Rethinking hurtful iconography of indigenous people in American advertising


Our ephemera and advertising collection holds a number of boxes separated by particular iconography. Here are a few examples of American advertisements using Native American figures to sell various products. Hopefully all have been discontinued.

Some of these are also featured in “Americans,” a 2018 exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian, still seen online: https://americanindian.si.edu/americans/#

Here is the Museum’s statement calling for an end to racist mascots and images: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/ending-use-racist-mascots-and-images