Labels

Turkish Knockoff Toothpaste and Racist Product Marketing in the 1920s US

with Chris Gratien

hosted by Nicholas Danforth

For at least two centuries, Western countries have used international criminal, civil, and commercial law as a means of influencing the Ottoman and Turkish governments, leading some to speak of a phenomenon called legal imperialism, and while these efforts have impacted policies in Turkey, they have not always achieved their intended effect. In this episode, Chris Gratien discusses an interesting case of would-be trademark infringement in early Republican Turkey, as the Kolynos toothpaste company sought to protect its commercial rights against an alleged act of Turkish piracy. However, in the case file, we also learn some other things about American sensibilities at the turn of the twentieth century, particularly with regards to racism in marketing, allowing us to make some observations about the peculiar legal foundations of global capitalism.



Stream via Soundcloud (US / preferred)


Click here to view the images from the podcast (PDF format)

Chris Gratien is a PhD student studying the history of the modern Middle East at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)
Nicholas Danforth is a PhD student studying the history of modern Turkey at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)



Select Bibliography
U.S. National Archives, Diplomatic Posts (Turkey, 1928) #544, Class 854 - Kolynos Toothpaste

Kayaoglu, Turan. Legal Imperialism: Sovereignty and Extraterritoriality in Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and China. Cambridge [U.K.]: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Labels:
Location: Intercultural Center (ICC), Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20007, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Due to an overwhelming amount of spam, we no longer read comments submitted to the blog.

Ottoman History Podcast is a noncommerical website intended for educational use. Anyone is welcome to use and reproduce our content with proper attribution under the terms of noncommercial fair use within the classroom setting or on other educational websites. All third-party content is used either with express permission or under the terms of fair use. Our page and podcasts contain no advertising and our website receives no revenue. All donations received are used solely for the purposes of covering our expenses. Unauthorized commercial use of our material is strictly prohibited, as it violates not only our noncommercial commitment but also the rights of third-party content owners.

We make efforts to completely cite all secondary sources employed in the making of our episodes and properly attribute third-party content such as images from the web. If you feel that your material has been improperly used or incorrectly attributed on our site, please do not hesitate to contact us.