An Indian braves pain: Native American Stereotyping in German Advertisement

By Tobias Nurr, Nils Selke & Beatrice Acherberg

Our artifact for looking into ideas of the American West in German popular culture was quickly found when clicking through television commercials online. The short video clip of a pain-relieving salve seemed perfect for a closer examination of how a typical image of an Indian is portrayed in our visual mindset. As an extra it seemed dead easy to describe a TV ad and come to some conclusion about stereotyping Indians, as we have discussed this at length in the last weeks of our course. Just until we discovered that in fact – without knowing it, only Germans can catch the meaning of this ad.

The advertisement shows a seemingly Indian man in wild scenery. He is running along a lively river and collecting herbs and roots on his way. His whole appearance, the clothes and the background flute music make it clear he is supposed to be a Native American. When he tries to climb a rock he is struck by a pain in his back but by applying Kytta salve he immediately gets well again. We can then see him following the bank of the river light- footed and pain free. Finally he is shown holding the salve and uttering into the camera, “An Indian doesn’t know any pain” in his deep manly voice.

This is accompanied by the following text:

Die Natur ist voll faszinierender Kraft und Vielfalt und sie hilft uns, wenn wir Schmerzen haben. Kytta-Salbe mit dem hochwirksamen Extrakt der Beinwellwurzel wirkt schnell und stark bei Muskel-, Gelenk- und Rückenschmerzen. Ein Indianer kennt keinen Schmerz. Kytta- Salbe : Die pflanzliche Schmerzsalbe.

Translation:

Nature is full of fascinating power and diversity, and it helps us when we are in pain. Kytta- salve with the highly effective extract of the comfrey-root acts fast and strong during muscle-, joint-, and back-pains. An Indian doesn't know any pain. Kytta-salve: The herbal pain-relief salve.

The phrase “An Indian doesn't know any pain.” is a somewhat outdated expression that is most likely told to children when they hurt themselves playing. Parents use this saying since every child knows and likes Indians and wants to be brave just like them; and they can be just like a real Indian when they suppress the pain. It is enrooted even in little kids that Indians with their rituals and wild, martial way of living are nearly immune to worldly pain, they sure wouldn’t cry and scream because of a little knee bruise?! Is this the secret of the comfrey root?

When researching the phrase it appeared that this actually does go back to German’s favorite Wild West story teller Karl May. Growing up our parents and grand-parents have read and absorbed the vivid and romantic tales of May, who without any access to the original American West constructed the West for his readers who reproduce this fantasy image of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou until today.

Facing the different aspects there are to this commercial, we are dealing with a very blunt and unelaborated manifestation of the stereotypical imagery of indigenous Northern American people that is still maintained within German society. A cliché that was formed during the early to mid-twentieth-century and is still used in the year of 2012 very successfully as the campaign even won a prize for effective advertisement.

At first glance this advertisement does not appear to be racist in any way. It’s just an Indian in his natural environment right? The target audience of people older than 49 will most likely not feel repelled by this depiction of a cliché Indian and the commercials outdated tone. It meets the stereotypical image they grew up with and even if they know about the history of Native Americans by now, they most likely won’t mind.

As already mentioned this saying is somewhat old-fashioned, but when trying to sell a pain relief salve the target group doesn’t consist of teenagers and college students, but rather elderly folks who might have to struggle with back problems and joint paints. People that age for sure know that saying and have probably told it their kids. The fact that the commercial was mostly broadcasted on TV-stations ARD and ZDF in the early evenings might also underline this theory, since this is exactly the peer group that is watching at this time.

But is it okay to use the idea of the stoic brave Indian to sell a pain relieving salve? Of course Native Americans do feel pain just like any other group of people. This clearly gets dismissed when the company uses the idea to promote their product.

Unfortunately advertising is somehow ideally suited for constructing and displaying stereotypical images and neglecting all context and truth. It is horrifying to look at the deeply sexist commercials of the 1960’s and realize that people thought it was acceptable to patronize women.

It is therefore important to take the time and reflect on what has been shown to you. This particular campaign admittedly used this figure of speech in a very clever way to appeal to our childhood remembrance. One could even argue that in the video it is admitted that Indians do feel pain. The company probably decided for this image to underline the natural ingredients of the product , after all Native Americans are – in our minds – in touch with nature.

To put it in a nut shell we feel that it’s very interesting to dissect the image that is displayed in the video and analyze its actual meaning – which you normally wouldn’t spend much time thinking about, but when you do it becomes clear that this particular commercial could be criticized for reproducing an antiquated stereotype and therefore contributes to that ignorant mindset of classifying Native Americans as these wild spirits somewhere across the world rather than seeing them as an equal group of people. At the same time it doesn’t degrade Indians as much as the original idiom does since the man in the commercial is actually suffers from pain and has to rely on medical help just like everybody else.

Websites and additional sources:
Kytta domain: http://www.kytta.de/informationen/index.php

Feedback on the campaign: http://www.dasauge.de/aktuell/werbung/e1429?bild=2086

Background information on Karl May: Germans and Indians: Fantasies, Encounters, Projections (Google eBook) p. 169

Article on said idiom: http://www.noz.de/artikel/40748303/ein-indianer-kennt-keinen-schmerz-ein-dummer-spruch-der-wehtut

On advertising: http://womeninads.weebly.com/history.html