Sarotti is a German

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

owned by

Stollwerck Stollwerck Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH is a German chocolate manufacturer based in Norderstedt. It was founded in 1839 and expanded internationally in Europe and America, becoming the second largest producer of chocolate in t ...

GmbH since 1998.

History

Berlin In 1868 Hugo Hoffmann opened a company to produce sweets. The location of this shop was in Mohrenstraße 10 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The industrial chocolate production took place on

Mehringdamm The Mehringdamm is a street in southern Kreuzberg, Berlin. In the north it starts at Mehringbrücke and ends - with its southernmost houses already belonging to Tempelhof locality - on Platz der Luftbrücke. It is the historical southbound Berl ...

No. 57 (then Belle-Alliance-Str. 81) since 1881, extended by Mehringdamm No. 55 in 1903 (then Belle-Alliance-Str. 82) and Mehringdamm No. 53 in 1906 (then Belle-Alliance-Str. 83). In 1913 the factory moved into a ne w building on Teilestraße 13–15 in

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park call ...

, now part of Berlin. Hattersheim Another industrial chocolate production of Sarotti took place in Hattersheim in

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

. With the change of the majority stockholding the factory merged to Nestlé. The factory in Hattersheim was in the 1960s one of the biggest companies in Hattersheim and Main-Taunus district with a workforce up to 2,000 workers. The factory was closed down in 1994 and has been officially designated a historic site by Hesse.Website Historic Site in Hesse (in German)
/ref> The Sarotti-Mohr The Sarotti-Mohr was created in 1918 by German artist Julius Gipkens to increase chocolate consumption after chocolate production had decreased with World War 1. It is a blackamoor figure, dressed in brightly colored and detailed clothes: a turban,

bloomers Bloomers, also called the bloomer, the Turkish dress, the American dress, or simply Victorian dress reform, reform dress, are divided women's garments for the lower body. They were developed in the 19th century as a healthful and comfortable a ...

and poulaines. It was featured on chocolate bars and blocks and was very popular. Its appearance was that of a child, with a cute and non-threatening appearance, containing stereotypical features of African-Americans. Initially, three were created, but they were reduced to one in 1922. Gipkens was commissioned to create the icon for Sarotti's 50 year anniversary. Multiple inspirations have been given for the creation of the figure; Gipkens cites Sarotti's location on what translates from German as ''Blackamoore Street'', while academic Silke Hackenesch notes that depictions of black slaves and servants were then common. The

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

had an ambivalent attitude of the Sarotti-Mohr, considering its exotic appearance to be un-German, but appreciating its references to colonialism. During the Nazi-era, despite being featured alongside a swastika on some packaging, it was not visible in public as chocolate was not commonly consumed. During the period after WWII, the figure was very popular. In some fairs, Afro-German children were employed to pose as what was referred to as a live Sarotti-Mohr. Particularly since the 1990s, the figure was subject to increased public scrutiny for racism. In 1929

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

became the majority stockholder in the company. This traditional German brand is only known in its home market. In 1998 Nestlé sold Sarotti to Stollwerck Chocolates. In 2004, two years after Stollwerck was bought by the Swiss-Belgian company Barry Callebaut, a new icon was launched in reaction to criticism. The new figure, a "Magician of the Senses" with golden skin, is no longer holding chocolate, but juggling golden stars. The image remains reminiscent of the Sarotti Mohr.

References

Sources

External links

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Sarotti.de
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Stollwerck.de
* {{Authority control Brand name chocolate German brands German confectionery European chocolate bars Race-related controversies in advertising and marketing