Son of Land O' Lakes logo artist says 'Mia' wasn't a stereotype, doesn't know why they dropped her from packaging

Kitty Eisele’s father didn’t paint the Native American maiden “Mia,” but her retweet of the Native American artist’s son’s piece in the Washington Post is getting all the replies. As Twitchy reported, Land O’Lakes recently erased the “controversial” Mia from the butter packaging “to better connect the men and women who grow our food with those who consume it.”

My Native American father drew the Land O’Lakes maiden. She was never a stereotype. https://t.co/i4enGKG2rP

— Kitty Eisele (@RadioKitty) April 29, 2020

What was controversial about the logo? Indian Country Today reports, “North Dakota state Rep. Ruth Buffalo, Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, told a Fargo Forum reporter that the image goes ‘hand-in-hand with human and sex trafficking of our women and girls … by depicting Native women as sex objects.'”

But now the son of the artist, who’s protested against the use of Native American logos and mascots, says Mia was never a stereotype:

With the redesign, my father made Mia’s Native American connections more specific. He changed the beadwork designs on her dress by adding floral motifs that are common in Ojibwe art. He added two points of wooded shoreline to the lake that had often been depicted in the image’s background. It was a place any Red Lake tribal citizen would recognize as the Narrows, where Lower Red Lake and Upper Red Lake meet.

…

Mia’s vanishing has prompted a social media meme: “They Got Rid of The Indian and Kept the Land.” That isn’t too far from the truth. Mia, the stereotype that wasn’t, leaves behind a landscape voided of identity and history. For those of us who are American Indian, it’s a history that is all too familiar.

Lol great work everyone pic.twitter.com/CD3kjPgScQ

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 30, 2020

But… They are saving humanity by deleting all Native American imagery from our culture!

? It's almost like we are now trying to erase their entire existence because it reminds too many white woke women of their gult that our ancestors landed here ruffly 400y ago.

— Chris Hennessey ?? (@irishsoxfan34) April 30, 2020

Doesn't matter, the woke mob hath spoken from their pulpit! Purge the heathens!

— I'm To Blame (@im2blame4) April 30, 2020

This makes no sense. The company didn’t realize this?

— Robbb (@bommrob) April 30, 2020

They realized it but some white liberal couldn’t pass up the chance to virtue signal.

— Noble Prize Winning Coach (@KC91140593) April 30, 2020

I don’t care if he was a Native American or not… he’s a bigot and RACIST!!!

— Doctor of Sarcasm (@drsarcasm6) April 30, 2020

White Liberals and their self hatred is getting tiresome

— johnny panico (@panico1985) April 30, 2020

Liberal white elites effectively cancelled out Native Americans from history in the name of ‘racism’

— Politically Stripped ™️ ??? (@politstrip) April 30, 2020

I always loved the Native American on my butter package! She was so beautiful….

— Kathy Luce (@KathyLuce6) April 30, 2020

As a Minnesota girl, I always loved the Land O’ Lakes maiden. I see a beautiful icon being used as a weapon. Bring her back, Land O’ Lakes. Otherwise, there’s other brands I can buy.

— Rena Langowski (@RenaLangowski) April 30, 2020

It would have been nice to find out the history behind the drawing before being politically stupid/correct.

— Angela Johnson (@johnsonfoodbev) April 30, 2020

That beautiful maiden was always the reason why I bought Land O’ Lakes products for decades!!!!!!!

— Rosemarie Tishelman (@RosemarieTish) April 29, 2020

I will miss her. I’ve known her since childhood and always thought she was beautiful.

— Nancy King (@NancyKing6) April 30, 2020

Never thought of her as anything but a symbol of purity. I will miss her.

— Joanne May (@JoanneM96815203) April 30, 2020

And now she’s gone.

Related:

Finally! Land O’Lakes takes important step in fixing America’s problematic past by completely erasing Native American woman from packaging https://t.co/0M9zhM3yPl

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 17, 2020