Alaska Airlines Ad Fail – 'Meet Our Eskimo'
The updated livery and logo on Alaska Airlines, including the Eskimo logo that has been there since 1972. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
A company rebranding campaign turned into a P.R. mess for Alaska Airlines this week, leading its CEO to apologize for a website reference to the Alaska Native face on its planes’ tail as “our Eskimo,” while other Alaska Natives complained about the use of the image entirely.
The airline has long referred to the face, which debuted on its planes in 1972, as “the Eskimo,” and there’s a video on Alaska Airlines’ website about it and how it’s inspired by the state’s Native heritage. But the most recent brand refresh, including a slight redesign to the plane, included the phrase “meet our Eskimo” on the company website.
The implication of possession upset Alaska Natives, who voiced their displeasure on Facebook and Twitter, including a #NotYourEskimo hashtag, as well as an online petition. The phrasing was later removed.
“When Alaska Airlines unveiled our refreshed brand earlier this week, a reference we used, ‘Meet our Eskimo,’ offended many in the Alaska Native community, and likely others,” Alaska Air Group CEO Brad Tilden said in a statement. “We apologize and take full responsibility for this insensitive reference.”
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Annie Wilcoxson Wenstrup, an Alaska Native, voiced her displeasure on Facebook, posting, “I want to like your new rebranding campaign… Claiming the image of an indigenous person is troubling enough. The possessiveness of your ‘Meet Our Eskimo’ is dehumanizing.”
In an interview with the Alaska Dispatch News, Wenstrup added, “I think it’s time to start phasing (the Eskimo logo) out,” she said. “I think it has a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings because we’re used to it, but you’re using a minority’s image to support a corporate brand, and they’re profiting off that.”
Other Alaska Natives on social media have supported the use of the term “Eskimo,” and Alaska Airlines says they decided to keep using the term after conducting focus groups with Native leaders in the state.
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