***No, this is not political/racial based. Just an honest, simple question.***
So this is a question I have asked myself many times and never had an answer to. As a resident of Oklahoma, I frequently see Native American casinos and museums. What is also extremely common is individual tribes advertising on TV. What I have never understood is WHY? Why are they advertising their tribe? I'm not talking about facility/service advertising, but simply "who we are" kind of commercials.
Nothing I come up with makes sense. Are they trying to show off and say "we have money to fund this TV station" or perhaps they are trying to earn respect from other tribes/outsiders? To me, these are almost recruitment-type commercials, like a "hey, we're awesome, join us" kind of thing. But it's not like average joe can just decide "hey I'm Native American now" because you can't just walk in. There is so much documentation and proof to be shown. So much that a lot of people who DO meet those requirements trip over the hurdles of applying and just don't bother.
(I would also ask where the money to fund said advertisements comes from, as I feel it would be relevant to my question. But, I feel that would be getting into politics...)
Even using Google, I come up with nothing that answers WHY. Any ideas?
***Please, keep this thread clean and non-political as intended***
So this is a question I have asked myself many times and never had an answer to. As a resident of Oklahoma, I frequently see Native American casinos and museums. What is also extremely common is individual tribes advertising on TV. What I have never understood is WHY? Why are they advertising their tribe? I'm not talking about facility/service advertising, but simply "who we are" kind of commercials.
Nothing I come up with makes sense. Are they trying to show off and say "we have money to fund this TV station" or perhaps they are trying to earn respect from other tribes/outsiders? To me, these are almost recruitment-type commercials, like a "hey, we're awesome, join us" kind of thing. But it's not like average joe can just decide "hey I'm Native American now" because you can't just walk in. There is so much documentation and proof to be shown. So much that a lot of people who DO meet those requirements trip over the hurdles of applying and just don't bother.
(I would also ask where the money to fund said advertisements comes from, as I feel it would be relevant to my question. But, I feel that would be getting into politics...)
Even using Google, I come up with nothing that answers WHY. Any ideas?
***Please, keep this thread clean and non-political as intended***