Example of a research project | Roots of contemporary problems (2023)

***Lindsey Morey is the author of Blood For Bananas. He completed this project in the fall of 2014 as part of Dr. Clif Stratton for History 105, which included an emphasis on visual and web-based presentation. Format requirements vary between History 105 and 305 sections.

On March 10, 2014, Chiquita Brands International announced it would merge with Irish fruit company Fyffes. After the merger, Chiquita-Fyffes would control more than 29% of the banana market; more than any other company in the world today. However, this is not the first time in history that these companies are under the same name. Chiquita Brands and Fyffes were owned by the United Fruit Company until 1986. The modern merger marks their reunion and ongoing takeover of the banana market [1🇧🇷 The United Fruit Company was known for its cruelty in the workplace and the racist social order it perpetuated. Though Chiquita and Fyffes are more subtle in their autocratic tendencies, they continue many of the same practices of political and social manipulation that their parent company once did [2].

Advertising has been one of the most prominent forms of manipulation carried out by both the modern two companies and United Fruit. In the mid-20th century, the United Fruit Company embarked on a series of advertising campaigns designed to tap into the emotions and sense of adventure of a growing American middle class and fomented racial polarization and political tension in the United States and Central America, all to sell their bananas.

United Fruit started its first advertising campaign in 1917. By that time, the company already had well-established plantations in several countries in Central and South America. All they needed now was to interest the American people in trying new and exotic things to sell the bananas they produced. At that time in American history, it was thought that ads should address consumers' logic, not their emotions, so United Fruit hired scientists to write positive reviews about bananas, whether they were true or not. one of these postsNutritional Value of Banana: Opinions from leading medical and scientific authorities,offered a collection of articles by leading scientists promoting the nutritional value, health benefits, and even the taste of bananas [3]. Today we know that bananas are good for us, but at the turn of the 20th century, these scientists had no way of determining the nutritional value and other properties they claimed to have investigated. However, Americans seem to have believed the scientists, as United Fruit's banana sales began to soar.

From the 1920s, everything began to change. A successful young propagandist named Edward Bernays changed American advertising forever.4🇧🇷 Bernays found that focusing on people's emotions rather than their logic made people flock to a product. His first experience in this type of advertising was for the American Tobacco Company. Bernays thought that cigarette sales would skyrocket if it were socially acceptable for women to smoke, so at a large march for women's rights in New York City, Bernays had a woman light a cigarette in front of reporters and called it " Torch of Liberty". [5]. Soon, women across the United States were smoking cigarettes. After this initial PR stunt, companies across the United States began using emotionally charged advertising. United Fruit was no different. They launched an advertising campaign around their new cruise called “The Great White Fleet” [6🇧🇷 This cruise took civilians to United Fruit-controlled countries in Central and South America to appeal to Americans' sense of adventure and promote good corporate reputation with the American people. When the cruise ship docked in a country, the cruise ships often visited one of the United Fruit plantations. During this tour, tourists saw only small areas of the banana plantations, theatrically staged to present the plantation as a harmonious place to work, when in reality it was a place of harsh conditions and corruption [7]. His announcements were instrumental in convincing the American people to embark on an exotic adventure with the Great White Fleet. The pamphlet on the right (Fig. 1) describes Central America as a land of pirates and romance. The ad even portrays it as the place where "pirates hid their gold". By giving American tourists a false sense of Central American romance, they sold more cruise tickets and, by association, more bananas.

United Fruit's unethical practices extended far beyond its manipulative advertising. They were also known for their extremely racial workplace policy. They had employees from many different racial groups and pitted them against each other to control riots that would otherwise be directed against the company [8🇧🇷 White Americans would get the most prestigious jobs like managers and financial advisers, while people of color would get the hard work. The company made a strict distinction between Hispanic and Caribbean workers. They administered different privileges and punishments for each ethnic group, and if one group was rewarded, managers said it was because they worked harder than the other group. yes a punishmentwas managed, management said it was the fault of the other group [9]. This gave both groups something to focus their anger on so they wouldn't lash out at the company over poor working conditions. United Fruit used the Great White Fleet to promote these racial tensions. If the name wasn't obvious enough, all ships were painted bright white and all crew members wore white uniforms [10]. Fleet even encouraged passengers to wear white. The ad on the left (Fig. 2) further embodies the racial tensions experienced by Americans and United Fruit workers. The big white American ship dwarfed the frail brown ship, symbolizing the power and prestige that the whites held over the locals. The Central Americans in the corner of the image gaze in awe at the massive ship and are dressed in tropical attire to satisfy the need to appeal to the American people's idealized version of the tropics. This is not just an ad, but a propaganda job.

