Sunny Boy Cereal 

Sunny Boy Cereal, made with wheat, rye, and flax, was produced at the Byers Flour Mills in Camrose from 1929 onwards. A popular product, it was advertised across Canada in print and radio campaigns aimed at children. Between 1944 and 1946, children could write to the company to receive this “Indian Trails Stamp Map” in the mail. Then the children could collect a stamp from every cereal package purchased to affix to the map. The first four children to fill their maps won a pony, and after that those completing the map could choose to have either an “Indian buckskin jacket” or “Indian gauntlets” mailed to them. Such in-pack promotions were introduced by Kellogg’s in 1909 and continue today. 

The stamps were based on paintings produced by artist Gerda Christoffersen (1917-2012), who was born in Denmark but grew up in Alberta, forming personal connections with some members of the Stoney Nakoda Nation. How does she represent Indigenous* Peoples? Do the stamps show stereotypical, racialized types, or do they portray unique individuals? What does it mean to collect, display, and exchange such images? What happens when non-Indigenous children both consume and perform Indigenous identities?