Life @ Otis : Faculty Life : Faculty Development

Kerri Steinberg

2005-06 Faculty Development Grant

From the 1940s radio spot proclaiming, "Man, oh Manischewitz—what a wine!" to the 1960s commercial, featuring the converted African American Jew, Sammy Davis Junior reiterating these words on television, to the late 1960s, when Apollo astronaut, Gene Cernan, exclaimed these same words as he took his first steps on the moon, to contemporary beaded Manischewitz Passover purses, the ubiquity of Manischewitz certainly speaks to the influence of a successful branding campaign. While American Jewish life has been the subject of numerous films, books and novels, and museum exhibitions, advertising and the branding of American Jewish identity, is an area sorely in need of attention.

My interests in advertising and Jewish studies led me to the Joseph Jacobs Advertising Agency in New York this past summer. Established in 1919, Joseph Jacobs Advertising handles major accounts like Manischewitz, and General Foods, the parent company of Maxwell House Coffee. Since, 1933 Joseph Jacobs Advertising has been responsible for the publication of 50 million Maxwell House Coffee Passover Haggadahs, arguably the most familiar American haggadah. Joseph Jacobs Advertising generously opened their doors and advertising archives to me, offering me the opportunity to survey their extensive advertising collection, and to interview President, David Koch, C.E.O., Elie Rosenfeld, and copywriter, Valerie Hirsch.

I am eager to tell the story of American Jewish life through the medium of advertising, and am jubilant about the research I was able to initiate at the Joseph Jacobs advertising agency. I learned that for many years the accent of Joseph Jacobs was to place mainstream products in Jewish homes, but recently there has been a growing interest in getting more media space for Kosher brands. This shift is rich with insight into the experience of Jews in America, especially when read against a concurrent American Jewish cultural shift, which asserts the imperative of acculturation over assimilation. In fact, during the week I was in New York, Joseph Jacobs launched its first ever mainstream Manischewitz campaign called "Start Your Ovens!" This was written up in the Friday, July 7, 2006 issue of The New York Times, in an article called, "Manischewitz Wants to Move to a Mainstream Aisle."

My faculty research grant enabled me to launch a project that I view as timely and important. The remainder of my grant will be used towards travel to Philadelphia in December, where I will present my research at the MLA for the session, "Jewtastic: Marketing Jewish Culture." I intend to continue researching the advertising and branding of American Jewish identity, which I believe will extend and nuance the popular understanding of American Jewish life. Upon completion of my research, I hope to publish a book on this topic.

- Kerri Steinberg, LAS Department