One of the silver linings of 2020 was that a growing number of Americans had their eyes opened to the racial, cultural, and economic injustices that had always been present in this country but had finally reached a boiling point.
With this growing public recognition came a new willingness on the part of many to examine their own complicity, including some companies and brands that had previously used problematic names and imagery in their products or advertising. Examples include Quaker Oats, which recently decided to change the name of its Aunt Jemima brand and get rid of its caricature logo, or the Cleveland Indians, which last December announced they would do the same.
Within this context of heightened awareness and, for some, a racial reckoning, Jeep’s response to the Cherokee Nation’s wish that the company stop using the tribe’s name is particularly disappointing. The company’s assertion that its vehicle names “have been carefully chosen and nurtured over the years to honor and celebrate Native American people for their nobility, prowess, and pride” comes across as tone deaf and disingenuous, given its blatant lack of actions accompanying such words.
It’s important to understand how and why the use of names and associated imagery of brands such as Aunt Jemima, the Cleveland Indians, and Jeep Cherokee is harmful. Whether people are consciously aware of it or not, media images play a powerful role in the formation of self-identity. At the same time, these images also shape how others perceive us—particularly people of color.
For the dominant culture, who are already widely and positively represented in the media, this often works in their favor. However, for members of nondominant cultures, like Native Americans, who are sparsely represented, or predominantly represented through crude stereotypes or commodification (in this instance, the Jeep Cherokee), this not only has a negative impact on how they see themselves, but it also shapes how others perceive and treat them. This cycle exacerbates one’s likelihood of developing a negative or unhealthy self-image, a process I discuss in my book, Why Wakanda Matters: What Black Panther Reveals About Psychology, Identity, and Communication.
What is even less understood in our culture are the complex ways in which stereotypical words and imagery hurt not just marginalized cultures and communities, but the dominant culture as well. The scarcity of media representation, combined with simplistic or inaccurate representations, can lead to intercultural conflict and miscommunication, or “crash moments,” that create distress for all parties involved.
The fact of the matter is that media-influenced perception does determine how we interact with people of other groups at both the individual and collective levels. At the collective level this can lead to societal conditions that ultimately hurt everyone, not just those who are marginalized and oppressed. Institutional racism is real and pervasive.
Some may argue that while the backlash against Aunt Jemima is understandable, Jeep isn’t flaunting explicitly racist imagery in its product or advertising. “Cherokee” is just a name, and if the product itself is a good one, then where’s the harm in it? Isn’t this just cancel culture run amok?
First of all, this view doesn’t consider that the only true owners of the Cherokee name, the sovereign Cherokee Nation, have not given their consent to Jeep to use their name. In fact, they clearly expressed their desire that their name not be used, and Jeep has declined to honor this request. This signals that the opinions of the Cherokee Nation regarding their own name don’t matter. This lack of weight given to how BIPOC and other marginalized groups frame their own experience is one of the more subtle ways the insidious nature of white supremacy works.
Next, in the absence of humane and accurate representations of Native Americans, using their culture and heritage only to sell a product is dehumanizing and exploitative. Imagine if you never saw yourself reflected or represented anywhere except on a commercial product. Understanding and empathizing with this is crucial, because the inability or unwillingness to do so is the very engine that drives white supremacy and inequality.
As mentioned earlier, 2020 led to more white Americans expressing the desire to be allies against racism, but true allyship requires more than just tweeting hashtags and displaying #BlackLivesMatter signs. It requires a willingness to sacrifice, and one of the easiest forms of sacrifice is forgoing the use of a product. Those seeking to be allies should therefore pick up their phones or hop on social media and let Jeep know that they will not buy its products unless the company shows a willingness to go beyond empty gestures.
While Jeep has already indicated it will continue using the Cherokee name, people can pressure it to at least offer more than just lip service about honoring the tribe. Jeep could invite the Cherokee Nation to the table for an ongoing partnership, for instance, and ask what it could do to give back to the community and use its name in a more responsible way. Depending on the tribe’s feedback, Jeep could then take any number of possible actions: creating educational programs to teach Americans about Cherokee history and heritage, setting up scholarships for young Cherokee students, or offering resources to help the community fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on native tribes and on marginalized communities in general. This would not only be the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint, it would also be good PR in a way that would serve Jeep’s own business interests. As it stands, the company’s response isn’t just capitalist exploitation; it’s also bad business.
One of the first major steps toward social change is for individuals and organizations alike to recognize that what might seem like small things to them are not experienced that way by the people who are affected by those “small things.” And since organizations are slower to change, it’s up to individuals to push and prod them toward that change. In this case, that means telling Jeep that ignoring the Cherokee Nation’s request amounts to silencing them, and that such silencing will not be passively accepted.
Sheena C. Howard is a professor of communication at Rider University and author-editor of Why Wakanda Matters.
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