More PC madness, Quaker Oats to remove the Aunt Jemima image and change the name.
Mrs Butterworth better watch out.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/aunt-jemima-remove-image-packaging-110446245.htmlAunt Jemima to remove image from packaging and rename brand
[TODAY]
Samantha Kubota and Scott Stump
,TODAY•June 17, 2020
The breakfast brand Aunt Jemima is removing its logo and will be renamed, amid public outcry that the branding perpetuated a racist stereotype, its parent company said Wednesday.
Quaker Oats said in a statement that the longtime brand will remove the controversial image of Aunt Jemima from its line of maple syrups, pancake mixes and other foods starting at the end of 2020, and the name change will happen at a later date.
“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype," Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a statement to NBC News. "While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes are not enough.”
Dr. Riché Richardson, an associate professor of African American literature in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, has been calling for the change since she wrote a 2015 editorial for The New York Times titled "Can We Please, Finally, Get Rid of 'Aunt Jemima?'"
"It's an image that hearkens back to the antebellum plantation," Richardson told Sheinelle Jones on TODAY Wednesday. "Aunt Jemima is that kind of stereotype that is premised on this idea of Black inferiority and otherness.
"It is urgent to expunge public spaces of a lot of these symbols that for some people are triggering and represent terror and abuse."
Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, owns the Aunt Jemima brand, which has been around for more than 130 years. The logo features an image of a smiling Black woman that has been criticized for years for depicting a racist stereotype dating back to slavery. The company has made changes to soften the image over the years, including removing the character's kerchief.
“We acknowledge the brand has not progressed enough to appropriately reflect the confidence, warmth and dignity that we would like it to stand for today,” Kroepfl said. “We are starting by removing the image and changing the name. We will continue the conversation by gathering diverse perspectives from both our organization and the Black community to further evolve the brand and make it one everyone can be proud to have in their pantry.”
Pepsi also said the Aunt Jemima brand will donate $5 million to create "meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community."
The rebrand comes after “Aunt Jemima” became a trending topic on Twitter Tuesday, with many users criticizing the company for maintaining the name and logo for so long.
