Mars Inc. Will ‘Evolve Uncle Ben’s Brand and Visual Identity’ to Help End ‘Racial Injustices’
Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth will likely change soon.
Mars Inc. decided to “evolve” it’s Uncle Ben’s rice brand after Quaker Oats announced changes to Aunt Jemima:
As a global brand, we know we have a responsibility to help put an end to racial injustices. One way we can do this is to evolve the Uncle Ben’s brand and visual identity, which we will do. We’re listening to the voices of consumers, especially in the Black community, and to our Associates worldwide. We don’t yet know what the exact changes or timing will be, but we are evaluating all possibilities.
Mars Inc. also promised to instill changes to its company like adding “diversity across out
As a global brand, we know we have a responsibility to help put an end to racial injustices. One way we can do this is…
Posted by Uncle Ben’s U.S.A. on Wednesday, June 17, 2020
We recognize the urgency and responsibility we have to help drive the changes we want to see for racial equity. These commitments are the first steps on our journey. https://t.co/M7PRpkAmN6 pic.twitter.com/TlS1OgZ3Y2
— Mars, Incorporated (@MarsGlobal) June 17, 2020
Converted Brand Rice co-founders Erich Huzenlaub and Gordon Harwell founded Uncle’s Bens. The men chose the name Uncle Ben’s after “a famed Texas farmer, referred to as Uncle Ben, known for his rice.”
The modeled the black man on the label “after Frank Brown, a waiter at the Chicago restaurant where Harwell had the idea, according to the website.”
People have complained about Uncle Ben’s in the past:
Critics have pointed out the problematic use of a Black man to be the face of a white company, noting that Black men were often referred to as “boy” or “uncle” to avoid calling them “Mr.” during the country’s Jim Crow era.
Uncle Ben’s had a re-branding in 2007, when Mars portrayed the “Uncle Ben” character as a businessman, according to The New York Times.
The companies that own Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth have begun to review changes to those items.
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Comments
So Aunt Jemima’s and Uncle Ben’s lives don’t matter? Odd. Doubly odd since they’re both positive black role models.
Leftist Executives announced today that the brands will be renamed Uncle Adolph’s Rice and Aunt Adolpha’s Pancake Mix.
Don’t they also have to change the face of that biggest racist
called Barrack?
BREAKING
“….Portraits honoring four…(Democrat Party) House speakers …. were removed Thursday after Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that the men “embody …violent bigotry and grotesque racism …..″
https://www.breitbart.com/news/pelosi-orders-removal-of-confederate-portraits-from-capitol/
All the Amos and Andy characters were positive, working black people. Amos owned his own cab; Andy was some sort of investor. The show was successful because it was funny; it did NOT poke fun at blacks. The Kingfish was always on the con, in the same way that Sgt Bilko was always on the con. Even the character Lightning, who was not an especially bright bulb, had the responsibility of caring for a building.
None of that matters.
Bilko was very funny, somewhat like Sgt Zales from MASH. Kingfish always had a hustle working from some direction.
Blacks had intact cultures and professions prior to being hauled off the the inner cities, where welfare destroyed family life and made them the dependent dysfunctional culture they are today. But that did serve the democrat well.
Follow Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson on this:
https://rebuildingtheman.com/
No, Aunt Jamima is a welfare queen, and Uncle Ben has ten kids he doesn’t pay support on.
Nothing like woke corporatism. Hey, Mars, how about a BLM candy bar: black paper, woke white BLM lettering. Proceeds go directly to a diabetes or cancer foundation. The jokes write and write and write themselves. A Chairman Mao candy bar, ‘The Little Red Candy Bar’ with red paper and Mao’s face. Another one called ‘The Gulag’ made of white chocolate (y’know, Siberian snow?). Anything to please the woke consumer base, right?
How much discretionary income does that consumer base actually have, I wonder.
Why not Pol Pot Pie?
Or Red Guard Mouthwash?
Or Mao’s Little Red Book of Matches?
Or Stalin’s 1932 Ukraine Miracle Weight Loss Diet?
Diversity? Evolution? Show me the fitness function!
So, are we saying that Creole Cooking is no longer a piece of black heritage?
Why do we need to erase minorities from every successful product in America? Many of the images we see are based on highly successful minorities who’s stories should inspire. Instead, the left seems to have in the name of diversity and inclusion decided that nobody should ever see a minority as the identity of a successful product in America.
