January 04, 2010

Indians in Wacky Packages

Correspondent DMarks brought the following to my attention:

Wacky PackagesWacky Packages are a series of trading cards featuring parodies of North American consumer products. The cards were produced by the Topps Company beginning in 1967, usually in a sticker format. The original series sold for two years, and the concept proved popular enough that it has been revived every few years since. Per trader legend, at one time the product outsold Topps baseball cards.

Comment:  I may have seen a couple of the Wacky Packages as a boy, but I wasn't into them. These two examples repeat and reinforce stereotypes of Native women.

3 comments:

dmarks said...

I look at these things and are not sure. Do you think they extend the stereotypes to be worse than what the original satired packages already featured?

Rob said...

Yes, to some degree. The Land O' Quakes package makes the Indian maiden look more like a sexy princess. The Argh package turns a normal-looking woman into a plump, big-nosed "squaw" type of caricature.

P.S. For the original Argo packaging, see:

http://www.bigoven.com/uploads/Cornstarch.jpg

dmarks said...

"....turns a normal-looking woman into a plump, big-nosed "squaw" type of caricature."

Well, in that case, it does make a stereotype worse.