eska

UPDATE late July 8, 2011: Responding to community pressure and a boycott, ESKA announced yesterday that it was pulling its racist ads from circulation and apologizes.

Please take note of the following information issued by ESKA Water concerning its most recent advertising campaign.

“In light of concerns that have been expressed over the past few days, ESKA Water is bringing an immediate halt to its current advertising and marketing campaign. All television, print and collateral representations of the campaign will be removed from market as quickly as possible. In addition, ESKA Water wishes to apologize to all those who may have found the campaign and its images disrespectful. Certainly, that was never our intention. In the days to come company officials will be meeting with local community leaders to reinforce ESKA’s commitment to working in partnership and to ensure that future marketing efforts reflect both the strength of our premium brand and the values of those in the community.”

Jim Delsnyder

President and CEO

Eaux Vives Water Inc. (ESKA)”

**

Has red face become the new blackface medium for Canadian advertisers?

Is this a horrible misjudgment at flattery? Or does this reflect a deeper racist attitude towards First Nations communities in Canada, especially in Quebec?

ESKA Water has recently unveiled its new ad campaign featuring white-washed men dressed as fierce Indigenous warriors.

Why would Indigenous warriors need to be white-washed?

Or is the chalky appearance (especially over the already chalky skin of the tall, thin man on the left) supposed to make them all look more white and fierce…oh my sky, I don’t like where this train of thought is going.

I do want to note that the Saami — Indigenous to the Arctic and winter-pale — do not have any warriors who dress like these men. Too damn cold for us to be running around with so much bare skin susceptible to frost bite.

You can view an ad campaign picture posted above or watch the video. This Quebec corporation’s marketing is trying to claim that ESKA has a ancient society of warriors always at the ready to defend the purity of its Quebec product.

Quebec + purity = “pure laine.”

Now things are getting ugly.

For the non-Quebec minded, “pure laine” is an unfortunate francophone racist attitude that only white, Catholic and French speaking people belong in la belle province. This gives the ESKA slogan of “protecting the purity” a whole new meaning.

Or, officially as it has been stated, multiculturalism in Quebec won’t work. The French were here first, they claim. Forgetting the fact that, actually, in that annoying and historically accurate way that seems to annoy racists, First Nations were here first.

Which brings us back to two troubling concepts.

1. The Quebec government does not have the best relationship with its First Nations.

We need to look no further than the Oka crisis or the Quebec government’s current relationship with the Algonquins of Barierre Lake.

“This is a racist and degrading caricature of indigenous peoples, especially for the Algonquin people whose traditional territory includes the Saint-Mathieu-Lac Berry esker [where the water is sourced],” said Marlene Jerome, Vice Grand Chief of the Algonquin Anishinabeg Nation Tribal Council, told the Globe and Mail. “Natives are presented in the advertisement as primitive beings and ridiculous, again carrying old prejudices.”

2. Viewing Indigenous peoples through the single lens of the warrior not only stereotypes First Nations communities, but robs them of the rich complexity of their identity and culture.

In this view, I think I can maybe understand what the ESKA Corporation’s marketing department was thinking, trying to pay homage to Indigenous cultures as strong and courageous in their defense of Mother Earth and their traditional way of life.

But ESKA is not supporting Indigenous resistance, it is selling water — the blood of Mother Earth which many argue should not be commodified, bottled and sold in the first place.

Here’s how to contact them.

Here’s more information on the ESKA boycott.

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...