The Aunt Jemima brand, which has graced syrup and other products for more than 130 years, is being retired.
Chicago-based Quaker Oats Co., a unit of PepsiCo, announced Wednesday that it will first remove the image from its packaging, with plans to change the name at a later date. The company said it made the decision as it took a “hard look” at the brands in its portfolio.
“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer, Quaker Foods North America, said in a news release. “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.”
The death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and the protests and unrest that followed has caused corporate America to take a look at itself and its workforces.
Quaker Oats’ announcement comes a day after PepsiCo announced a more than $400 million set of initiatives to improve black communities and black representation at the company during the next five years.
(AP)
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17 Responses
What about UIncle Ben’s rice?
I once heard that in the early days of slavery and thereafter, black women were key members of white households, including helping to raise all the children. Many of these young children thought that these women were their mothers and would cry out “Mama”, to which these women would respond, ” I ain’t your Mama”. To help the children adjust and maintain the integrity of the family, these ladies were called “Aunt Jemima”. I don’t know if this story is true, but it suggests the context of the name was born in the period of slavery.
Crazy
what’ s next renaming Black eyed Peas?
They could replace it with a picture of Iyyov’s daughter…
I did not grow up Frum, Shomer Shabbas.
In NYC, Nassau, Long Island public elementary we were all learned together in the same classes, White, Black, Asian etc. Yes I knew I was Jewish and that made me different and that is where it ended. I went to the synagogue and played with my Jewish friends which some which were not so nice to me but that is childhood.
I did have a Black friend, Wanda in my class that would come over and play. I liked her very much. She was a very friendly and a happy girl without the “airs” of some of my fellow Jewish girls though not all.
Aunt Jemma Pancakes and Syrup was a staple in everyone home.
IThey had a great TV commercial that I remember and can sing to this day. Food memories.
I never once as a child thought Aunt Jemima was no different to me then my grandmother. Her face shine with a beautiful big smile. She was an older lady that looked kinds regal and to me and most likely ran a efficient household and every meal where every meal was a feast. a feast.
I did not see a black woman and I surely did not see a slave.!
I feel very disappointed at the manufacturing company for yielding until pressure at this time.
Until now that it was pointed out I now see she is Black.
This shows me that society and for many years the Blacks themselves have pointed out their discrimination and stuck it squarly in my face.
This iconic woman face had no reference to me me of a Black Woman that was a slave or downtrodden.
BLM and other groups are so misguided and self absorbed.
They do not see past the color of a person’s skin.
Yes I do think the killing of George Floyd was a atrocity and I can’t believe that all the people watching and even videoing let that happen.
But because of this man bring treated like a “dog” to say now now we have to destroy our past everything bad and everything that was good and wholesome.
Throwing the baby out with the bath water.
I am not a Black Afro American so I cannot stand in their shoes. Yes they are profiled by police more than Whites and the men treated different imost likely a majority receive unfir bullying by some of the police force. This is what has to change. This is unjustice!
The sing in the radio and TV is as clear as a bell and makes me feel good inside.. Here goes; “Aunt Jemima pancakes and her syprup is like the spring without the fall. There is nothing worse in this universe. That’s no Aunt Jemima at All”.
Come on BLM and other groups you are ruining it for yourself. I never felt this my while life, but after the rioting and looting and now this, I am frightened when I see a Black person and I now do not trust them.
Now as an adult I have learned that are differences are what makes us uniquely beautiful.
To rid the world of Aunt Jemima’s smiling face is taking away one of the best iconic figures of the past, a beautiful older Black woman cooking up a “storm” in the kitchen.
Most likely this convoluted thinking is mixed with feminist ideologies and not seeing Aunt Jemima as a outstanding Grandmother, Mother and Wife who puts her family first
Living in NYC , thanks to the movement and all their actions now after many years fighting societal prejudice these past weeks gave me reason to do the opposite. I now am sterotyping
and feeling anger towards them.
Quaker Oats is a private company. Why does anyone care what they call their pancake mix. If you don’t like the name, don’t buy it.
To lowerour: black-eyed peas is a generic terms. Anyone can call it anything, but if you want to be understood, I suggest you call black-eyed peas, well, black-eyed peas.
maybe a good time for the company because i recall that the descendants of Aunt Jemima were suing the company awhile ago for not giving money to their ancestor for using her picture. I didnt see that the case had closure, so could be they wanted to shake this off the box.
to “prayer” I couldn’t have said it any better. Aunt Jemima is not racist at all
Sending another version of my comment abive. There were so many typos and spelling errors
In NYC, Nassau, Long Island public elementary we all learned together in the same classes, White, Black, Asian etc. Yes I knew I was Jewish and that made me different and that is where it ended.
