Breakfast brand Aunt Jemima will be named Pearl Milling Company, it was announced on Tuesday after the 130-year-old maple syrup mascot was scrutinized last year over his ties to slavery.
Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo that owns the brand, unveiled the new name and logo that he said would appear on store shelves in June.
“While the name on the box has changed, the delicious tasting products – the ‘pearl’ in the famous red box – remain the same, with the aim of creating joyful breakfast moments for everyone,” the company said on its website.
Last June, Quaker Oats announced Aunt Jemima’s future retirement, saying the character’s origins are ‘based on a racial stereotype’.
The logo was originally inspired by the 19th-century ‘mammy’ minstrel character, a black woman who was content to serve her white masters.
A former slave, Nancy Green, became the first face of the pancake products in 1890.
The move to pull off the brand came after the company suffered severe setbacks after nationwide protests by Black Lives Matter over the killings of police on George Floyd and several other black Americans.
With Post threads