I am fascinated by #ColonialAdverts for alcohol that imitate the aesthetics of the Arabic script. A good example for this is this advert for "Mélika", "the great imperial liqueur"!
#Orientalism #FrenchColonialism
#DrinkingStudies #AlcoholInIslam #ColonialMaghreb #History #Historians #NorthAfrica #Maghreb #alcohol #colonialism
Other brands chose to incorporate Arabic texts into their #ColonialAdverts This one for the apéritif "Clacquesin" - from the 1930s? - appears to have been at least partly aimed at Muslim customers, with the Arabic text encouraging readers to drink it.
This one doesn't have any Arabic text - but fascinating how similar the image is! "Rivoire Frères" advertised their vermouth in 1920 (after the 1915 prohibition of their absinthe) with another Orientalised Algerian man on a horse.
It is always amazing to find alcohol labels in both French & Arabic. One of the many drinks with connections to North Africa that I'd love to know more about, is the "Curaçao de Blidah", an Algerian drink that was invented in the 1880s & made with mandarins grown in Algeria.
As already mentioned in earlier posts, it's rare that French alcohol brands directly addressed their Muslim, Arabic-speaking customers in #ColonialAdverts! Unfortunately, I don't know more about this "Curaçao de Blidah". If anybody knows more about this fascinating drink I'd love to hear/read it!