The alterations at that time were for the same reasons that the brand is now being retired. The very name invokes images of racist stereotypes dating back to the post-Civil War 19th century.
Pepsi/Quaker announced earlier this morning that the brand was being retired, and that their line of pancake mixes and syrups was being rebranded, Quaker had licensed the frozen breakfast products, including waffles & French toast, to Pinnacle Foods a number of years back, and so far, there's no word as to whether or not the rebranding extends to the frozen foods.
As we were going to press, M & M-Mars, which acquired Uncle Ben's rice a few years back, announced they were also making some changes. ConAgra, which acquired Mrs. Butterworth's syrup from Pinnacle, which in turn had bought it from Quaker, hasn't yet announced what they'll do with the brand.
Which takes us back to how Quaker will rebrand Aunt Jemima. To me, that's easy. Simply make it Quaker Pancake Mix, and sub the image of William Penn for Aunt Jemima, which would allow the pancake mix to be marketed alongside Quaker oatmeal.
The corporate changes are just the latest in the wake of protests over racial inequalities and police brutality, which has nothing to do with the food brands, mind, over the last couple of weeks.
6 comments:
As long as I can still buy their brand of frozen French toast, I'm cool with this (I don't always feel like making French toast from scratch).
I hear ya, man.
Racism sucks eggs.
It affects us all, Steven.
The reason Quaker Oats did this was becasue they wanted to make progress toward racial equality. This took place after the George Floyd fiasco. So you can say this is basically Derek Chauvin's fault this happened since Derek Chauvin was the one who killed George Floyd.
It's not one man's fault. This was a corporate decision.
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