The United Fruit Company continued to advertise into the mid-20th century until it found a new use for its public relations skills. A politician named Jacobo Arbenz was elected president in Guatemala, one of the Central American countries occupied by United Fruit [11🇧🇷 Arbenz was a strict nationalist and all he wanted was for his people to stop suffering in poverty. One of the most prominent problems in Guatemala at that time was land scarcity. When United Fruit invaded Guatemala, they bought out many of the local farmers to acquire land for their plantations. This left no room for peasants, who depended on agriculture as their sole source of income. Arbenz created an agrarian reform that took land away from the company and gave it back to the poor peasants who needed it [12]. United Fruit was outraged by this reform. They immediately launched a propaganda campaign led by Edward Bernays to convince the US government and its people that Arbenz was a communist dictator.13🇧🇷 In a 1953 article in theNew York Times, Guatemala has been described as “operating under increasingly severe communist-inspired pressure to rid the country of US corporations” [14]. United Fruit was manipulating the media to make it appear that land reform was only created because the Soviet government was influencing Arbenz to sabotage US economic imperialism in Central America. As it was during the Cold War, association with communists was a serious indictment. America's aggressive stance toward communism emboldened them to take immediate action. The CIA hired civilian militias from Honduras to enter Guatemala and start a war against Arbenz and his followers. United Fruit also convinced US President Dwight Eisenhower to threaten Arbenz because Eisenhower and many other prominent US government officials owned stock in United Fruit [15]. Faced with these pressures, Arbenz feared for his life and tendered his resignation.

However, this did not satisfy United Fruit. They wanted to make an example of Guatemala, so that their other host nations would not dare to oppose them. They had the CIA bribe the Guatemalan military to let the Honduran militias win [16]. After the victory, Honduran militia leader Castillo Armas was named president of Guatemala and Armas was a puppet of the United Fruit Company for the remainder of his term.[17] He returned all confiscated lands to United Fruit and gave them preferential treatment at all ports and railroads in Guatemala. The company continued to influence the North and Central American media to justify what it had done. They called Armas the “Liberator” and told the inspiring story of how he freed Guatemala from its communist ties. They also destroyed what was left of Arbez's reputation, calling him "Jacobo el Rojo", further linking him to the Soviets [18]. ONENew York TimesAn article written in 1954 says that “President Castillo Armas continues to act with moderation and common sense”, and “Jacobo Arbenz, in any case, is a deflated balloon, unlikely to cause more problems” [19]. The media praised Armas for his good policy making, but most of his policies were proposed by United Fruit or the US government. United Fruit and the US-controlled media also made Armas a war hero to increase his acceptance and popularity among the Guatemalan people. Arbenz was made to look like an easy defeat to give the American people confidence in their government's ability to eliminate communist threats.

The US banana market has changed little since the early 1920s^acentury. A handful of large companies control more than 80% of the banana market, and this exclusivity allows them to obtain the best land, transport prices and political climate in which to grow their bananas [20🇧🇷 Now that two major banana companies, Chiquita and Fyffes, have merged to reform United Fruit's former monopoly, the market has become even more exclusive. Both companies use their enormous influence to tap into the American sense of adventure in their advertisements and to influence the governments of the countries they occupy, much like their predecessor, United Fruit. Today, racial polarization does not play as important a role at Chiquita and Fyffes. Companies continue to exploit their workers, but they no longer use racial tensions as a form of labor control. Laws and regulations have tempered the cruelty of merged companies, but they still find ways to abuse their influence and power.

footnotes

[1]Wall Street Journal,March 10, 2014.

[2]“Revealing the truth about Guatemalan bananas”,Council on Hemispheric Affairs,July 28, 2010,http://www.coha.org/revelando-la-verdad-sobre-la-industria-bananera-guatemalteca/.

