The archive · PR & Stunts · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
Muskrat Magazine and BBDO Canada rewrite Pocahontas' audio to tell Matoaka's true story
Muskrat Magazine and BBDO Canada replaced Disney's Pocahontas audio with a word-synced retelling by Indigenous writers, starting with her real name, Matoaka.
Muskrat Magazine
What it had to solve
Amnesty International says sexual stereotypes remain a major factor in violent attacks on Indigenous women and girls, who are 16 times more likely to be murdered than any other group; four out of five experience violence in their lifetime. Disney's Pocahontas is one of the most-seen tellings of that story — and it is built on the very stereotype.
How it works
Disney's Pocahontas is how millions of people first meet one of the most mythologized Indigenous women in North American history — and, as Amnesty International documents, the sexual stereotypes it repeats are a factor in real violence. Indigenous women and girls are 16 times more likely to be murdered than any other group, and four out of five experience violence in their lifetime.
To fight the stereotype, Muskrat Magazine and BBDO Canada did not attack the film; they took it over from inside. A full-length alternative audio track was created and synced to every syllable on screen, with the story rewritten and re-recorded word for word by Indigenous writers. The correction starts where the myth does: the character's real name, Matoaka, not the name Disney gave her.
The result is the same film with a truer voice — audiences can watch the movie they already know while hearing the history it erased. D&AD placed the work in its 2023 awards archive, where the jury praised it as a simple, never-made-before idea with great purpose. The archive page records no view counts, so the case rests on the intervention itself.
Why it lands
- Syncing the correction to the original film gives it the myth's own reach — nobody has to seek out a protest to hear the true story.
- Rewriting by Indigenous writers returns the voice and the history to the people the story is about.
- Starting with Matoaka's real name reframes the character before a single plot point plays out.
- The alternative track turns a beloved cartoon into an argument about stereotypes and who gets to tell the story.
What it did
The world's most famous version of the story gained a second, corrected voice that an audience can sync to the original film, turning a beloved cartoon into a lesson about who gets to tell the story. D&AD carried the work in its 2023 awards archive, where a juror called it 'a simple idea, never-made-before, and with great purpose'; the page records no view figures.
What you can take
Don't counter a harmful story head-on — take it over: a corrected track inside the original film reaches the people who already love it and rewrites what they hear when they watch.
Since then
The alternative audio track was released in June 2022, timed to National Indigenous Peoples Day, and the work was carried in D&AD's 2023 awards archive after winning recognition in its radio and audio discipline. The idea — correcting a harmful narrative inside the medium that spread it — became a reference point for purpose-driven Indigenous storytelling and was repeated in awards coverage across the industry. The archive page records no sales or engagement figures.
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