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bogomipz · 2016-08-11 · Original thread
And most of the bananas success is is due to the United Fruit Company(nee Chiquita) an American company. In fact the term "banana republic" comes from United Fruits conspiring and helping to overthrow governments in both Honduras and Guatemala that were unfriendly to its exploitive and questionable practices.

In a stroke of PR genius The United Fruit then appropriated a mascot - The Señorita Chiquita Banana based on Carmen Miranda's "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat", from the Hollywood movie "The Gangs All here." Youtube it if you want some entertainment. This largely put an innocuous public image on their immoral business practices.

"The Banana Company" in Gabriel Garcia's "Hundred Years of Solitude" is also an allusion to the United Fruit Company.

I can recommend this read on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Bananas-United-Fruit-Company-Shaped/d...

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