Aunt Jemima to be rebranded after 131 years

The Albatross · Jun 17, 2020

I vote for "AUNTIE J's PANCAKE SYRUP" With very obvious marijuana references on the bottle/box.

Yaboosh said:
I understand why people buy pancake syrup instead of real Maple syrup. It's cheaper and you might just prefer it.

But I don't understand buying pancake mix. It's literally just flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. It takes literally no time to measure out that stuff yourself and it tends to taste better.

Some of them have no egg / no dairy mix, just add water. They're disgusting, but if you're like 22 and don't want to keep perishable food items in your fridge and you like eating foodstuffs, those "Just add water" pancake mixes will stay good for like 35 years and they will technically feed you.

MIMIC · Jun 17, 2020

Had no idea the character's is based off of something from a minstrel show.

Burn the image to the ground and start over.

LakeEarth · Jun 17, 2020

Racism is over!

PlanetSmasher · Jun 17, 2020

rude said:
The fact that it took this long. Did y'all know Disney had an Aunt Jemima restaurant as recent as 1970? SMH.

Disney? Being casually racist? Why, never.

Bakercat · Jun 17, 2020

Westbahnhof said:
Holy crap, it never occurred to me that a product people are talking fondly about could be some corn syrup stuff. Genuinely surprised tbh, but I'm pretty ignorant, I was also blown away when someone mentioned "real honey", and I had to learn about fake honey.

Yup, I buy my honey from the amish next to me and while its slightly expensive, its the best syrup i've ever had. I add a teaspoon to my green tea and its like heaven...

HylianSeven · Jun 17, 2020

I had never known the history behind the character until looking it up today.....oof....this is for the better that they change this.

I can't wait to laugh at right-wing racist shitheads setting their bottles of syrup on fire to own the libs.

Deleted member 1086 · Jun 17, 2020

Don't think I've ever had Aunt Jemima and I never really thought about it much, but now that I am it is really weird that a brand of syrup/pancake mix has had Mammy Two Shoes on it's packaging all this time.

AliceAmber · Jun 17, 2020

GOOD. I want all of this racist branding gone. Sports teams next please.

grand · Jun 17, 2020

MouldyK said:
I wonder when Uncle Ben will be changed.

Probably very soon. Mars has no reason to hesitant now that Pepsi bit the bullet first

They should be honest and rename it to Huzenlaub's Rice (yes, that's how ridiculous the name is. The rice was created by a German scientist and then Mars Inc decided to market it with the most racist name possible)

Teapot Jeffries · Jun 17, 2020

Good. That shit should have been changed years ago. (Obviously it should have never existed in the first place)

I've seen people on Twitter saying they should do Mrs. Butterworth next. Is there a history there? I always assumed she was a white old granny.

Deleted member 4367 · Jun 17, 2020

grandjedi said:
Probably very soon. Mars has no reason to hesitant now that Pepsi bit the bullet first

They should be honest and rename it to Huzenlaub's Rice (yes, that's how ridiculous the name is. The rice was created by a German scientist and then Mars Inc decided to market it with the most racist name possible)

Why is Uncle Ben the most racist name possible?

Biggersmaller · Jun 17, 2020

This specific branding has a horribly racist history and it's good to change the label, but... it's We Woke!™ corporate PR. If this decision didn't improve the bottom line it would never happen. I avoid applauding corporations.

rude said:
Is the ICONIC Annie next y'all?

The character may not be outright racist, but you KNOW there's a hint of mammy here too. I'm gonna miss her.

I think a real black woman selling chicken is not inherently racist. A confident self made millionaire black woman IRL could easily have that accent/mannerism in the south.

thebeeks said:
#TeamSheila Forever!

LOLOLOL.

Ok - this got me.

SkimpyMcChicken · Jun 17, 2020

I find it interesting they're rebranding. I suppose there's nothing else to do, but what value does the brand have outside name recognition?

Its just dyed corn syrup. Pancake mix is just flour, baking soda, and salt.

