Evergreen's totem poles are also sold at the official online stores of the NFL, NHL and MLBbedbathandbeyond.com
The "commercialization and appropriation" of totem poles has grown in recent years as the carved fixtures first created by Native Americans can be "found in the online stores of North America’s major sports leagues, some of them affixed with the logos and symbols of teams that have taken on Indian nicknames," according to Matt Bonesteel of the WASHINGTON POST. Home decor manufacturer Evergreen Enterprises, which has "long held licensing agreements with the NHL, NFL, MLB and NCAA," produces sports-themed totem poles, along with "numerous products that are affixed with team logos." The sports totem poles "didn’t sit well with Rebecca Thomas, a Mi’kmaq woman and former poet laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who recently spotted some NHL-themed items at a Lawtons drugstore." The Canadian-based Lawtons "quickly responded to Thomas via Twitter, saying it would pull the totem poles from its stores and apologizing." W. Ron Allen, Chair & CEO of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington state, said, “We have been fighting for years to eliminate the use of American Indian images for the purpose of commercialization. That has something that has always been offensive to us." Bonesteel noted Evergreen's totem poles are also "sold at the official online stores" of the NFL, NHL and MLB along with retailers such as Home Depot, Target and Amazon (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 12/26).
