The old “Crying Indian” commercial that ran in the ’70s — a PSA against pollution — will never be aired again… now thanks to its new owner.
is the OG creator of the nonprofit Keep America Beautiful ad, several variations of which he shot and ran with the actor’s help iron eyes cody … who was the face of the campaign and who was often depicted crying at the sight of Native American regalia/garbage.
While his intentions may have been in the right place at the time, the PSA has not aged well… several Native American groups have said it perpetuates harmful tropes and stereotypes.
As a result, the KAB has largely given up its claim to the PSA and transferred ownership to the National Congress of American Indians, which says it is retiring all promos and will monitor them to ensure that Never played without historical context. In other words, it will never be played uncontrollably as a real anti-garbage message… like it once was for years.
A congressional representative says, “NCAI is proud to have taken on the role of overseeing the use of this ad and ensuring that it is used only for historical context; this ad was inappropriate then and remains inappropriate today. NCAI looks forward to making this ad public. Bed for good.” It also seems that this is partly due to the legacy of Kodi.
At the time, he was involved in the campaign … but his work in Hollywood — where he starred in more than 200 films, often portraying a caricature of a Native American character — made many in the community feel That they are not the best representation of the actual environmental work that actual Native American people are involved in today… especially after all these years. An activist says the “Crying Indian” has no agency in the problem.
Bottom line… it may have started out as an honest thing, but turned into a joke over time – which became apparent with shows like ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘South Park’ running parodies, not mentioned elsewhere in pop culture. It is no longer a laughing matter.