Its not like they have a unique recipe or anything that gives the brand inherent value. Its literally just the name, the stereotype, and the red / yellow design, which isn't at all unique. If they try to tie the brand back to Aunt Jemima by going with a similar name and changing the face, will people say its enough? I don't think so.

Do they replace her face with another person of color, in a less stereotypical manner? They probably shouldn't replace her with a white woman, but I'm not so sure she should be a black woman either?

HylianSeven · Jun 17, 2020

AliceAmber said:
GOOD. I want all of this racist branding gone. Sports teams next please.

I'm actually somewhat surprised the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians were never rebranded...I mean those are pretty blatant in their racism.

Canoli316 · Jun 17, 2020

The Albatross said:
SHAME ON YOU QUAKER OATS

Can we deliver all remaining bottles to all the racists and pray they get diabetes?

samoyed · Jun 17, 2020

The Albatross said:
I vote for "AUNTIE J's PANCAKE SYRUP" With very obvious marijuana references on the bottle/box.

Aunti J's Pancake Mix, flavors include Purple Kush, Blue Dream and Dutch Maroon.

lunarworks · Jun 17, 2020

Teapot Jeffries said:
I've seen people on Twitter saying they should do Mrs. Butterworth next. Is there a history there? I always assumed she was a white old granny.

I'm inclined to guess that's more of a tit for tat thing.

Solaire of Astora · Jun 17, 2020

Midgarian said:
This was still a thing? lmao. They taught us about this symbol in the BRITISH SCHOOL SYSTEM in the mid 00s for goodness sake.

In the early 90s, our school collected loose change on a Friday for the black babies.

I started primary school I. 1992, and I remember it being a thing until about primary 3.

super etrian odyssey · Jun 17, 2020

HylianSeven said:
I'm actually somewhat surprised the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians were never rebranded...I mean those are pretty blatant in their racism.

i think they removed most (lol) of the Chief Wahoo caricature in Cleveland Indians merch and branding, but they just need to start the fuck over with the name as well.

HylianSeven · Jun 17, 2020

super etrian odyssey said:
i think they removed most (lol) of the Chief Wahoo caricature in Cleveland Indians merch and branding, but they just need to start the fuck over with the name as well.

I didn't know most of the Chief Wahoo stuff got removed, but yeah, definitely needs a new name too.

I don't know much about it but given all the association of pigs with the Redskins, couldn't they just go with "Washington Hogs"?

MouldyK · Jun 17, 2020

Yaboosh said:
Why is Uncle Ben the most racist name possible?

Wikipedia says:

"Uncle" was a common appellation used in the Southern United States to refer to older male black slaves or servants.

Uncle Ben, Board Chairman (Published 2007)

The racially charged symbol for Uncle Ben’s rice products is taking center stage in a new campaign that makes him chairman of the company.

www.nytimes.com

shem · Jun 17, 2020

DrFunk said:
It begins:

"She's one of the reasons I learned not to be a racist"

grand · Jun 17, 2020

Yaboosh said:
Why is Uncle Ben the most racist name possible?

Uncle was a common term for older slaves. The entire marketing gimmick was supposed to remind buyers of slaves working on rice plantations in Georgia or South Carolina. That way you know it's good because Uncle Ben spent his youth as a slave and therefore intimately knows the best rice for his own product.

There's not a part of Uncle Ben that isn't racist as hell.

mreddie · Jun 17, 2020

It took this long huh?

Of course, white people are saying PC GONE TOO FAR

Deleted member 4367 · Jun 17, 2020

grandjedi said:
Uncle was a common term for older slaves. The entire marketing gimmick was supposed to remind buyers of slaves working on rice plantations in Georgia or South Carolina. That way you know it's good because Uncle Ben spent his youth as a slave and therefore intimately knows the best rice for his own product.

There's not a part of Uncle Ben that isn't racist as hell.

Gotcha.

The Albatross · Jun 17, 2020

samoyed said:
Aunti J's Pancake Mix, flavors include Purple Kush, Blue Dream and Dutch Maroon.