They can’t have any slaves who escaped the Democrat Plantation and succeeded point up all their pure lies now can they?
A crybully’s power emanates from his ability to be outraged over something. If a company uses a black spokesperson on its products, they will construct a rationale to be outraged over that. If a company doesn’t use a black spokesperson on its products, they will find a separate but equal rationale to be outraged over that. As Aesop noted, any excuse will serve a tyrant – and these people are surely tyrants.
There’s quite a history of actresses hired by Quaker Oats to portray Aunt Jemima over the years, showing the pride the company had in its product and its spokeswomen. One has to consider if the current kerfuffle were flipped upside-down and the BLM people were advocating for a black spokesperson for the brand, how the arguments would differ.
Personally, I’m happy that the American people consider a proud black woman to be the symbol of quality food.
If Whites bought the product than where is the racism?
We elected Uncle Bendover, didn’t we? – Twice.
Well, perv Harvey Weinstein stuck moooochelle obama’s face into the Oscar broadcast as a non sequittur. Was that racist?
Gonna guess Mr. Clean and the Pillsbury Doughboy are going to be retired as well. Betty Crocker? Little Debbie? The Burger King? (please!) Don’t forget the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. And those Snap, Crackle, and Pop guys… The GEICO Gecko has an English upper crust accent… I think the LIMU Emu might be safe.
Erasing history is hard work.
is the michelin man safe?
Yes. He is a person of size.
Now, you are fat shaming.
Michelle Obama Truck Tires?
Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima today, Cracker Barrel tomorrow.
DON’T FORGET THOSE CHOCOLATE HOSTESS DING DONGS!!!!!!
(The snack cakes, not the discarded L.A. Trick……)
Sorry, insane reality has already outrun your satire:
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/06/17/snap-crackle-pop-determined-to-be-racist-n542693
Um, why?
Huh? “Uncle” and “Auntie” are terms of respect. Much more so than plain Mr or Mrs. If white people couldn’t bring themselves to refer to black people as Mr or Mrs then they certainly wouldn’t have called them Uncle or Aunt, would they? Of is there some strange culture in the South where these are demeaning terms?
Milhouse: Huh? “Uncle” and “Auntie” are terms of respect.
Aunt Jemima was a minstrel mammy caricature. The figure for Uncle Ben was a waiter.
Historians have documented that whites during Jim Crow were strongly averse to using the title mister or miss, but would instead substituted boy, girl, uncle or aunt. They would even use the terms doctor or reverend before they would consider using mister or miss. Blacks would be expected to “give whites the wall”, meaning step aside on the walk; and to doff their hats and defer to whites in conversation. The whole point of Jim Crow and such caricatures was to keep blacks in an inferior social position.
I take your point. Democrats certainly have a legacy of racism to atone for. Kente cloth printer go brrr brrr.
“They would even use the terms doctor or reverend before they would consider using mister or miss…”
Doctor Reverend Zachriel.
Sorry, this makes no sense at all, so I don’t believe it. I think these so-called “historians”, whoever they are, are talking bovine excrement. They’re probably “historians” just like Howard Zinn was one, i.e. not at all.
Milhouse: Sorry, this makes no sense at all, so I don’t believe it.
Why doesn’t it make sense?
Milhouse: I think these so-called “historians”, whoever they are, are talking bovine excrement.
You have it all covered, then. You don’t want to believe it and if we provide a citation you will say it is fake news.
Jim Crow Museum: “Most southern white Americans who grew up prior to 1954 expected black Americans to conduct themselves according to well-understood rituals of behaviour.”
Let’s erase all black faces and then cry that there is no black representation…..Uncle Sam has A LOT to say about this….
Maybe they can get a new face.
Condoleeza Rice.
susan rice would fit the bill better
Susan “Minutes” Rice! Always cook it by the book!
From Babylon Bee: Cracker Jack Changes Name To More Politically Correct Caucasian Jack
https://babylonbee.com/news/cracker-jacks-changes-name-to-more-politically-correct-caucasian-jacks
On a more serious note, cops are nervous about eating out because their food might be poisoned or doctored.
I’m waiting for “Thank you for saving me from black people who might want to poison me” meme.
I believe NYC has 39,000 police.
This isn’t particularly new. When I went up to visit my grandson around 15 years ago, we actually drove 40 – 50 miles to another town far away from his, because he was concerned about somebody spitting in his food (or worse).
