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PepsiCo Rebrands Aunt Jemima as Pearl Milling Company


Brian in Boston

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PepsiCo - owner of American food conglomerate Quaker Oats - has announced the replacement for the Aunt Jemima brand: Pearl Milling Company.

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Founded in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1888, the original Pearl Milling Company sold its excess flour as a self-rising pancake mix that was eventually marketed with the Aunt Jemima brand. In June of 2020, PepsiCo and Quaker Oats announced that the Aunt Jemima name and logo would be retired and replaced in an effort "to make progress toward racial equality".

The new name, logo, and packaging will launch in June of this year.     

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2 hours ago, Cujo said:

On a related note: Uncle Ben's was on its way out also, right?

Uncle Ben's is now Bens Original. Eskimo Pie is now Edy's Pie. Mrs Buttersworth has simply changed the bottle, Cream of Wheat has dropped the man from their logo

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13 hours ago, walkerws said:

Ts basically the same as Aunt Jemima. Just no caricature on it. 

The caricature has been gone since before I was born. It was just a photorealistic illustration of a black woman. 

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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It appears the Pearl Milling Company is following the same philosophy as the Washington Football Team here: "If our brand can't be the most racially problematic on the market, we'll just make it the most BORING!"

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4 minutes ago, MBurmy said:

 "If our brand can't be the most racially problematic on the market, we'll just make it the most BORING!"

 

Apparently there are people that think it's more "racially problematic" (sort of.)  I forget where, but I was reading some things this morning about how some people are upset that a company would remove a black woman from their label during black history month and it's just another example of systemic racism.  I guess that's a take... probably not the best one.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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2 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

Apparently there are people that think it's more "racially problematic" (sort of.)  I forget where, but I was reading some things this morning about how some people are upset that a company would remove a black woman from their label during black history month and it's just another example of systemic racism.  I guess that's a take... probably not the best one.

Some people just exist to be miserable, living their life one grievance at a time.

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They've kept the same aesthetic, the same colours, even the same font.  Very good job on all of that.  And the name being "boring" is a plus, as that name feels like something that could have been around for decades.  I find the choice to strike just the right tone.  My small regret is that I wish the name could have utilised that font's distinctive capital J.  Still, I'd say that the goal of maintaining continuity while correcting the existing problems has been met.

 

While, from the ideal standpoint, there would be nothing wrong with a realistic-looking Black woman on a box of any given product, in the context of this particular brand and its former name, no image of a Black woman, no matter how realistic, could escape being read as somehow demeaning.  Let us realise that the Washington football club's former helmet logo was, in itself, not insulting; indeed, that drawing of a Native man would, in other contexts, probably be perceived as dignified.  But, in connection with the team's nickname, it took on a whole different meaning.  This is related to the reason that no depiction of a Black woman could be present on the boxes belonging to this brand..


 

35 minutes ago, Lana_del_Bae said:

Some people just exist to be miserable, living their life one grievance at a time.

 

Now there's a singularly awful take. 

 

The symbolism involved in this brand is fraught.  And the conversation amongst Black observers of diverse viewpoints about what is appropriate to replace the brand's former name and imagery is one that is definitely worthwhile.

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4 hours ago, the admiral said:

The caricature has been gone since before I was born. It was just a photorealistic illustration of a black woman. 

 

Brings to my mind a song lyric from Public Enemy back in 1990, shortly after the change:

 

"For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term
Even if now she got a perm"

It is what it is.

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