In light of Rachel Dolezal, remember Iron Eyes Cody

Most people middle aged or older remember the "Crying Indian" campaign for Keep America Beautiful:

Most of them, by now, also know that Iron Eyes Cody was no Native American. Born to Sicilian Immigrants in southwestern Louisiana in 1904, Espera Oscar de Corti became an actor in his youth, and found that he could "pass" as a Native American in Hollywood.

de Corti, changing his name to "Cody," claimed to have Cherokee-Cree heritage. He played native roles in dozens of westerns, with John Wayne and other stars of the mid-20th century. His chanting was featured in the Joni Michtell song "Lakota." And, of course, he was the Noble Savage face of Keep America Beautiful. All while sharing more heritage with Christopher Columbus than with the people who got the shit end of the Columbian Exchange.

By all accounts Iron Eyes Cody tried to honour his assumed ancestry. He became an activist for Native American causes, and did lecture tours preaching against the harm of alcohol. He married a Seneca archaeologist, Bertha Parker, and they adopted two adopted two Dakota and/or Maricopa children. He even wrote a book about native sign language.

He also invented a backstory, quoted by Glendale News Press from  a 1951 local newspaper article:

“Iron Eyes learned much of his Indian lore in the days when, as a youth, he toured the country with his father, Thomas Long Plume, in a wild west show. During his travels, he taught himself the sign language of other tribes of Indians” 

The article said that the television star and his wife would appear at a Glendale Historical Society event to tell the story of the “Indian Sign Language in Pictures'' and would demonstrate Indian arts and customs. Plus, the couple would bring along their 3-month-old “papoose” Robin (Robert Timothy). All were to be attired in Indian regalia.

In 1996, three years before his death, Iron Eyes Cody was outed as European by his half-sister, May Abshire, who offered proof of the actor's Sicilian parentage to the Times-Picayune. Cody denied the allegations.

Today, such a shocking exposé, proving that an upstanding member of an ethnic community was really an outsider, would be all over social media. Just like Rachel Dolezal.

I'm having a hard time digging up any initial reactions to Iron Eyes Cody's outing from indigenous people in the United States or Canada. How is he remembered? Did he help make native issues more visible, or did he obnoxiously appropriate an oppressed culture that didn't belong to him?

Please comment below. It's moderated, but I'll approve it ASAP.

"White" people are pink, and "Black" people are... green?

Cute little gum campaign, eh? Gum "made for kissing". Okay, maybe it's a little weird, but the idea is clear enough.

The ads are by Leo Burnett Tailor Made, Brazil. Now, Brazil also has a sizeable population of African decent. We wouldn't want to leave them out, would we?

"But"... I'm sure someone at the agency said, "if we have a black man kissing a pink bubble, then it looks like an interracial thing, and that might distract people from the simple campaign message."

"Does Topline make any brown flavours?" someone else might have replied, in a frantic search for a quick-fix that would keep the campaign on deadline.

Whatever the conversation, this is what they ended up with:

Well, okay then. I guess Captain Kirk isn't the only one into green women.

All images via Ads of The World.

Cute Cheerios ad incites racist flamewar

There was a time, a few years ago, when it was common casting procedure on our Canadian government ads to cast families of different ethnic backgrounds. This was an easy way to show population diversity even when the action took place in a single household. The challenge was always to avoid making it look forced, or turning it into a cliché. We just wanted to show families that more people could identify with, and not feel excluded by.

So it was interesting for me to open up Gawker and read about the controversy surrounding a new Cheerios spot from the United States:



Apparently, Cheerios had to shut down the comments thread in its YouTube post of the ad was flooded with racist hate speech. I can't give you a firsthand account, but AdFreak Editor Tim Nudd describes it as "devolved into an endless flame war, with references to Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide'."

But almost as surprising, to me, is what a huge (positive) deal people on Cheerios' Facebook Page are making, as if depicting families that don't all have the same complexion is some kind of marketing revolution.

I guess both the bad and the good show how far American culture has to go when it comes to getting over its obsession with "race" (whatever that means). When everyone can look at an ad like this and just see a family, then we'll know there's been progress.

By the way, to circle back to my first point, congratulations to Saatchi & Saatchi NYC for achieving an effortless realism in what was apparently a very momentous casting choice.

Pantone attempts to define humanity's true colours

Skin colour has always been a contentious topic. Generally, people class the "others" based on their differences. (For example, Imperial Brits called almost everyone with more melanin than them "Black.")

In reality, skin tones are pretty variable. But Pantone, the industry standard for colour, is making an effort to address this with the new Pantone SkinTone Guide.

The guide features  a total of 110 skin tones. 

As the site proclaims:

The PANTONE SkinTone Guide was created by scientifically measuring thousands of actual skin tones across the full spectrum of human skin types. Specially formulated to be the closest physical representations of skin colors, the library is a comprehensive visual reference of human skin tones for use in any market where skin colors are relevant. It's the only internationally available color standard to accurately match skin tones.

...

Uses 

BEAUTY: Matching and coordinating cosmetics to skin color.
FASHION: Bring skin color into the mix when developing colors and palettes for design and producing accessories, foundation garments and intimates.
PRODUCT DESIGN: Develop and control natural skin tones for toys and a variety of products and accessories
PHOTOGRAPHY: Easily match skin tones for accurate photo editing and retouching.
PRINTING/PACKAGING/GRAPHIC DESIGN: Provides quality control standards for consistent and appealing skin tone reproduction.
MEDICAL: Useful for creating baseline color standards for restorative and cosmetic surgery and prosthesis manufacture. 

While this is hardly a solution to the issues of oversimplifying human identity through broad "racial" categories, it certainly provides designers with tools to more accurately represent human diversity.

Tip via Stocklogos

Related: Pantone Humanae