After Black Lives Matter oracles studied the patterns of fried chicken bones cast into the dirt, and stared deeply into the forms of crack incense smoke, they concluded that images of cheerful older black people serving you food is racist.
CNN:
Quaker Oats is retiring the more than 130-year-old Aunt Jemima brand and logo, acknowledging its origins are based on a racial stereotype.
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Uncle Ben’s owner Mars also said Wednesday that “now is the right time to evolve the Uncle Ben’s brand, including its visual brand identity, which we will do,” adding that “we don’t yet know what the exact changes and timing will be, but we are evaluating all possibilities.”
And Conagra, which makes Mrs. Butterworth’s, said it will conduct a complete brand and packaging review on the syrup brand. Conagra noted it “can see that our packaging may be interpreted in a way that is wholly inconsistent with our values.”
There have been repeated calls for Aunt Jemima to change its logo. In a 2015 opinion piece published in The New York Times, Cornell University professor Riché Richardson said the logo is “very much linked to Southern racism.”
In other words, no one asked for this, except for the New York Times. Certainly, no black people wanted this. Black people want to be served food by cheerful older black people more than anyone else.
Richardson said the Aunt Jemima logo is based on a “‘mammy,’ a devoted and submissive servant who eagerly nurtured the children of her white master and mistress while neglecting her own.” A statue of a slave mammy stereotype was approved by the US Senate in 1923, but it was never built.
The company also ran racist ads for several decades, with actresses personifying the mammy stereotype. It evolved the logo over the years, and even hired singer Gladys Knight as a spokeswoman in the 1990s. Today, Aunt Jemima describes itself as brand that stands for “warmth, nourishment and trust — qualities you’ll find in loving moms from diverse backgrounds who want the very best for their families.”
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Pepsi (PEP) hasn’t yet revealed a new logo or brand name for the breakfast items. That will debut in the fall. The Aunt Jemima brand was purchased by Quaker Oats in 1926. PepsiCo bought Quaker Oats in 2001.
Aunt Jemima brand will donate $5 million over the next five years “create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community.” Earlier this week, Pepsi announced a $400 million set of initiatives to support the black community.
So, they are telling us that this is racist, because it reminds everyone of a time when white southerners affectionately called their black slaves “aunt” and “uncle” and had them engaged in cooking and looking after children while dressed up nicely.
As opposed to now, where the men run around shooting each other in jungle tribe drug wars, and the women are addicted to drugs and infected with herpes, while each of their kids has a different jungle warrior father and none of them are around.
Well, I guess if they want to live that way, that’s their business.
I remember, as a child, being phased by the loud, unpleasant behavior of blacks in the public schools, and seeing these brands in the supermarket. It was the first time in my life that I seriously thought that blacks and whites could get along well together and be mutually beneficial in a greater system.
So, I can see why they would have to get rid of that.