Land O’Lakes Removes Native American Woman From Label
By Alex Robinson
on April 15, 2020
The dairy co-op quietly changed its logo in February.
Land O'Lakes unveiled its new label in February.
Photography courtesy of Land O'Lakes
The “butter maiden” is no more.
Dairy co-operative Land O’Lakes has removed the image of a Native American woman from its butter packaging. The co-op’s logo depicted a Native American woman, kneeling on a mound of grass, holding a package of butter—an image that critics have said is offensive.
The company issued a press release in February, announcing it was revamping the label to showcase farmers and commemorate Land O’Lakes’ hundredth anniversary. But the press release didn’t even mention the “butter maiden.”
The original logo was painted in 1928, and has been updated a number of times over the years. The new label is very similar to the old one, with the obvious omission, and some new text that says “Farmer-Owned” above the Land O’Lakes brand mark and “Since 1921” below.
Land O’Lakes’ original label depicted a Native American woman holding a package of butter. Photo by littlenySTOCK on Shutterstock.
“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,” Beth Ford, the company’s president, said in the press release.
The change was welcomed by those who say the image is racist and an example of cultural appropriation. The new logo has already started to appear on packaging for some products, and will be fully rolled out by the end of 2020.
Popular
I’ve had this butter for years and never ever thought the Indian woman was offensive or racist. Who makes these decisions and aquizations?
This has gone way too far. The subversiveness of a small group is dominating our society.
Land of lakes should not fold so easily.
Crazy nuts every thing is offensive to a bunch of winners. Don’t buy the butter if you don’t like the label. Land of lakes should have told them to go fly a kite
The new logo may be considered non-controversial, but it is empty and boring. If native peoples don’t want to claim the gal, certainly there is a dairy princess of another ancestry that would do.
So freaking stupid. Why do certain weak people have to be offended by everything. I’ve been using Land O lakes my whole life. It was my parents butter of choice and it is my family’s butter of choice. Their logo is iconic and it will be missed. Weak minded and kneed people should not get to ruining things for everyone else.
PC BS is destroying the country. Seems everyone is offended by something and if one out of 10 million feels slighted then things are changed. Sad sad sad.
I’m not sure why this was considered racist because Native Americans do in fact exist. What’s wrong with having a Native American on the packaging? Would it be bad to have a black, Chinese or white person on there. I really do wish companies would stop giving in to all this silliness. I think this has little to do with people worrying about racism and more to do with people trying to have control over and a thumb on people. I could just as easily see her being removed as being racist.
Never apologize or change for race baiters when you’ve done nothing wrong. The logo was in no way offensive, it wasn’t like white farmers were standing over and Indian woman forcing her to make butter for them. She was featured in an honorable way, with a smile, as if she had created a beautiful thing and was offering to share it with others. The PC police should be shouted down or ignored. Maybe products made by white people should carry labels saying “This item was made by white people, not for use by those with darker skin because you’ll probably… Read more »
And just like that…. I will stop buying their butter out of principle….
Sounds like a bunch of snowflakes….in the commenters section! Get over yourselves
If Land O’ Lakes wants to change their logo they are free to do so. It’s their logo.