Just A Little History About Aunt Jemima So You Can Understand

After 130 years PepsiCo, the parent company of The Quaker Oats Company, is retiring the brand and logo that is Aunt Jemima. And in today's social climate in the wake of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and honestly what took it so long, I'd say it's been about time.

"As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a statement. “We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype." (ABC News Go)

I get it. Anyone should. But the response and backlash on social media has been swift and so very tone deaf.

I don't know a single black person bothered by aunt Jemima. Leave it as is!

 

I cannot believe that you are doing this. Why does everything have to come to this. This beautiful sweet face has been so wonderful and caring to look at it. Never did I see anything racial! I won’t touch any product that you change.

 

Political correctness has now officially turned into political madness.

 

Oh please! This is getting ridiculous.

Folks, peep the video up top.

Also, if you would just Google or check Wikipedia.

Aunt Jemima originally came from a minstrel show as one of their pantheon of stereotypical Black characters. The character appears to have been a Reconstruction era addition to that cast. (Wikipedia)

 

From this point on, marketing materials for the line of products centered around the stereotypical mammy archetype, including the Aunt Jemima marketing slogan first used at the World Fair: "I's in Town, Honey". (Wikipedia)

Seriously, Quaker first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April 1937. They have tried to update the image and just fully committed to changing it now. 83 years later they are now finally, really doing something about it?

Take a look at some of the advertising from back in the day.

And as for this whole, I don't know anyone upset about it or my black friends don't have a problem with it...

There have been calls throughout the years to change the name of Aunt Jemima products, including a 2015 New York Times editorial entitled, "Can We Please, Finally, Get Rid of ‘Aunt Jemima’?"  (ABC News Go)