Native American Essay

Amanda Labrado Fraser CP 5 #6 Tracks essay 10/8/09 Do ads and commercials today play on the Native American stereotype for humor or effect; do

they go beyond the stereotype? On a cold November morning in the year 1620, the Mayflower landed in America. Onboard this ship were 132 passengers that would soon encounter Indians, and stereotype them based on their actions and appearance.1 These stereotypes are still in use today; although, nowadays we know more about native culture than we did then. Commercials often use these stereotypes to their advantage to sell products on television, in a manner that implies we need to return to the way life used to be or we need to clean up the world around us. Ads and commercials today play on the N.A. stereotype for humor and effect depending on the audience, and what is being sold either a product or an idea; Ads and commercials go beyond the stereotype but only to win over their viewers opinions. Native American stereotypes in modern television ads and commercials have disillusioned the American public. When asked what or who a Native American is, the average American might include one of the following ideas in their response: whooping, teepees, feathers, peace pipe, chanter, shaman, nature worshiper, or “cool” Indian names.2 Many of these generalizations come from primary school history lessons, since many teachers do not clarify that there are modern day Natives and that they act and dress like we do. If they did elucidate, their explanation of present-day Indians may not have been memorable, for it lacked tangibility; “When instruction is limited only to history and the study of artifacts, children get the impression that American Indians […] have disappeared from the world. They fail to learn that American 1 "The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony:1620." RootsWeb.com Home Page. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. . 2 "Blue Corn Comics -- The Basic Indian Stereotypes." Blue Corn Comics -- Multicultural comic books featuring Native Americans. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. .

Indians […]--like they themselves--are "real-time" beings.”3 In contemporary society, ads and commercials support ideologies taught in school like the former, by portraying American Indians as leather-wearing, nature lovers, who are soft spoken and mellow; because not ALL Indians share these characteristics, commonly known and used Indian stereotypes have been created. Ads and commercials displayed today sell their products and ideas by twisting these stereotypes to draw humor or effect from the visual; oftentimes ads and commercials may even go beyond the stereotype by adding settings and situations to enhance it, such as the Mac vs. PC commercial. Apple incorporated’s Mac computer systems are frequently advertised against their competitor system the PC using two men who live completely opposite lives. The PC representative leads a busy life while the Mac representative lives relaxed-ly . These commercials are popularly known as “Mac vs. PC”. In a Mac vs. PC spoof, created by Steven Judd and Tvli Jacob for a Comedy Short Cuts film competition4, a Native American and a Caucasian business man are compared and contrasted to prove Macs are better than PCs. In the spoof, the Native American is stereotypically dressed in traditional attire with moccasins while the Caucasian male is dressed in a business suit. The commercial seems to assess the lives of the two, and subsequently the viewer can easily conclude that the Native is morally superior due to the simplicity with which he lives his life, which is also a stereotype; Modern day natives don’t live simple lives, their lives are just as industrious as the business man’s. In this commercial, Natives are seen through the eyes of ignorant modern day Americans. This perspective is more beneficial to the commercial because Americans can relate to the image presented and realize 3 "Unbiased Teaching about American Indians and Alaska Natives in Elementary Schools. ERIC Digest." ERICDigests.Org - Providing full-text access to ERIC Digests. Web. 8 Oct. 2009. . 4 "News From Indian Country - Restless Natives take Manhattan and the film world." News From Indian Country - Home. Web. 8 Oct. 2009. .

that simplicity is better; In effect, the commercial would gain a positive opinion from its audience and later American’s money as well. The relaxed simple life of the Native American in the commercial contrasts to that of the business man; consequently, making Americans feel weary of the way they live. This was the desired effect on the American public because Americans would buy Macs if they felt they needed to simplify their lives. Another stereotype used in the Mac vs. PC commercial, which is more commonly used among children than adults, is that all natives dress as the Indian in the commercial does; Indians only dress as such when celebrating a traditional Indian holiday or event, otherwise they dress like modern day American people. People popularly believe natives all dress alike, including modern natives, because it is how they frequently are portrayed on TV. In this commercial, this stereotype is exaggerated because two other stereotypes are added to the Indian’s traditional dress to enhance the effect on the audience. To illustrate “Native culture”, The simplicity of the native’s life and that he is still angry over the whites taking his land are added on5, for at the end of the commercial the Indian says “why didn’t we think of that?”. A commercial that has an entirely different affect on its audience without the use of enhancements or stereotypes is the public service announcement called “Indians don’t let Indians Drive Drunk”. This PSA addresses the common Native American stereotype of alcoholism or its abuse, which is a true stereotype because of a gene that makes Indians vulnerable to the substance.6 The reason Indian alcoholism can and cannot be called a stereotype in this commercial is because when applied to the complete population of Indians in the U.S. it is

5 "Blue Corn Comics -- The Harm of Native Stereotyping: Facts and Evidence." Blue Corn Comics -Multicultural comic books featuring Native Americans. Web. 7 Oct. 2009. . 6 "Investigating a 'protective gene' against alcoholism." Science Blog | Science news straight from the source. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. .

untrue, but when applied to a couple Indian tribes or groups it becomes accurate7. “Indians don’t let Indians drive drunk” is aimed at solely Natives, and more likely was not seen by any other group; Therefore, Natives would have seen it with understanding eyes rather than the stereotypical eyes of the Caucasian that would not relate to it in the same way as Indians. This commercial is presented in a way that would affect the Native community’s opinions in order to persuade them to care for each other’s health and change their feelings on alcoholism. Indians might also possibly react to this commercial in a more blameful way, such as being mad at white men for bringing their culture and products into their world causing Indians all the hardships they face today8; however, only older Indians might think this way if they were still sour about the loss of their lands. This commercial or PSA does not go beyond a stereotype, it enhances a stereotype by giving familiar scenes to its viewers for effect. During the 1970’s, the Keep America Beautiful Foundation came out with a Public Service Announcement that concerned pollution. The PSA was released in an attempt to convince Americans to stop polluting. In this commercial, an Italian male, dressed as an American Indian, rode a horse through a spring in California littered with human waste products. At the conclusion of the commercial, the Indian dropped a single tear. For years this was seen as powerful, possibly because it was an “Indian” crying over how destroyed the land became after white people conquered it, even though reservations look even worse. Anyways, the point is that the Native American apparel was a gimmick. It was a stereotype. Native Americans would more likely be crying over the fact that they had such small land allotments rather than the fact that the land that is no longer theirs is contaminated just as much as the land they own. This stereotype 7 "Investigating a 'protective gene' against alcoholism." Science Blog | Science news straight from the source. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. . 8 "Yahoo! Groups." Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums & communities. Web. 6 Oct. 2009. .

would be taken in offense due to these facts, and it is apparent that the Indian garb was used for effect rather than humor. The Indian dress was not enhanced or exaggerated by any other additions to the commercial besides the horse that the Indian was riding; a modern day native would more likely be driving a car rather than a horse. The horse factor would also be taken as insulting, because an American might assume that all Indians ride horses since Americans are easily influenced by television, especially the younger generation.