That reminds me, I bought a new weed pen cartridge and asked the weed salesman at the shop for his recommendation, and he's like "Oh, I think you'd like the Kosher Kush," and I couldn't help but blurt out... "what makes it kosher..?" And he just looked at me like, "I dunno I don't name these things."

hikarutilmitt · Jun 17, 2020

GoemonTheNinja said:
Last time I went to Texas, I went to a restaurant before going to the airport to go back home and thought I'd try the famous pancakes. Like stacks like in the movies. So they arrived, I was extremely happy. Then I realized they gave me corn syrup. It's a new normal even here in Canada, some cheap ass restaurants do that. But when you ask for maple syrup they bring it to you. My waitress argued that it was maple syrup :(

If it's not actual, real maple syrup (which I don't care much for anyway) I want sugar free Log Cabin. Shit is goooood.

Mivey said:
So I looked this brand up on Wikipedia, since this was the first time I heard about them and ...

this fucking racist caricature served as the inspiration for this branding? No one in the 131 years between then thought that maybe they should retire the name and never speak about it again?

Sheesh, America. TIL that even a fucking syrup bottle can be monstrously racist in the US.

It's a freaking weird thing about brand recognition, because it makes it harder to change under normal circumstances. Changing iconography is already hard enough without the name being all over the damned place with huge fonts that are impossible to miss, but changing the name itself is historically difficult without losing market share from confusion (even if you put a big old "Formerly some racist thing!" branding on it. Doesn't excuse it but it's why it happens even in the best of cases.

DevilMayGuy · Jun 17, 2020

MouldyK said:
Wikipedia says:

Uncle Ben, Board Chairman (Published 2007)

The racially charged symbol for Uncle Ben’s rice products is taking center stage in a new campaign that makes him chairman of the company.

www.nytimes.com

Yep Uncle Ben is every bit as offensive as Aunt Jemima, with perhaps a slightly less offensive caricature attached (I haven't dug around for old Uncle Ben drawings, so maybe they used to be terrible too)

Garlador · Jun 17, 2020

We still have Mrs. Butterworth.

... We DO stiill have Mrs. Butterworth, right?

Nooblet · Jun 17, 2020

DevilMayGuy said:
Yep Uncle Ben is every bit as offensive as Aunt Jemima, with perhaps a slightly less offensive caricature attached (I haven't dug around for old Uncle Ben drawings, so maybe they used to be terrible too)

Well they used the same picture.
Apparently it was a picture of a real person called Frank Brown.

The problem is..the name. Uncle in Southern US was historically associated with older black male slaves or servants and I'm pretty sure that him being the male counter part of mammy (i.e. inviting, kind, while being subservient) was the reason why the name was chosen.

msdstc · Jun 17, 2020

I've been waiting for this to happen for a while. I would assume uncle ben and mrs. buttersworth are next. Those pictures of disneyland are fucking vile, but I'm not surprised.

All of this being said you guys are craaaaazy if you think all these syrups taste the same. Log cabin is the best. It's kinda like coke vs. pepsi. Aunt Jemima's sugar free is really good too.

DevilMayGuy · Jun 17, 2020

msdstc said:
I've been waiting for this to happen for a while. I would assume uncle ben and mrs. buttersworth are next. Those pictures of disneyland are fucking vile, but I'm not surprised.

All of this being said you guys are craaaaazy if you think all these syrups taste the same. Log cabin is the best. It's kinda like coke vs. pepsi. Aunt Jemima's sugar free is really good too.

+1 for AJ sugar free, it's a keto godsend when I want candied bacon. That syrup, ground black pepper, red pepper flakes? Damn

CrankyJay · Jun 17, 2020

Already have a "This is ridiculous" style post for this news on FB .... people are legit getting angry their favorite corn syrup is getting re-branded when we live in Maple syrup country.

msdstc · Jun 17, 2020

DevilMayGuy said:
+1 for AJ sugar free, it's a keto godsend when I want candied bacon. That syrup, ground black pepper, red pepper flakes? Damn

It honestly tastes better than full sugar stuff sometimes... I don't know what it is.

