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: , , ,

Sent into orbit at 9:39 AM

22 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 Blogger HighJive, at 11:06 AM  

  • Who will you defile next with your filth? The Sunmaid Raisin chick?!!

    By Blogger Maulleigh, at 2:06 PM  

  • Dude, WAY too much effort. I just fold the bottom half of the box up. (lower the fold depending on your particular age kink).

    ;-p

    By Blogger Make the logo bigger, at 4:04 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 Blogger Toad, at 4:13 PM  

  • for the record, there is a rationale behind the name and logo:

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

    By Blogger HighJive, at 5:14 PM  

  • Yes, HighJive. But still, I contend that Mr. Betlach knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

    By Blogger Jetpacks, 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 Blogger James-H, 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 Blogger greencan, at 9:34 AM  

  • yeah, i first heard about this from Amy Sedaris. Funny stuff...

    By Blogger David, 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 Porch demon, 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 Blogger Jetpacks, at 5:55 PM  

  • A beavis & butthead comic book from years ago featured this.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, 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 Blogger New York Punk, 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 Anonymous, at 8:30 PM  

  • I'd hit it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, 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 Blogger Spyder, 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 Anonymous, 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 Blogger Karen, 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 frankp, 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 Anonymous, 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 Anonymous, 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 Blogger rae, at 6:59 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home