[3] United Fruit Company,Nutritional Value of Bananas: Opinions from Leading Medical and Scientific Authorities(Boston: United Fruit Company, 1917), 1.

[4]Stuart Ewen,PR!: A social history of the turn(Nova York: Basic Books, 1996), 3.

[5] Ewen,RP!, 4.

[6] Catherine Gauls,Tropical Whites: The Rise of the Tourist South in the Americas(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 37.

[7] gallons,tropical whites, 34.

[8]Jason Colby,The Business of Empire: United Fruit, Race, and US Expansion in Central America(Ithaka: Cornell University Press, 2011),119.

[9] Colby,the empire business, 8.

[10] at the ends,tropical whites, 1.

[11] Piero Gleijeses, “To Jacobo Arbenz’s Agrarian Reform,”Journal of Latin American Studies21, 3 (1989): 453.

[12] Ibidem.

[13] Stephen M. Streeter, “Interpreting the 1954 US Intervention in Guatemala: Realist, Revisionist, and Post-Revisionist Perspectives,”the history teacher34,1 (2000):64.

[14]New York Times, November 8, 1953.

[15] Gleijeses, “James Arbenz’s Agrarian Reform”,

[16] Streeter, “Interpretation of the 1954 US Intervention in Guatemala,” 63.

[17]“Unveiling the truth about Guatemalan bananas”.

[18]Streeter, “Interpretation of the 1954 US Intervention in Guatemala,” p. 63.

[19]New York Times,September 11, 1954.

[20] Berman, Gillian. "Next Chapter in the Bloody Story of the Global Banana Trade: 'Walmartization'"Huffington Post,March 10, 2014,http://www_.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/worlds-largest-banana-company-_n_4935955.html.

Bibliography

Secondary:

Berman, Gilian. "Next chapter in the bloody history of the global banana trade: 'Walmartization'".Huffington Post,March 10, 2014.http://www_.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/worlds-largest-banana-company-_n_4935955.html.

Roosters, Catherine.Tropical Whites: The Rise of the Tourist South in the Americas🇧🇷 Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.

ColbyJason M.The Business of Empire: United Fruit, Race, and US Expansion in Central America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011.

Council on Hemispheric Affairs. “Revealing the truth about Guatemalan bananas”.Council on Hemispheric Affairs,July 28, 2010.http://www.coha.org/revelando-la-verdad-sobre-la-industria-bananera-guatemalteca/.

Evans, Peter and Vanessa Mock. “Chiquita and Fyffes will merge, creating a new global Top Banana: Merger Agreement for all US and Irish companies valued at $1.07 billion.”Wall Street Journal,March 10, 2014.http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304704504579430490167267928.

EWEN, Stuart.PR!: A social history of the turn. . . . Nova York: BasicBooks, 1996.

Gleijeses, Peter. “To Agrarian Reform by Jacobo Arbenz”.Journal of Latin American Studies21, 3 (1989): 453-480.

Grusson, Sydney. "WE. will re-examine Guatemala's role: the arrival of a new envoy heralds shifts in policy towards the red-backed regime."New York Times,November 8, 1953.

Streeter, Stephen M. "Interpretation of the 1954 American Intervention in Guatemala: Realist, Revisionist, and Post-Revisionist Perspectives."the history teacher34.1 (2000): 61-74.

Primary:

Grusson, Sydney. "WE. will re-examine Guatemala's role: the arrival of a new envoy heralds shifts in policy towards the red-backed regime."New York Times,November 8, 1953.

"Guatemala without Arbenz".New York Times,September 11, 1954.

United Fruit Company.Nutritional Value of Bananas: Opinions from Leading Medical and Scientific Authorities. Boston: United Fruit Company, 1917.

Illustrations:

Figure 1. 1916 advertisement for United Fruit Company steam service, 1916,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company#mediaviewer/Arquivo:United_Fruit_Ad_1916.jpg.

Figure 2. Great White Fleet, United Fruit Company, 1928,http://www.ediblegeography.com/spaces-ofbanana-controle/.

Figure 3.Time Magazine: Arbenz da Guatemala, June 28. 1954,http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/arbenz.htm.