Adrienne K., who blogs at Native Appropriations, recently put together a post about food products that feature stereotypical images of Native Americans. I’m reposting some of them here, but check out her original post for more.
It started out with Calumet baking powder:
Adrienne explains,
In my head, I thought “I could make some stereotype biscuits for breakfast!” Which got me thinking. How many products with stereotypical imagery could I fit in one imaginary breakfast?
Excluding vintage products and items that weren’t easily available, she still found an awful lot. Indian Head corn meal, anyone?
Land-O-Lakes butter:
The Sue Bee Honey logo:
Umpqua ice cream:
Pemmican beef jerky:
And you can top off your meal with Cherikee Red soda:
Adrienne explains,
In isolation, each of these would seem like no big deal–these are the “good” stereotypical images. The “noble savage.” No wild eyes or big noses, just headdresses and Indian maidens. But when taken as a collective, is it any wonder that most people in the world think of Native peoples as headdress-wearing Plains chiefs or buckskin-clad Indian women? I’m not saying there isn’t stereotypical imagery of other racial/ethnic groups in branding, but the ubiquity of Native imagery is striking.
Check out her blog for her full discussion of the problems with the repetition of these limited, anachronistic images of Native Americans.
Comments 7
Japaniard — August 1, 2012
If your breakfast consists of beef jerky and ice cream washed down with "red soda" you seriously need to reconsider your dietary choices
Tom Megginson — August 1, 2012
Nice post, but I still can't look at that Land O Lakes box without visualizing the old boobies trick. And I'm 42.
Osma — August 2, 2012
I've always felt a bit silly for occasionally buying an "Eskimo" stick ice cream (which by the way is the blandest-tasting, most boring and cheapest ice cream where I live) and freezing my food in an "Eskimo" brand ziplock bags.
I just kinda.. stare at them and go "I just bought these, dammit" and wonder how many people even know what kind of weight that word carries for some people over the ocean.
Russ — August 5, 2012
Thanks for pointing this out.
valjean — September 18, 2013
Um, Aunt Jemimah anyone? Uncle Ben's rice? Heck, why not throw in Quaker Oats while we're at it?
These images are certainly "stereotypical" (read: often bigoted and offensive) but they also -- thanks to the exquisite juggernaut of modern marketing -- sell product. This doesn't make them any less offensive (indeed, it's probably makes it worse), but I'd humbly suggest anyone getting worked up about these to think more about root causes and *why* this stuff sells. In short, this looks like the effect -- not the cause.