Within the past few days, several well known name brands made the announcement to change their logos after potential racist stereotypes were found intertwined within the brand’s name or image. The change comes amid George Floyd’s death and the protests for racial equality that has erupted since then.
Standing in solidarity with protestors, companies such as Uncle Ben’s, Cream of Wheat, and Eskimo, (whose origin, image, and history have been long criticized), issued statements promising to correct the issue.
Leading these announcements in change was Aunt Jemimas. Within an hour #AuntJemimas was trending on twitter….for fucks sake, everybody and their mom actually went out and bought about half a dozen syrup bottles. Imagine if the world cared that much about…literally anything else. This is not to say the rebranding isn’t valid, but the recipes are staying the same guys, OUR PANCAKES ARE GOING TO BE OKAY!
Surprisingly, companies change their logos all the time. “Lays” actually takes-on a different name in every country! According to “Clear Word Translations”, this is done in order to appeal to the demographic and culture in that specific area! Knowing who your potential customers are, and catering to them is what business is all about! What the United States knows as “Lays,” the U.K know as “Walkers.”
In hindsight, their product is what sells, regardless of the name, so although people may be in opposition to the name change… who really cares as long as the product stays the same?!
Will the new name stop people from buying what was once known as the Aunt Jemima’s brand? In my belief, the company will certainly feel a push back, but for every customer they lose over the change, there’s another customer purposely now buying their product out of support. Political roots run deep in this country, and when a company announces a huge brand reformation in light of a political conflict, it becomes more than just a syrup war.
Dear Quaker Oats, just pleeeease don’t change the recipes, the world is hectic enough… we need consistent pancakes.
Nicole Kiernan is a Staff Writer at The American Genius who is chasing her dreams while pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing from Queen’s College, NY. A lover of all things literature, within her, poetry lives the loudest. As a single Mama, she spends her days running after her little human, however, seeking to redefine the world, she spends her nights curating, writing and dreaming of all things entrepreneur. Feel free to check her out on Instagram at @_Nicolekiernan!
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