Land O’Lakes Butter Ad – October 6, 1971

Advertising spending has changed a lot in the last fifty years – with the result that it’s just about killed off newspapers.

National companies used to allocate a certain amount of their marketing budget for advertising in local newspapers. The Lorain Journal was full of these ads every day – for automobiles, coffee, breakfast cereal, etc., as well as the ubiquitous liquor ads.

But the internet changed everything. Today you can flip through a Morning Journal and the only ads you see (and there aren’t many) are for local companies.

In 1971, however, there were still national ads in the Journal, and below is one of them, for Land O’Lakes Butter. It ran in the paper on October 6, 1971.

Of course, it’s interesting today because the Land O’Lakes Indian maiden mascot that had appeared on labels since 1928 was abandoned in 2020, due to the perception that it was a racist depiction of indigenous people.

The mascot’s exit took place slowly, first with a redesign of the box (below) that introduced a larger portrait of the Indian maiden. It was an attractive package that maintained a link to the past.

But this was followed by the Indian maiden's removal entirely. Here’s what the package looks like today.   

I think it's odd that the current package design has a gaping hole where the Indian maiden was, which only emphasizes her absence. I'm personally disappointed that she’s gone – but then again, I watch a lot of GRIT TV and am used to seeing 1950s Westerns with Native American women played by white actresses such as Debra Paget.

As a card-carrying graphic designer (well, it’s a Mickey Mart Rewards card), I would have filled the space on the Land O’Lakes package with a new, uncontroversial image, such as a sunrise, a loon, some fishermen in a boat or something else representing Minnesota or the North Woods (such as Paul Bunyan).