An Illustration of Brownie Advertising Development

The cover of one of Palmer Cox's original Brownie books, found at www.phsc.ca

Palmer Cox began his career as an illustrator, publishing his first illustrated children's book at 34. His illustrations were been used profusely across the American domestic goods market at the turn of the century. The characters that he continually works with are those of a Scottish folklore about a 'Brownie' who lives in the home, helping out and sometimes making mischief. This context, of the 'Brownie' as an unseen force in the domestic world makes the character ideal for advertising household products such as cleaning supplies, something that was present, but not a centrally visible element. Plamer Cox's Brownies were not regulated to the home as the folkloric Brownie was, and as we can see in the cover image, they were a diverse group of engaged characters.

Kodak adopted Cox's version of the Brownie as their namesake and icon for their revolutionary Brownie Camera. This camera was revolutionary in that is was the first to be available to the amateur photographer, and marketed as a domestic commodity rather than a professional tool. This has been given the accreditation of democratizing the image, an overstatement at the least. Possibly the Brownie 'middle classed' the camera, and made authorship accessible, but this does not mean that the authorship was given voice, or that the authors looked to have voice.

Looking at the advertisement, (www.photo.net) with some background information in place, we see the Cox Brownies', mythical creatures representing diversity and exploration for Cox, juxtaposed with Kodak's new $1.00 Brownie Camera. The advertisement states "Any school-boy or girl can make good pictures" and "Take a Brownie Home for Christmas". The Brownie's, a well accepted and child friendly icon, also serve to sell the camera in other ways. First, they help us to forget its history and disregard its technically, as West says in Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia. The camera becomes a case, we use it, and receive a product, but the process that demonstrates our extreme modern times are hidden with in it and in the factory. The Brownies are exploring the camera out of context in this advertisement, as the used is allow to do also in the domestic sphere without worry of technicalities that previously where predominant in the practice. Furthermore, the brownies help us to see this as a tool of progress. It represents the new, in contrast to the folklore of the Brownie.


The above image is a Christmas window display from 1925 featuring the Brownie camera and its promoters, the Brownie characters. The scene is idealistic, western, and childlike, following the companies advertising history. At this point the Brownie was not used as often within advertising, as the advent of new photo/print technologies made the use of illustrations out of date. www.archives.gon.on.ca

Documentation Over Product and Proccess

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As an graduate student primarily studying art education I can not pass up this opportunity to combine commentary on Kodak advertising with the value ascribed to 'child-art'.

Here we see a young girl painting at an easil. She is turning around and smiling at us, portrayed as playing just as much as she is experiencing something memorable. The fact that she is looking at us, posed at a blank backdrop, and placed in a frame lets us know that this is an advertisement of "the kind of memories you could frame if you have this Hawkeye flash". On a side note, we can assume that this packaging advertising does not come from the very first years of the Brownie, more likely it can be ascribed to the 1920's or later, as this is being targeted at parents, not children.

Now, my response to this advertisement as an art educator is that Kodak is framing the documentation of the activity as the valuable aspect, rather than the child's art. We culturally are unsure what to do with children's art. We either temporarily post it on the fridge, file it away, or toss it out within a week. We rely on the phrase "that's nice" when we don't get it, don't want to give it the time, or think it is meaningless and sloppy. Actually, we struggle to classify it as art, even in the profession of art education. This representation is potentially saying that the documentation of the process and engagement is important, a reflection on that idea that the learning process is more valuable than the product. But, I cannot help but say that this is taking it out of its historical context. Kodak's purpose is in no way to give credit to the artistic process, they are not representing the child as an artist, but as a child, playing. In this case, neither the process or the product (a possibly irrelevant, yet continually debated dichotomy in art education) are as important as documenting this fleeting moment.

Ascribed Agency

This image, borrowed from compassrose.com, represents one of the cameras most interesting factors, ascribed (and minimal) agency.

The camera essentially acts as an intermediary between the user, and that which they wish to capture. In that sense, the camera gives agency to the user, or some might say it has agency.

As the Brownie camera was primarily advertised to women and children, groups with notably much less agency then men, we arrive at an interesting conflict in idealogies. My solution to this is that while it was advertised that agency, in this case the ability to capture an image, could be found through ownership of the camera, this was just another folklore. The argument could be made in reverse, that the camera continued the seclusion of women and children from the contemporary life. The personal camera, easy enough for a women or child to use, was a domestic tool, a tool of nostalgia and emotive value.