8byte · Jun 17, 2020

Been championing this for years. So glad it's finally happening. Shit was offensive as hell. Uncle Ben next please.

rashbeep · Jun 17, 2020

DrFunk said:
It begins:

lmao

CatAssTrophy · Jun 17, 2020

hopefully they don't try to pull the corporate "woke" neo-liberal move of rebranding her like a girlboss like in the Onion image. that would be insufferable. hopefully they just remove her and rebrand the products in a more general sense.

im a Mrs. Butterworths person, but wouldn't pass up buying a bottle from them if they nail the rebranding.

Ignatz Mouse · Jun 17, 2020

Yaboosh said:
I understand why people buy pancake syrup instead of real Maple syrup. It's cheaper and you might just prefer it.

But I don't understand buying pancake mix. It's literally just flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. It takes literally no time to measure out that stuff yourself and it tends to taste better.

People buy bottles of water.

Convenience Uber Alles.

Deleted member 5359 · Jun 17, 2020

The conservative meltdowns over maple syrup are sweet

Laserdisk · Jun 17, 2020

rashbeep said:
lmao

11/10

samoyed · Jun 17, 2020

shem said:
"She's one of the reasons I learned not to be a racist"

Lmao

jph139 · Jun 17, 2020

Mivey said:
this fucking racist caricature served as the inspiration for this branding? No one in the 131 years between then thought that maybe they should retire the name and never speak about it again?

Sheesh, America. TIL that even a fucking syrup bottle can be monstrously racist in the US.

Blackface as a brand is a huge historical problem. The biggest toothpaste brand in Asia is Darlie, formerly known as Darkie, and still features a disguised Al Jolson parody on the box.

Necromanti · Jun 17, 2020

I knew she was based on mammy caricatures, but I didn't know she was based on a literal minstrel show character.

Looking at some other breakfast-associated food brands, it seems like Cream of Wheat still retains its racist iconography virtually unchanged.

Barrel_Roll · Jun 17, 2020

BassForever said:
Can't wait to see lots of "ruined childhood" post by Karens everywhere that they can't buy products with racist caricatures anymore.

What other products exist out there that desperately need a rebrand? Obviously in sports the Cleverland Indians and the Washington football team need a name change badly.

Native Americans < Black Americans. I was watching Peter Pan on D+ the other day and they kept Why is the Red Man Red, while adding a disclaimer on the landing page "It May contain outdated cultural depictions." But Disney continues to keep Song of the South buried deep in the vault.

CDX · Jun 17, 2020

Teapot Jeffries said:
I've seen people on Twitter saying they should do Mrs. Butterworth next. Is there a history there? I always assumed she was a white old granny.

https://www.columbiatribune.com/article/20120504/News/305049696

This Columbia Tribune news article written by Janese Silvey says:

"Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen -- best known for playing the young mammy "Prissy" in "Gone with the Wind" -- was the black actress who modeled for the original Mrs. Butterworth syrup bottle."

Butterfly McQueen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

TheJollyCorner · Jun 17, 2020

CatAssTrophy said:
hopefully they don't try to pull the corporate "woke" neo-liberal move of rebranding her like a girlboss like in the Onion image. that would be insufferable. hopefully they just remove her and rebrand the products in a more general sense.

im a Mrs. Butterworths person, but wouldn't pass up buying a bottle from them if they nail the rebranding.

Rebranded Aunt Jemima! "The cool aunt that knows all the hip-hop and can dance really well!" - some old white exec

CatAssTrophy · Jun 17, 2020

TheJollyCorner said:
Rebranded Aunt Jemima! "The cool aunt that knows all the hip-hop and can dance really well!" - some old white exec

"wearing a #resist shirt too!"

Bacon · Jun 17, 2020

People on my Facebook feed already flipping their shit over this. Gotta love people acting like a corn syrup mascot was the most important thing in the world to them.

Commedieu · Jun 17, 2020

rashbeep said:
lmao

lol

neon/drifter · Jun 17, 2020

rude said:
The fact that it took this long. Did y'all know Disney had an Aunt Jemima restaurant as recent as 1970? SMH.

*Throws up in my own mouth* holy FUCK

Aunt Jemima to be rebranded after 131 years

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