Land O'Lakes butter products prominently feature the image
of young Indian woman on their packaging.
She is shown kneeling, facing the viewers offering a carton of butter
emblazoned with her own image for our consumption. Land O'Lakes is cooperative
dairy company based in the Midwestern United States. The company's name--which
calls attention the numerous lakes surrounding the region, is depicted in the
packaging. Behind the Indian maiden is a pristine lake flanked by dense forests.
The scene is both pastoral and idyllic.
Land
O'Lakes sells butter, a decidedly American staple food. Before it became taboo
and was displaced by the perennial healthy fat favorite olive oil, butter,
along with other animal derived fats reined the kitchen. Land O'Lakes butter targets
an American audience. In order to prove themselves a wholesome authentic
company (a cooperative, not a corporation) Land O'Lakes has co-opted the image of a subservient kneeling Indian woman as their emblem. She is literally on her
knees serving the product--in this case, mass produced butter to the consumer.
Her subdued nature, along with the tranquil lake scene behind her, conjures a
memory of America when Native peoples welcomed Europeans onto their lands,
eager to share both their food and knowledge with them. The image works to
capture the sentiments of the iconic First Thanksgiving Dinner, told from the
perspective of the white settlers as an equal exchange of food and wisdom
between the first European settlers and the Native peoples they encountered.
Naturally, this history is written from the perspective of the conquerors so a
bias must be assumed. The
mythology of Native peoples that persists to this day works off such
encounters. Throughout the rest of American history there are numerous stories
of how wise Native Americans were eager to help European settlers.[1]
Minnesota,
where Land O'Lakes is based, is also the home to one of the United States’ most
well known Native peoples. Hiawatha, the credited founder and leader of the Iroquois Nation
is a historical figure who has also been subjected to romanticized depictions
in poetry[2]
and illustrations. The decision of a Minnesota based company to draw upon the
image of a Native American is tightly wound in the history of place.[3]
In
the case of the Indian maiden on Land O'Lakes' packaging, we can argue the first
American Other is being used to
create a sense of Americana and trusted wise wholesomeness. Depictions of
Native peoples have long been used to represent compartmentalized aspects of
Americana. One only need look to the sports arena for depictions the
contrasting depiction of Native peoples as brutish and wild[4].
The depiction of the subservient Indian woman is reminiscent of the Pocahontas
story and her sympathy for the European settlers and serves as a prime example
of how racial imagery on food packages quite literally allows us to consume the
Other.
[2] In 1855 Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow penned an epic poem entitled The Songs of Hiawatha.
[3] Amtrack Hiawatha is train running from
Chicago to Milwaukee
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