Quaker Oats said Tuesday that its aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup will be named Pearl Milling Company. Aunt Jemima products will still be on sale until June, when the packaging will officially change.
Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo Inc., announced last June that it would retire the Aunt Jemima brand, saying the character’s origins are ‘based on a racial stereotype’. The smiling Aunt Jemima logo was inspired by the 19th-century “mammy” minstrel character, a black woman who is content to serve her white masters. A former slave, Nancy Green, became the first face of the pancake products in 1890.
Quaker Oats bought the Aunt Jemima brand in 1925 and updated the logo over the years in an effort to remove the negative stereotypes. But in the cultural reckoning that followed last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, Quaker decided to change the name completely. Other brands, such as Uncle Ben’s rice, followed.
Quaker said Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in St. Louis. Joseph, Missouri, founded and was the origin of the self-rising pancake mix. While the brand will be new on store shelves, the boxes and bottles of syrup will still feature Aunt Jemima’s famous red packaging.
Quaker said he wants to seek input from customers, employees and external cultural experts as it develops the new brand.
Quaker said he also donates $ 1 million to groups that empower black women and girls as part of the implementation of Pearl Milling Company.
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