In a recent survey, respondents were given a list of “environmental groups” and asked “Which organization do you believe is most believable?” Thirty-six percent chose Keep America Beautiful - it beat out the Nature Conservancy (29 percent), the Sierra Club (17 percent), Greenpeace (15 percent), and the Environmental Defense Fund (3 percent). The fraudulence of Keep America Beautiful is less well known. His fraud was not ill-willed: he also supported Indian rights, married an Indian, and adopted Indian children. His long black braids were a wig, his dark complexion deepened with makeup. The Italian-American Cody - his real name was Espera Oscar DeCorti - “passed” as a Cherokee-Cree Indian on and off camera. Even some YouTubers point out that he was played by character actor Iron Eyes Cody, whose specialty was playing Indians in Hollywood westerns. It’s no big secret that the crying Indian was neither crying nor Indian. This is remarkable, since the ad was a fraud. The Advertising Educational Foundation declares the spot “synonymous with environmental concern.” Wikipedia says it “has been widely credited with inspiring America’s fledgling environmental movement.” The crying Indian wept for our sins, and from his tears sprang forth a new Green Age. Some netizens even claim the ad motivated them to pick up trash or chide litterers. Thanks to YouTube, you can watch this ad over and over, framed by excited viewer comments: “A classic!!” “Very powerful.” “Best PSA ever made.” Most YouTubers agree with the trade journal Ad Age, which included the campaign in the century’s top hundred. People can stop it,” declares the narrator. He looks into the camera for the money shot. “Some people have a deep, abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country,” intones a basso profundo voice, “and some people don’t.” On those words, someone flings a bag of trash from a passing car. The Indian pulls his boat onto a bank strewn with litter and gazes upon a freeway.

He rows into a city harbor: ship, crane, a scrim of smog.

The music grows bombastic, wailing up a movie-soundtrack build. In the spot’s original version, launched by Keep America Beautiful on Earth Day 1971, he paddles his canoe down a pristine river to booming drumbeats. Star of perhaps the best-known public service announcement ever, he was a black-braided, buckskinned, cigar-store native come to life, complete with single feather and stoic frown. IF YOU WATCHED television at any point in the seventies, you saw him: America’s most famous Indian.

South park episode indian casino