Butter Feminism Now 

Fast Company reported that the brand—which, to be fair, is at least a member-owned cooperative rather than a subsidiary of Unilever or some other giant multinational—has collaborated with the singer Maggie Rose for a feminist update of “Old MacDonald.”

The dairy brand known for its butter and cheese is not only the benefactor for country artist Maggie Rose’s newest single and music video; it also worked with The Martin Agency to create the “All Together Better” campaign around it to raise awareness and celebrate female farmers ahead of Women’s Equality Day on August 26th. “She-I-O” is the song, written with Grammy-winning songwriter Liz Rose, and the video features real women farmers who are part of Land O’Lakes’s cooperative of 1,791 farmers.

Just a little sampling of the lyrics: “Sun comes up, she’s out of bed / Whole world swimmin’ in her head / Now you can’t tell her she can’t do it all / She’s five-foot-two and ten feet tall / She had a dream / It made her strong / Works as hard as her days are long.”

Here, have another verse: “And Old MacDonald had a daughter / She-I-E-I-O / Look what she does with what he taught her / She-I-E-I-O She’s got the future in her hands / Proud her roots are where she stands / Working on a greater plan / Showing us all if she can do it WE can.” Of course, this being an “empowerment anthem” for a dairy brand, they cannot get any more specific about what she or we can do, other than working really long hours. In the service of what? Under which conditions? Look elsewhere for the answers to those questions, my friend.

Anyway, maybe Land O’Lakes should use one of these women for their mascot going forward, instead of a Native American woman joyfully offering up the land’s bounty to the consumer. Just a thought!