If you haven't heard, Land 'O Lakes recently decided to remove the depiction of a Native American from their packaging. Predictably, this has let to accusations of out of control political correctness and counter accusations of racism and generally being like Trump. So what's the truth?
"Mia", as depicted on packages of Land O' Lakes butter, in her current iteration was designed by a member of the Ojibwe (or Chippewa as they are more commonly known in the U.S.) in the 1950s. For reasons unknown (at least by me), Land O' Lakes has removed this image and replaced it with...well, nothing pretty much. The boxes of butter now just show the lake that was behind "Mia".
A Land 'O Lakes official press release from back in February that announced the change simply says "As Land O’Lakes looks toward our 100th anniversary, we’ve recognized we need packaging that reflects the foundation and heart of our company culture—and nothing does that better than our farmer-owners whose milk is used to produce Land O’Lakes’ dairy products". It also mentions that people are "excited" when they learn Land O Lakes is farmer owned and so they are eager to feature farmers on their packaging. Oddly, there are no farmers as of yet.
Various headlines about the change have referred to the image as "racist" or "problematic". In various article I've seen the image referred to is a "stereotype" and a "mascot" among other things. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (a member of White Earth Nation) said "Thank you to Land O’Lakes for making this important and needed change. Native people are not mascots or logos. We are very much still here." North Dakota State Rep. Ruth Buffalo (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) went further by saying that the image goes "hand-in-hand with human and sex trafficking of our women and girls … by depicting Native women as sex objects."
However, outside of politicians, it's unclear whether the Ojibwe people find this particular image or its usage offensive. In fact, the artwork was created by Patrick DesJarlait, an Objiwe award winning artist and U.S. Navy veteran and at least some see this image as a source of pride. Robert DesJarlait, son of Patrick said about the image "Basically, it was giving the previous generation a sense of almost empowerment to see a Native woman on a box of butter. It gave them a sense of cultural pride...that’s why my dad created this image to begin with."
Personally, the image doesn't strike me as offensive but then it doesn't depict me or my people. Certainly, an image created by a member of the Ojibwe to instill cultural pride probably doesn't go "hand-in-hand with human and sex trafficking". I guess for me the question comes down to this. Did Land 'O Lakes remove the image because the Objibwe were making it known that they found the image offensive? Or is it because some white people were feeling offended for them (which in itself is pretty offensive)? I have to admit, that's what it seems like to me but I could be wrong. Maybe Land 'O Lakes really did just want to depict farmers...though they haven't started doing that yet.
In any case, the image above was accompanied by a hysterical tweet:
Land o Lakes celebrating the long tradition of forcing Native Americans off their land and taking it for their own.Well done.
Sources:
- https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/there-s-another-story-behind-that-land-o-lakes-butter-box-v-QWAwVzCUCmHEs3OmHTdA
- https://www.themarysue.com/land-o-lakes-retires-native-american-logo/
- https://minnesotareformer.com/2020/04/15/land-olakes-quietly-gets-rid-of-iconic-indian-maiden/
- https://www.landolakesinc.com/Press/News/new-butter-and-dairy-packaging
- https://twitter.com/ResistandDesist/status/1254499015581810689/photo/1