Corporate Legitimacy and Advertising: British Companies and the Rhetoric of Development in West Africa, 1950-1970

Development, modernity, and industrialization became dominant themes in corporate advertising in Africa in the 1950s and remained prevalent through the following two decades while many African nations were gaining independence. British businesses operating there created a publicity strategy that couched their presence in less developed countries in terms of a commitment and a positive contribution to the progress of the new states. Eventually, British companies tried to "Africanize" their corporate image through these campaigns.

In the 1930s and 1940s, British business in West Africa was faced with a rising tide of public discontent and criticism. Closely associated with the …