Uncle Ben's, Mrs. Butterworth's join Aunt Jemima in brand review

Quaker Oats is retiring the 131-year-old Aunt Jemima brand, saying the company recognizes the character's origins are "based on a racial stereotype."

Just hours later, Uncle Ben's rice and Mrs. Butterworth's syrup makers announced they would be launching a brand and packaging review in response to concerns about racial stereotyping.

Quaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said it's overhauled pancake mix and syrup would hit shelves by the fourth quarter of 2020. The company will announce the new name at a later date.

"We recognize Aunt Jemima's origins are based on a racial stereotype," said Kristin Kroepfl of Quaker Foods North America. "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 Aunt Jemima image has evolved over the years to meet socially acceptable standards of the times, but the brand could not shake its history of racial stereotypes and connections to slavery. By 1989, Aunt Jemima had lost weight, abandoned her kerchief and looked more like a typical modern housewife. But the image and brand tweaks over the years were apparently not enough.

"The reputation of that brand, now more than 130 years old, was built on a racial and cultural stereotype that is widely regarded as offensive," said James O'Rourke, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. "Brand managers have been aware of that for years and have tried, largely through incremental updates to the character's image on the packaging, to modernize how she is seen. The headscarf is gone, they've added a lace collar, pearl earrings. But the effect, because of the name, is the same."

PepsiCo also announced a five-year, $400 million initiative "to lift up black communities and increase black representation at PepsiCo."

Caroline Sherman, a spokeswoman for Mars, which owns Uncle Ben's, said the company was listening to the voices of consumers, especially in the black community, and recognized that now was the right time to evolve the brand, including its visual identity.

Similarly, Conagra announced Wednesday that it would conduct a review of its Mrs. Butterworth's syrup brand, including its packaging. Mrs. Butterworth's bottles are shaped like a matronly woman, which the company said was "intended to evoke the images of a loving grandmother." Critics have long claimed that the bottle's design is rooted in the "mammy" stereotype.

"We stand in solidarity with our Black and Brown communities and we can see that our packaging may be interpreted in a way that is wholly inconsistent with our values," the company said in a press release.

In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, activists and consumers have demanded companies take a stand against racial injustice or lose their business. The singer Kirby posted a TikTok video called "How to Make a Non Racist Breakfast" explaining some of the backstory of the Aunt Jemima brand. That video went viral.

Land O'Lakes announced earlier this year that it would no longer use the Native American woman who had graced its packages of butter, cheese and other products since the late 1920s.