Land O’ Lakes Dropped The Native American Woman From Its Logo
Land O’ Lakes announced earlier this year that it was changing the packaging on its products in honor of its 100th anniversary. As many have pointed out this week, the logo is noticeably missing the image of a Native American woman in its center that has been part of the packaging for 92 years.
Land O’ Lakes quietly announced this change back in February, which was previously reported on by Modern Farmer. The post about the logo change does not explicitly mention the image’s removal, but instead focuses on the packaging’s other changes, which are meant to honor farmers.
“The new packaging will show up in a variety of ways, including through a new front-of-package design that features the phrase ‘Farmer-Owned’ above the LAND O LAKES brandmark, ‘Since 1921’ below it and a vibrant illustration of land and lakes,” the statement read.
The original logo, which included the so-called “butter maiden,” was created in 1928 and was then redesigned in the 1950s by Patrick DesJarlait, a member of the Red Lake Ojibwe tribe. The logo featured a Native American woman kneeling in grass while holding up a stick of Land O’ Lakes butter, and in recent years, packaging had also changed to simply a headshot of her, depending on the product.
The logo has been heavily criticized and has been deemed stereotypical, racist, as well as perhaps one of the most prominent examples of images of Native Americans and Native American references being used to sell products.
“Like the hoary fantasies of ‘Indians’ and ‘Pilgrims’ sharing with quiet reverence the first ‘Thanksgiving,’ the Land O’ Lakes butter maiden helps white Americans sidestep and repress the horrific realities of what white Americans have done to Native Americans,” posted blogger Macon D, as pointed out by Atlanta Black Star.
Delish reached out to see if the Land O’ Lakes logo change is permanent and to see if the brand had any comment on the removal of the image of the woman. In the post, Land O’ Lakes said that this packaging change has started rolling out already and should be 0n all products by the end of 2020.
