Hamms Beer

Hamms Beer was bought out by Miller/Coors Beer in 1999. Prior to this time, the advertising for Hamms Beer, brewed in Saint Paul, Minnesota since the 1860s, was iconic. The jingle, "From the land of sky blue waters..." was well known throughout America. This jingle was driven by an incessant beat - a beat that immediately brought to mind images of Native Americans with its use of tom-tom drums.

Everything about the Hamms Beer commercials, especially during the products height of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, encompassed nature as a theme. The television commercials focused on the woodsy outdoors and used as it "spokesanimal" a bear, who was often seen with various woodland friends. The use of Native American drums played right into this emphasis on nature, as, once again, we see ideas regarding what it means to be a Native American tied to ideas of nature.

Although this connection can be seen in all the commercials for Hamms Beer, there is one commercial in particular that I wish to look at from the 1950s titled Hamms Beer Bear Rain Dance. (Again, found on YouTube.) In this commercial we are introduced to a cartoon Native American man who performs a rain dance. He seemingly has a powerful connection to nature at his fingertips, which he employs to comic effect - making it rain only on the Hamms Beer bear. Much as we see again 20 years later in The Crying Indian commercial, Native Americans are used to signify nature, taking away their humanity.