Die palmyrenische Königin Zenobia als Werbeikone für Seife

Abstract: This article analyses, as an example of the advertising of cosmetic products, a campaign launched by the US-American company “Johnson Soap” for their product, the facial soap “Palmolive”. Examining its ads of 1911 in which certain ancient exempla are employed, it becomes clear that the Palmyrene queen Zenobia and with her the semi-historical Semiramis and the more mythical Dido are aligned with the “1001 Nights” character Scheherazade. Since they are jointly labelled as “historically famous oriental queens” and because of the reference to Zenobia’s white skin, they can be analysed according to the fantasy of fair-skinned harem women, which evokes thoughts of all the pleasures and comforts of the luxurious Orient (including a racist subtext). To the modern female customer of 1900 (well steeped in the knowledge of those ancient characters) Zenobia and the other exempla are meant to serve as celebrities worth emulating. Above all these queens are deemed to be beautiful and experts in .... https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/169

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Deutsch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Die palmyrenische Königin Zenobia als Werbeikone für Seife ; volume:11 ; year:2020 ; Thersites ; 11 (2020)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Wieber, Anja

Further information

• DOI: 10.34679/thersites.vol11.169
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023071214453697373701
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:56 AM CEST