A rumor that food company Land O'Lakes had announced a return to its previous logo featuring a kneeling Indigenous woman on its packaging circulated online in October 2024. A Facebook post alleged the company had said, "'Our customers made it clear that they respect tradition more than wokeness.'"
One commenter on the post said, "When I see it then I will start to purchase their products!" Someone else who shared the alleged announcement added, "This is a big win! Now fire the advertising executives who approved that wokeness nonsense."
(America - Love It or Leave It Facebook page)
While some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as authentic, there was no evidence Land O'Lakes had actually reverted to its previous logo and no credible news source reported the claim.
Rather, the rumor originated with a post authored by the America - Love It or Leave It Facebook page. That Facebook page is part of a network of websites and social media pages that describes its output as being humorous and satirical in nature, America's Last Line of Defense. The parent site also posted the claim on its Facebook page with the message, "And they said boycotts don't work."
The bio sections of both Facebook pages read: "Nothing on this page is real."
Land O'Lakes removed the former logo in early 2020, saying in a Feb. 6, 2020, news release:
"As Land O'Lakes looks toward our 100th anniversary, we've recognized we need packaging that reflects the foundation and heart of our company culture—and nothing does that better than our farmer-owners whose milk is used to produce Land O'Lakes' dairy products," said Beth Ford, President and CEO, Land O'Lakes.
"As a farmer-owned co-op, we strongly feel the need to better connect the men and women who grow our food with those who consume it," Ford said. "Our farmer-to-fork structure gives us a unique ability to bridge this divide."
In April 2020, CNN reported:
After nearly 100 years, the Minnesota-based dairy company has removed the Native American woman kneeling against a background of green pine trees and a blue lake from its products. New products feature the lake and trees with the words "Land O Lakes, 1921" in bold.
The change was made in February and received little notice until this week. It comes as many businesses, universities and sports teams have begun to drop Native American images and symbols from logos.
Snopes has addressed similar "satirical" claims created by the America's Last Line of Defense network in the past, including the fake claims that Kid Rock shipped millions in supplies to areas impacted by the hurricanes, bread costs $11 in California due to a minimum wage increase, and Vice President Kamala Harris was fired from McDonald's.
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.