Hamm’s Beer miniature totem pole

A souvenir totem pole, created ca. 1970, with a depiction of the Hamm’s bear. This piece is a good example of Hamm’s Brewing Company’s use of generic and often inaccurate Indigenous iconography in their advertising. Although this object was made by an Ojibwe family, totem-pole carving is not an Anishinaabe tradition; the art form is practiced by Indigenous groups on the West Coast of the United States and Canada, including the Haida, the Tlingit, and the Nuxalk.

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A souvenir totem pole, created ca. 1970, with a depiction of the Hamm’s bear. This piece is a good example of Hamm’s Brewing Company’s use of generic and often inaccurate Indigenous iconography in its advertising. Although this object was made by an Ojibwe family, totem-pole carving is not an Anishinaabe tradition; the art form is practiced by Indigenous groups on the West Coast of the United States and Canada, including the Haida, the Tlingit, and the Nuxalk.

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