I’m sure they are nervous, which is why they had that false alarm in NYC the other day. But have there been any actual known instances yet? Or is this just a concerning thing that might happen at any moment but hasn’t yet?
Oh, thank goodness!
I know this has been just gnawing away at black people every day.
Of course, a year or two from now BLM will be protesting the lack of black faces on food product packaging.
LukeHandCool: I know this has been just gnawing away at black people every day.
Published objections to the commercial image of Aunt Jemima, a minstrel mammy caricature, date at least to the 1920s. Black press saw her as a demeaning representation meant to show blacks as smilingly accepting of servile and inferior roles.
So, yes. It’s been gnawing at black people for at least a century. But what else is new?
“Black press”.
What ‘black press’? Did you subscribe?
On the plus side, Mars, Inc. will fix all racial strife with these name changes. It is obvious that they were the source of all racial bias. By making these changes, Mars is admitting that the product names and images were racist all along. Why were they open racists for decades? Why didn’t they tell me they were?
I remember when somebody said that the planet was going to heal too. I just did not know what that looked like. Today I do.
Those names and photos used on Mars products were to create a brand that meant quality. Apparently, they no longer think the names or images mean quality. Why is that?
If Mars had been purchased by a Lester Mattox (or similar segregationist of old), I would expect him to want to remove those images and those names. I struggle with this as this looks like Mars is engaging in blatant racism to me. Those images meant high quality standards to me. No, I am not woke. Thank God. The substance of MLK has been disappeared.
Can’t say that I will boycott Uncle Ben’s since I never bought it, anyway. However, I never had any animosity or untoward thoughts about him, his brand or Aunt Jemima.
Some folks are way too sensitive about matters that have nothing to do with anyone else.
Well, what can be done when Bill Cosby turns out to be the antithesis of all he represented? Same with MLK, Jr. Then came da’ Bama and, once again, black folks got had, again.
FWIW, Mars is a private corporation and they can do whatever they like and somebody doesn’t like then they are blessed to have alternatives.
“As a global brand, we know we have a responsibility to help put an end to racial injustices.”
You do?
They have not done a single thing about the very much alive slave trade that includas children in Africa and Muslim countries.
That would require actually doing something.
Down the Memory Hole goes all sorts of history.
The DEMS only think that.
We are all Quebecois now.
Je me souviens!
Yes, we remember.
Ameriquefrancaise.org › article-579
I always thought Aunt Jemima was definitely walking the line if not over it but my perception of Uncle Ben and the Cream of Wheat guy has always been positive. The Cream of Wheat guy is a chef which confers an image of skill and success and he is handsome with a great smile. Apparently it’s his name (which 99.99% of people don’t know) that has some racist connotation.
If Land O Lakes caved by changing the young Native American woman on its packaging (which was the creation of a Native American artist) then anything can happen.
His name is Frank White. (They stopped using Rastus in the 1920s.)
But why? Is it just that Jemima is no longer a common name? But there are lots of Biblical names that have fallen out of fashion. How many living Hephzibahs have you ever heard of? What about living Elihus, or Abedenegos?
Milhouse,
I grew up in the south in the 50’s. I can’t count the number of times I heard black women referred to as ‘Aunt Jemimas’, and it wasn’t a term of endearment or respect. Fortunately, my parents did not allow such things; unfortunately, they were the exception.
I accept your experience, but I wonder whether you’ve got cause and effect reversed. It seems to me much more likely that people in your environment were calling black women Aunt Jemima because of the pancake lady, not that the pancake lady was named after a racist term. That sort of thing will happen with any well-known character of a particular race or ethnic group.
For instance, on the show Everybody Hates Chris, the racist Italian kid uses “Buckwheat” as a racist term. Now surely nobody will claim that the Our Gang character’s name was racist; it was just a name, like Farina, Alfalfa, etc. Any racist use of the name derives from the character and can’t reflect on it.
Racism is an emotional response to a difference, not a logical one. Some apply logic to try to justify it; some to try to explain it. Both will fail. Regardless the original intent, it became a racist term, just like Uncle Tom, boy and a host of others. Accept that it is racist (or at least has racist undertones) and don’t over analyze it. I know many blacks who are sensitive to it and despise it. Out of respect for them, I don’t mourn its loss.
I do mourn, deeply, that we as a nation have become so shallow that this is a distraction that we substitute for fixing other problems.
