TSR Updatez: Looks like Quaker Oats has made good on its promise to rebrand its “Aunt Jemima” products, officially retiring the racist stereotype that was on its pancake mixes and syrups for decades.
If you don’t remember how this rebrand came about, there was talk of changing the Aunt Jemima name last summer amid calls for racial and social justice. People had long criticized the Aunt Jemima name as a racist caricature of a Black woman stemming from slavery.
Now, Quaker Oats will replace Aunt Jemima products in name only with the Pearl Milling Company name and logo on the new packaging, CNN reports.
“We are starting a new day with Pearl Milling Company,” a spokesperson for PepsiCo, the brand’s parent company, said. “A new day rooted in the brand’s historic beginnings and its mission to create moments that matter at the breakfast table.”
PepsiCo attorneys purchased brand name and logo trademarks for Pearl Milling Company on February 1, according to CNN.
But don’t expect to see the new labels right away. The new brand is scheduled to launch in June, one year after the company announced the change.
Aunt Jemima was one of several food brands — including Uncle Ben’s, Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth’s — to announce redesigns as protests against systemic racism.
PepsiCo said the Pearl Milling Company was the late-19th-century business that created the original ready-made pancake mix. The new Pearl Milling Company brand logo replaces the Aunt Jemima image with what appears to be a 19th century watermill, where flour was ground at the time.
But there are some similarities to the old packaging. The new logo’s red, white and yellow color scheme matches the colors that were used on Aunt Jemima’s packaging.
“This name is a nod to where our delicious products began before becoming a family-favorite breakfast staple,” PepsiCo said. “While the Aunt Jemima brand was updated over the years in a manner intended to remove racial stereotypes, it has not progressed enough to appropriately reflect the dignity, respect and warmth that we stand for today.”
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