BlackFace
--
or
Black-Owned?
Featuring: Tony Cachere’s Original Creole Seasoning
I was minding my business early last Sunday morning, sometime around 3am. Actually, I was vaguely watching back-to-back episodes of “American Greed” and had been for about six hours prior.
And then this happened:
Which is basically an updated version of this:
With all of the extra happy shucking and jiving, black dialect, and satisfied white customers of all ages used to promo Cachere’s seasoning, I had to ask:
BLACKFACE or BLACK-OWNED?
As it turns out, Tony Cachere’s (pronounced Sa-she-ree) Creole Foods was started by this guy:
Known as “OLE MASTER” throughout Southern Louisiana, Cachere and his family — which now owns and runs the company — are longtime Cajuns. His ancestors even fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy. Old Tony was a renowned cook (and insurance salesman) who originally authored what became an incredibly successful cookbook, fueling sales for his seasoning. Unlike the companies that have owned Aunt Jemima, Cachere’s outfit is actually named after him.
In other words, there are no authenticity issues here. Which makes me wonder:
Why on earth would Tony Cachere need a modern day minstrel show to market his product?
This guy didn’t (please note that this man is holding fried chicken):
But, wait, there’s more. In what seems like a rather bizarre marketing move (in all fairness, it’s unclear whether what follows is official — but even if it isn’t, some creative genius thought it was brand consistent), Tony Cachere’s Creole Foods is also under the impression that using lots of Oliver Twist-esque white prisoners and one extra large, black, “intimidating” one in a commercial for its seasoning is advertising gold:
And we all know that orange is the new black.
ANSWER: BLACKFACE
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