Where's My Jetpack?: Better Than Naked Ladies in Ice Cubes

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Better Than Naked Ladies in Ice Cubes

This logo has been around since 1939, when a very clever and perverted artist named Jess Betlach decided to subliminally put nipples on the kneecaps of the Indian maiden, resulting in generations of adolescent American boys cutting up butter boxes to reveal the woman as pictured in the second image. Remove the box of butter she holds and put the same picture behind her, sliding it up but deviating neither left nor right. Tell me this wasn't intentional.

I did this trick for my family and they thought I was Uncle Freak McNasty. They'd never heard of it. I know I'm not the only one who has seen this old thing. Is it only popular among ad people and sickos? Wait, that was redundant.

I will post the cease and desist as soon as it arrives from Land O' Lakes headquarters. But ask yourself this: How many logos undergo ZERO modifications in nearly 70 years? My guess is that Land O' Lakes can't let go of their sophomoric humor and are really attached to the young flasher. And boys, for reasons their mothers can't explain, always insist she buy Land O' Lakes. "Must be the taste," mother smiles to herself, "But where are all the butter boxes?"

Labels: butter trick, Land O' Lakes, nasty logos, subliminal advertising

24 Comments:

i wonder what native americans think of this image today? i mean, why the hell is an indian lass offering butter anyway? was she trading it for whisky?

By HighJive, at January 24, 2007 at 11:06 AM
Who will you defile next with your filth? The Sunmaid Raisin chick?!!

By Maulleigh, at January 24, 2007 at 2:06 PM
Honestly never saw/heard of that before.
Guess I ran with the wrong crowd of horny adolescents :)

HJ: Every time I see this I think of those Mazola commercials from ancient times where the Indian Maiden said "They called it corn. We called it maize..."

Frito Bandito, anyone?

By Alan Wolk, at January 24, 2007 at 4:13 PM
for the record, there is a rationale behind the name and logo:

http://www.landolakes.com/ourCompany/LandOLakesHistory.cfm

By HighJive, at January 24, 2007 at 5:14 PM
Yes, HighJive. But still, I contend that Mr. Betlach knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

By RFB, at January 24, 2007 at 5:28 PM
A new low.

Seriously - aren't there like 30 pornographic images embedded in the camel from Camel cigarettes?

And isn't my son's name photoshopped into every ad I've done in the last three years?

By James-H, at January 24, 2007 at 9:40 PM
I've never seen/heard that before. Of course, I was never a teenage boy...but it's still sick. I never buy anything but my Indian Princess and now I'll think of her breasts every time I butter my bread. thanks

By greencan, at January 25, 2007 at 9:34 AM
yeah, i first heard about this from Amy Sedaris. Funny stuff...

By David, at January 25, 2007 at 2:14 PM
I'm a little worried that she's kneeling on a mound with her butter. Is it a burial mound? A cholesterol reference? Toad, that line about maize went through my head just the other day, for no reason -- just a drive by memory, but wasn't it also in a film, some comedy?

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2007 at 5:34 PM
You said "mound." Heh-heh.

Actually, that's a grassy knoll.

And you're right, PD. It was a commerical for Mazola, also quoted by someone in a comedy - and I want to say a Mike Myers comedy. Like maybe one of the Wayne's World flicks.

By RFB, at January 25, 2007 at 5:55 PM
A beavis & butthead comic book from years ago featured this.

By Anonymous, at January 25, 2007 at 10:22 PM
Great effort. Now can you find something with the Morton Salt girl? She's been around like forever you know.

By New York Punk, at January 26, 2007 at 3:43 PM
Old packs of matches with the Pep Boys advertisement had Manny, Mo and Jack standing on the cover. You made 3 holes where their zippers were, poked a match through each and let the fun begin. The joke climaxes when you light them on fire! I found a pack on ebay here: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MATCH-BOOK-LOT-WINSTON-MACKE-PEP-BOYS_W0QQitemZ220148992754QQcmdZViewItem

By Anonymous, at September 13, 2007 at 8:30 PM
I'd hit it.

By Anonymous, at September 13, 2007 at 9:13 PM
I remember doing this as an adolescent in the sixties. I would cut the box on 3 sides so it would flop down,and I would make 2 folds in her thighs to fold them up and behind. Usually I would show the unsuspecting classmate the whole shot of the Indian princess and say."Do you know where they get the milk to make LOL Butter?" When they would say no,I'd fold it and show them. Hilarity ensued.To be honest I made one a few months ago to show someone...

By Hallucinogenious, at September 13, 2007 at 10:21 PM
I had peers back in high school who hid a secret message in the program cover for a high school event. The message? "[Principal] sucks!" (sorry, I won't give away the school or the sucky individual). The result? Disciplinary action that included KICKING THEM OUT OF THE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY! Now that really sucked!

By Anonymous, at September 14, 2007 at 11:20 AM
I was first shown this trick sometime in the early '80s. I can't remember who showed it to me. I was already living on my own, so it wasn't school-based.

Like Spyder, I was shown to fold her knees back into the cutout, not to use a second image of her. I kind of like this version better, since you still get her entire body.

I may be in my late 40s, but I sniggered when I saw this (routed from Boing Boing). I'm basically still twelve.

By Karen, at September 14, 2007 at 1:58 PM
Saw bart Simpson doing this in the episode where Lisa made up that her family came from the Indian 'Hitachi' tribe...

By Anonymous, at September 17, 2007 at 7:33 AM
I came across this thread in a web search. Year's ago, on a graphics design site, this subject came up. Many claimed that the artist did this intentionally, others claimed not so.
Jessie Betlach's grandson wrote in to tell of his grandfather taking him into his studio, closing the door, and revealing the Indian maiden "secret" to him with a chuckle.

By Anonymous, at September 1, 2008 at 8:29 PM
IT is just funny and yes it is childish humor.imature, but it is alway good for a laugh. I am surpised the folks at Mad Magazine never put it in the last page the one you fold. HA HA Lighten Up!!

By Anonymous, at November 19, 2008 at 3:16 PM
I've known about this since the 80's, saw it in a corporate design studio in somebody's cubicle. That version uses a second set of knees taped from behind it, and you carefully cut the box she's holding on both sides and along the bottom, creating a flap (I mean these guys had xacto blades at their desks...) That way you have to lift up the flap for the surprise. I've made a bunch of them over the years... it's the only brand of butter I'll buy. I also decided her name was "Lana Land O Lakes", and if she had married Sir Lawrence Olivier, she would have been "Lady Lana Land O Lakes Olivier".

By rcrosson, at February 10, 2009 at 6:59 PM
Well if you're not convinced yet that it's deliberate, the way *I* learned to do this is: cut horizontally right below her kneecaps, then fold RIGHT ON THE WATER LINE. This will result in the "kneecaps" being in exactly the right position for the butterbox flap.

By Gerry, at November 30, 2009 at 12:17 PM
yep that's how i learned it, too...to fold it. except i learned from HEID ERDRICH of all people...google her! highfive wanted to know how native americans feel about it...well she is one that thought it to be enough of a ridiculous joke that SHE brought it up. (btw...she is a HOOT as well as an excellent and talented writer) then there's her poem...all i remember right now is it has something to do with her mother and "Indian Princess"...

By Anonymous, at February 2, 2010 at 1:18 AM
There was a piece in Penthouse many years ago about this. It seems it was intentional. The artist was Ernest Kullberg. It originated in the 1920`s.

By Unknown, at October 2, 2013 at 7:16 PM