As worldwide protests against racism and police brutality spreads across the globe, attention
has turned to how stereotypical images of people of color are an inherent facet of mainstream
culture, right down to our breakfast options.
Prompted by this moment of national reckoning, companies are finally being forced to change
brands, mascots, and logos that have long been criticized as racist.
For this list, All Things Top 5 looks at the top 5 brands that didn’t age well and that
are still around today.
With the current social climate changing, they might not be around for long.
Number 5 Aunt Jemima.
Quaker Oats announced that it will retire its Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake
mix, saying that the company recognizes that “Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a
racial stereotype.”
In the late 1800s, the Missouri newspaper editor and noted white dude, Chris L. Rutt,
decided to name his brand of self-rising flour after “Old Aunt Jemima,” a song performed
by minstrel actors.
Minstrels are white actors in blackface who mocked and derided black people while acting
like buffoons.
A former slave named Nancy Green was hired to portray Aunt Jemima as a “mammy,” a
racist caricature that depicted female slaves as smiling happy homemakers for white families.
In 1914, the company was renamed “The Aunt Jemima Mills Company” due to Nancy Green’s
popularity.
Her likeness was still reduced to a racist caricature.
The vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said the company
has worked to “update” the brand over the years to be “appropriate and respectful,”
but it realized the changes were insufficient.
Over 130 years, Aunt Jemima’s image was altered to reflect the changing times.
Her last makeover was in 1989, when her headband was removed, which was seen as perpetuating
the plantation myth, and pearl earrings were added.
Despite the cosmetic changes, Aunt Jemima was still representative of a very specific
and narrow way of seeing black women.
Number 4 Uncle Ben’s.
Uncle Ben’s rice and not to be confused with Peter Parker’s perpetually assassinated
uncle from the Spider-Man movies, is the latest in a line of brands that are under fire.
Uncle Ben’s parent company, Mars, announced that it will be “evolving” the Uncle Ben’s
brand.
Uncle Ben was first introduced in 1946 as the Black face of a white company.
Dressed in a bow tie and addressed as “uncle,” the character evoked a servant.
According to the company’s website, the name “Uncle Ben” is that of a Black Texan
rice farmer and the image is of a Black Chicago chef and waiter named Frank Brown.
Originally the rice was called “Uncle Ben’s Plantation Rice,” and has a “contentious
history” since White Southerners once used ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ as honorifics for
older blacks because they refused to say “Mr.” and “Mrs.”, since those titles were only
used for their white peers.
In 2007, after more than six decades of servitude, Mars reinvented Uncle Ben by dropping “Uncle”
and “promoting” him to a corporate CEO.
On the brand’s website, Ben became portrayed as a successful businessman with a well-appointed
office, a busy schedule, and “grains of wisdom” to share.
Apparently, the only way a colored person could become CEO of Mars is if he’s a fictitious
character.
Number 3 Cream of Wheat.
The box for Cream of Wheat, which began in 1893, originally featured a racist caricature
of Black Americans with a chef named Rastus, a slow-witted former slave who spoke in broken
English.
Rastus was a pejorative and generic name for a Black man that appeared in newspapers and
magazines as a racist joke.
While Cream of Wheat has stated that the current chef image is based on a photo of a chef working
in a Chicago restaurant, the company never bothered to record the man’s name.
However, Frank L. White, a chef from Michigan, is said to have told friends and neighbors
that he was the model for the Cream of Wheat chef.
When White died in 1935, the local newspaper described him as someone who had posed for
an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food.
White is currently buried in an unmarked grave and is referenced as “unmarked colored grave”
according to city records.
Changing the image may have toned down the overt racism Rastus invoked, but the subtext
behind the imagery remained the same.
Number 2 Eskimo Pie.
Dreyer’s, the company behind the nearly 100-year-old chocolate covered ice cream bar,
said it was time to rename their culturally insensitive brand.
America’s first chocolate-covered ice cream bar, was introduced in 1921 and today still
features an “Eskimo” character on the box.
Though Eskimo Pies are a delicious ice-cream snack, the name is steeped in controversy.
According to the Alaska Native Language Center, while the word “Eskimo” is commonly used
in Alaska to refer to Inuit and Yupik people, it’s considered derogatory and was said
to mean “eater of raw meat,” by non-Native colonizers who settled in the Arctic, implying
these people are barbaric and violent.
While some people call themselves Eskimos, it's a largely out-of-date term for non-Eskimos
to use, with "Inuit" being the preferred term by many, one with less of a tie to the violent
colonial past.
A spokesperson for Dreyer's ice cream said in a statement that the company has "been
reviewing our Eskimo Pie business for some time and will be changing the brand name and
marketing."
The company said it planned to have a new name by the end of the year and would discontinue
the character of the Eskimo.
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Number 1 Darkie Toothpaste.
Darlie, formally known as Darkie, a racial term for African Americans, is one of the
leading toothpaste brands in China and has its roots deeply embedded in blackface.
The brand, partially owned by Colgate-Palmolive, now says it is working with their partner
to review and further evolve all aspects of the brand, including the brand name.
The name was changed from Darkie to Darlie in 1989 to reflect public opinion in the West.
The original logo was a man in Blackface wearing a top hat and tuxedo while showing off his
shiny white teeth with a big smile.
The original name and logo was conceived in the 1920s, when the then CEO visited the United
States and saw Al Jolson, a White actor who performed in blackface in the film “The
Jazz Singer”.
The CEO thought Al Jolson’s wide smile and bright teeth would make an excellent toothpaste
logo.
Despite all the changes, Darlie’s Chinese name continues to translate as “Black Person
Toothpaste” to this day.
Colgate-Palmolive has been working for 35 years to evolve the brand, including substantial
changes to the name, logo, and packaging.
The toothpaste brand currently has a new logo to make the character more racially ambiguous.
Do you agree or disagree with our list?
Do you find these brands racist or an overreaction by the PC culture?
Comment below and watch our other videos and subscribe to All Things Top 5!