I did have a Black friend, Wanda in my class that would come over and play. I liked her very much. She was a very friendly and a happy girl.
Aunt Jemma Pancakes and Syrup was a staple in everyone home. Quacker Foods had a great TV commercial for their product that I remember and can sing to this day.
I never once as a child thought Aunt Jemima was different then my own grandmother. Her face shone with a beautiful big smile. She was an older lady that looked kinds regal and to me and most likely ran a efficient household where every meal was a feast.
I did not see a black woman and I surely did not see a slave.!
I feel very disappointed at the manufacturing company for yielding under pressure at this time.
Until it was pointed now by this unwise act I did not see Aunt Jemima as just a Black woman.
This shows me that society and for many years the Blacks themselves have pointed out their discrimination and stuck it squarely in my face.
This iconic women”s face had no reference to me me of a Black Woman that was a slave or downtrodden.
BLM and other groups are so misguided and self absorbed.
They do not see past the color of a person’s skin.
Yes I do think the killing of George Floyd was a atrocity and I can’t believe that all the people watching and even videoing let that happen.
But because of this particular man being treated in a disgusting manner, now we have to destroy our past everything bad and everything that was good and wholesome?
Throwing the baby out with the bath water?
I am not a Black Afro American so I cannot stand in their shoes. Yes they are profiled by police more than Whites and the men treated different i and without the statistics it might even be a majority who are unfairly bullied by some of the police force. This is what has to change. This is unjustice!
The song on the radio and TV is as clear as a bell and makes me feel good inside.. Here goes; “Aunt Jemima pancakes and her syrup is like the spring without the fall. There is nothing worse in this universe. That’s no Aunt Jemima at All”.
Come on BLM and other groups you are ruining it for yourself. I never felt this my while life, but after the rioting and looting and now this, I am frightened when I see a Black person and I now do not trust them.
Now as an adult I have learned that our differences are what makes us uniquely beautiful.
To rid the world of Aunt Jemima’s smiling face is taking away one of the best iconic figures of the past, a beautiful older Black woman cooking up a “storm” in the kitchen.
Most likely this convoluted thinking is mixed with feminist ideologies and not seeing Aunt Jemima as a outstanding Grandmother, Mother and Wife who puts her family first
Living in NYC , thanks to the BLM movement and all the other grouos now after many years fighting societal prejudice these past weeks gave me reason to feel the opposite. I now am sterotyping
and feeling anger towards them.
To BLM and all the other groups, I agree Police policy must change but there are many different races, religions and genders that suffer frim intolerance. Stop making this only about you. Stop the slave mentality within you. I will respect you as another human being who like the rest of us for many different reasons are discrimated against. Make good choices as you grow older and hopefully wiser. Life is not easy. Look for goodness. Follow the enlightened!
Prayer, well said. You described it beautifully. The world was a better place back then. Today it’s all climate change, abortions, LGBTQ, open borders. Let just hope that the new pancake product still remains OU-D for years to come
Next they’re going to rename the entire company, since “Quaker” is also the name of a religious group that may feel “triggered”.
Why is this any worse than blotting out faces from ads because they are women?
To Huju:
“Black eyed peas” is as generic a term as “mankind” ” manual labor” and so many other terms that are frowned upon today.
Prayer, you are so right. I also never would have thought of Aunt Jemima as derogatory. What about Betty Crocker?! She also symbolizes a down-to-earth motherly homemaker. Is that something to be ashamed of?! Maybe she should also be removed. This has gotten so out of control that it’s mind-boggling. All these ridiculous changes are just causing more resentment, in my opinion. And if people see videos of blacks looting gun stores, they are just giving whites more reason to be afraid of them and to stereotype them. I fear for the future of our beautiful country. Whoever doesn’t like it here should leave!
they should take out all the pictures of all the dollar bills too in that case, since they are all white, and most of them owned slaves, like george washington, in fact the white house was built by slaves originally, so maybe they will take that down too, and anyway why is it called the “the White House” thats racist, it means white and not black, we can go forever with this stupid logic, bottom line is that if you make a big deal out of nothing then you will end up doing stupid things that make absouletely no sense. how about doing real things like getting criminals off the street instead of defunding the cops, how about backing up the cops instead of defunding them, don you think people will feel safer on the streets, how about taking away the stupid bail reform law that frees the criminals. if the government doesnt shape up this place will turn upside down very fast.
To Allan: I hear that the name of Uncle Ben’s rice will remain, but the picture on the box will be replaced by a headshot of a Chasidic Jew.