shipley's () example of Azonto and Kristy Leissle's () cosmopolitan cocoa farmers illustrate the form of Afropolitan(ism) that Adeniyi Ogunyankin promotes. Shipley points out that the Azonto song and dance “creates a cosmopolitan style that transcends local–global opposition and maintains its distinct Ghanaianness as a form of worldliness” (2013:368).…”

Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This expanded definition is less divisive and also less dependent on spatial mobility, thereby providing flexibility in determining how the global and local intersect in the production of identities and lifestyles. Jesse Shipley's (2013) example of Azonto and Kristy Leissle's (2012) cosmopolitan cocoa farmers illustrate the form of Afropolitan(ism) 2 that Adeniyi Ogunyankin promotes. Shipley points out that the Azonto song and dance "creates a cosmopolitan style that transcends local-global opposition and maintains its distinct Ghanaianness as a form of worldliness" (2013:368).…”

Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A “Scented Declaration of Progress”: Globalisation, Afropolitan Imagineering and Familiar Orientations

Ogunyankin

2018

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Branded as “Africa's first luxury perfume”, the Scent of Africa perfume is a “scented declaration of progress”. Particularly fascinating is the commercial advertisement for the perfume, which I argue to be an “Afropolitan Imagineering” project that is intended to signal Africa's rise and its new association with global cosmopolitanism. At first glance, the Scent of Africa perfume advertisement seems to point to the ways in which Imagineering projects can reproduce colonial discourses about Africanness. However, in this article, I suggest that we complicate the advertisement and examine its subversive potential to decentre whiteness and celebrate Africanness while writing Africa into the world. Despite this subversion, I conclude that African worlding practices should disinherit the familiarity of Eurocentric geographic determinism that is embedded in Afropolitan Imagineering and instead become informed by afro‐futuristic imaginings and disidentification politics.

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Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Becoming Global: Afropolitanism and Afropolitan Imagineeringmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A “Scented Declaration of Progress”: Globalisation, Afropolitan Imagineering and Familiar Orientations

Ogunyankin

2018

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“…though it is well documented that women and children contribute a significant amount of labour to cultivation of the crop. Advertisements, both historical and contemporary, regularly gender and racialize chocolate, as described in detail in Robertson (2009) and Leissle (2012).…”

Section: Engendering Chocolatementioning

confidence: 99%

The bitter and sweet of chocolate in Europe

Martin¹,

Sampeck²

2015

Socio.hu

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This paper examines the changing role of chocolate in European society, especially in light of the food movement turn to slow, small batch, craft chocolate, as a way to critically analyze relationships of labor and race, gender, and class inequality. The changing culture of chocolate consumption over centuries, from its pre-Columbian origins to the ways European colonists culturally and economically adopted chocolate shows a trajectory of increasing permeation of European foods (more foods contain chocolate) and regionalization of tastes in chocolate recipes, most recently by small batch chocolate makers whose work crafts local identity through branding of a tropical product. Europe is the world's biggest importer and processor of cacao as well as the largest per capita consumer of chocolate. Industrial chocolate is higher in sugar and less complex in taste compared to the variety of local chocolate makers, so chocolate occupies an uneasy place in European diets, especially in light of growing rates of obesity and recent "junk food taxes" that target sugary foods. The historical context and analysis of labor in cacao farming and chocolate production shows a critical reliance on coerced labor. While the legacy of the past has been the decoupling of horrific coerced labor in cacao production from the consciousness of everyday chocolate consumers, the growing vitality of small batch chocolate makers refocuses attention on the country of origin--the conditions of production--as well as local, European tastes--the conditions of consumption.The authors employ interdisciplinary methodologies of close readings of primary sources that include historical recipes, critical analysis of representation in historic and contemporary images and media, and descriptive economic data of export and consumption levels. This systematic study of taste in chocolate and its social, economic, political, and cultural implications is carried out in an analytical framework of the historical contingency of the social construction of realms of value, and that such construction takes place within global and local political economic forces that tend to propagate inequality as a solution to greater economic efficiency. Examining food access and food justice in the light of ways people produce and consume chocolate can challenge assumptions about social inequalities, race, health, and identity and offer insights into long-term sustainability. The critical analysis of these social factors suggests directions for future education, investment, and action by the fine and craft chocolate industry in Europe that can promote mutual benefits for producers and consumers.

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“…In doing so the impression that transnational chocolate companies and cocoa smallholders are equal business partners and are afforded equal sharing of any benefits is engineered (Golding, 2009). This interpretation is supported by Leissle (2012), who in their analysis of Divine Chocolate marketing, adds that this type of advertising invites the consumer to see female African farmers as powerful actors within the global supply chain who always reap the benefits of working within the cocoa industry. This narrative of deliberate positivism which emphasizes the importance of the African agricultural sector stands in stark contrast to prior narratives utilized by the chocolate industry where cocoa farmers were erased from brand storytelling (Golding, 2009).…”

Section: The Construction Of Ethical Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Instascams Of Big Candy: Greenwashing, Corporate Harm & Fraudulent Ethical Narratives

Gerrard¹

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<p>Corporate social media plays a key role in obfuscating and distracting from environmental crimes perpetrated against people, animals, and the environment by corporations. A prime example of this is the chocolate industry which has continued to expand at a rapid rate despite a slew of well-documented crimes, in part due to narratives that present chocolate as an environmentally friendly, socially responsible, welfare-friendly, and nutritious consumer good. In response, this thesis will explore how the chocolate companies Mars, Nestlé, and Whittakers use ethical content in their Instagram content to construct particular narratives. It does this by employing a quantitative content analysis to quantify how frequently ethical elements are utilized, and a qualitative thematic analysis to identify and analyse the themes and narratives present within these texts. In exploring these issues this thesis employs a theoretical framework of green criminology, green-cultural criminology, and a critical perspective of food crime. It also draws extensively from the existing literature on greenwashing, media narratives, and corporate harm. Major findings include the identification of 20 different ethical elements across chocolate companies' Instagram content, with a notable predominance of ‘environmental image’ and ‘animal welfare image’, both of which were commonly used by Mars, Nestlé, and Whittakers. Other significant findings include the identification of 13 themes and 17 instances of suspected or confirmed greenwashing - seven from Mars, six from Nestlé, and four from Whittakers. These results demonstrate the use of greenwashing across the confectionary sector. Overall these findings suggest that the victimization of the environment, farmers, animals, and consumers are obscured by social media which disguises and distracts from brands’ real actions. Results also suggest that greenwashing is going under-regulated - a process facilitated by the increasing sophistication of greenwash, state interests, neoliberal market forces, and the geographic distance between consumers and environmental victims.</p>

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Cosmopolitan cocoa farmers: refashioning Africa in Divine Chocolate advertisements

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

A “Scented Declaration of Progress”: Globalisation, Afropolitan Imagineering and Familiar Orientations

A “Scented Declaration of Progress”: Globalisation, Afropolitan Imagineering and Familiar Orientations

The bitter and sweet of chocolate in Europe

The Instascams Of Big Candy: Greenwashing, Corporate Harm & Fraudulent Ethical Narratives

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