Because totem poles, in general, are not the exclusive cultural property of a single culture, the designs are not easily protected. The appropriation of coastal Pacific Northwest culture by the art and tourist trinket market has resulted in production of cheap imitations of totem poles executed with little or no knowledge of their complex stylistic conventions. These include imitations made by other First Nations and Native American peoples in Canada and southwestern United States. Proliferation of "totem junk" has diluted public interest and respect for the artistic skill and cultural knowledge required to produce a pole