The Prestige Competitions: Beauty Contests, and Crown Cork Competitions
By the early late 1950s, the Cola brands in British Guiana began to introduce innovations such as image advertising. Image advertising involves associating the product with the attractive attributes of something not related to the product. For example, the Coca-Cola bottle is evocative of the female shape. So, it was not a stretch for these cola brands to associate their products with women. In 1958, Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola sponsored entrants in the Miss British Guiana Beauty Contest.
The Beauty Queens
The first beauty contest in British Guiana was organized in 1931 as part of the program of events to celebrate the centenary of the union of the colonies of Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo to form British Guiana. The prize for the “most beautiful girl in the colony” was BG$30 and a gold medal. There were hints that the winner might go on to Hollywood and become a film star. The judges for the inaugural contest all came from the colony’s primarily British ruling class, and included “Colonel W.E. H. Bradburn, Inspector General of Police and Commandant of the Local [Military] Force; Capt. E. Burnett, M.C.; and Mesdames L. Clavier, A.G. King, and J.B. Smith.” Continue reading
