National Post (National Edition)
We’re Inuit, not Asian
GIN MAKER ACCUSED OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION FOR INSENSITIVE ADVERTISING
Ungava gin is bottled in southern Quebec, but it has always drawn heavily on the geography and people of the Arctic region that gives it its name.
“With total respect for the environment and Inuit traditions, the rare plants and berries that impart a unique bouquet to Ungava gin are delicately picked and selected by hand,” the distiller says on its website.
Now the company is being accused of a lack of respect and being asked to make a contribution to the people of northern Quebec after an advertising campaign the company acknowledges crossed a line with its use of Inuit imagery.
Andy Moorhouse, vice-president responsible for economic development with Makivik Corp., which represents Quebec’s Inuit, said he was offended by Ungava’s use of Asian women dressed in skimpy parkas to advertise the gin.
“We’re not Asian. We don’t look like Asians. We’re Inuit,” Moorhouse said. “It was disturbing to see how they would try to imitate the Inuit culture with the parkas.”
The marketing campaign in question was launched in 2013 on social media aimed at the European market, where there has long been a fascination with Canada’s indigenous people.
But Inuit activists took note of the campaign only recently and complained of cultural appropriation and racism. In addition to the use of models in parkas, other affronts in the advertising included:
A male voice throat-singing the word “Ungava,” when among Canadian Inuit throat-singing is performed by women.
A cartoon Inuk holding a gas pump atop a bottle of Ungava gin.
An “Inuit Survival Guide” showing a bottle of gin wrapped in a parka.
Random use of Inuktitut syllabics yielding gibberish.
A set of scales with a bottle of gin on one side and an Inuk holding a bowl on the other.
“Why the hell are you having ladies dress up as ‘inuits’ in skimpy over-sexualized parkas? Not acceptable,” singer Tanya Tagaq wrote on Twitter. She accused the company of doing nothing to compensate the Ungava region.
Last month, the founder and president of what is now Ungava Spirits Co. Ltd., Charles Crawford, published an apology for what he termed cultural appropriation.
“We recognize that the campaign crossed an important line and has offended many people,” he wrote. “For that, we are deeply sorry and we will do better.”
He pledged to work with “key cultural influencers” for feedback on the company’s use of Inuit symbols. “We are committed to being more culturally aware and sensitive in our advertising efforts going forward,” he said.
Stephen Puskas, an Inuit researcher and radio producer in Montreal, said that if Ungava wants to avoid advertising that “trivializes us or makes a mascot of us,” it should have Inuit involved in the company and its marketing.
“This is another form of ex- ploitation or oppression because it’s really taking the identity of a people who are marginalized or discriminated against in our greater society and profiting off of the exoticism behind them, while at the same time providing no benefit to those people,” Puskas said.
Ungava is far from the only organization to borrow indigenous imagery. Nestlé still markets an Eskimo Pie ice-cream bar and Land O’ Lakes packaging still features a Native American woman on her knees holding a pound of butter.
But Ungava recognizes that attitudes are changing. “I think people are more sensitive about these things, and we have to be sensitive to them as organizations,” Crawford said in an interview.
He said some of the offending material was created by Ungava’s European distributor. “We’re responsible for everything, but they have a kind of romanticized view. They love Canada. They love the North. They find it fascinating,” he said.
“It was all done with the best intentions. When we realized there was something there, we acted quickly and apologized.”
Moorhouse said he wants to see more than an apology. The company says the six botanicals that give the gin its distinctive taste and yellow hue come from the Ungava region. Crawford would not disclose the company’s supplier, saying a lot of effort was spent coming up with the right blend, so the information is a trade secret.
The lack of disclosure leads Moorhouse to question the source of the plants. “None of the population that I’ve heard are going onto the land picking certain plants for the company,” he said.
He said if Ungava wants to make up for its offensive campaign, it should commit to hiring Inuit harvesters. He also suggested a contribution to an addiction-treatment centre in Kuujjuaq.
“If they want to continue using Ungava as their name and claim that their product is coming from the Ungava region, I would very much want to make sure that the people in Ungava are benefiting from their activities,” Moorhouse said.
WE RECOGNIZE THAT THE CAMPAIGN CROSSED AN IMPORTANT LINE.