Not to worry, I haven’t used that product in ages, and when I did it was rare.
These people are just plain insane. No one will keep purchasing the product as they won’t know it.
I think all this “racist” crap will lead to increased racism just because of the disgust over what it is driving. This builds up hate, and those who call it racist wouldn’t likely to be consumers of the product, and it won’t gain them as consumers either.
What are they going to do with their Dove brand dark chocolates? The rapid pace of this mass-stupidity movement is mind boggling.
We also need to visit things like Black & White film. Burn all the old cellulose? And, heaven forbid, colored TVs? Oh wait, that’s color TV. Whew! My bad! But definitely old timey colored photos. Burn them all!
Quaker Oats, you are now on the clock.
Who woulda thunk it?
Eliminating racism turned out to be so easy! Change a few names here, remove a few pictures there, topple some statues. No racism no more!
Can we next get rid of cancer?
“Can we next get rid of cancer?”
Of course we can! Round up everyone with cancer and dump them in the ocean. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. Problem solved. It just worked with racism, didn’t it?
Oh, no!
What was I thinking?
The next logical step is “Rename the White House!”
Cancer’s gotta wait.
piano keys!
…because getting rid of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben is going to be the magic catalyst that frees black people from a life of poverty and ignorance and sets them on a path to the middle-class and the American Dream.
Uh-huh.
Good God, these limousine liberals are sooooo stupid. Don’t bother fixing the real problems faced by black Americans – fatherless homes, welfare dependence, crappy schools, and an attitude that says pro sports is the ticket out of the hood rather than education and trying to better oneself. Nope, it’s much easier to think you’ve accomplished something by attempting corporate rebranding – that, and throwing more money at an anarchist front group that funnels money directly to D politicians.
“”Don’t bother fixing the real problems faced by black Americans””
Of course not. If they actually fixed the problems, what would they run on?
In short fix the problem of the blood sucking
DEMOCRAT Vampires that have their fangs in blacks, children and women……….
Mars already knuckled under whdn Milky Way Dark got changed to Milky Way Midnight. (The original name was Forever Yours).
I suggest all companies stop portraying black man / white woman couples and families. It’s as if he is so inferior he must stoop to marrying outside his race. That’s racist.
What about Chef Boy R Dee? It’s racist and anti Italian. I’m offended
A black waiter on a train gave me one of my favorite memories from childhood. We were travelling in the 60s on vacation and my parents wanted us to experience train travel, which was disappearing.
The formal table cloths and glassware pleased the senses, and the waiter, in his handsome uniform and with his excellent service and cheerful demeanor, made the trip! He chatted us up and it was a grand time.
If you’ve never travelled in an elegant train with impeccable service, you haven’t lived.
Does this mean the end to white rice?
it could be pale rice or no pigment rice?
No, they’ll rename it “Robert Byrd WHITE rice”
I’d suggest that Uncle Ben’s be renamed “Uncle Joe’s” rice with an image of Slow Joe Biden on the package. That’s really a twofer adverising wise. Like Joe Biden most rice is whiter than white, so it satisfies the white supremacist mob. And if you are black and you don’t like “Uncle Joe’s” rice, then you ain’t black. I have that on good authority from Joe Biden his own senile old self.
Does this mean my nieces and nephews can no longer call me uncle Tom?
I don’t get it. So, now it is better to have NO person of color advertising your products? Inclusion is racist? It’s hard to keep everything straight nowadays!
It only makes sense when you see it as them waiving a white flag against Twitter mobs
In the spirit of John ‘Epsteined’ Robert and Gorsuch, they’re renaming the brand “Uncle Bendover’s” rice.
Uncle Ben’s rice is just parboiled rice. Just buy a big 10 or 20 pound bag of that, it’s several times cheaper than the brand name. Plus you have the satisfaction of sidestepping their agenda.
Can’t imagine the firms sell very much of any of those Brands anymore. And were probably on The Chopping Block already!
I’ve been saying all along, if we address the rice and syrup issue, it’ll totally solve the meth and fatherlessness. Thank God for the riots or we’d have never come to our senses on this important injustice.
L’eggo my Eggo!
Just wait, in a few years it will be all about “why aren’t there any portrayals of black people in marketing? We’re being marginalized”.
Black people are all over marketing. Look at the posters and banners at Target. Every major mobile phone carrier has either blacks, or black husband/white wife mulatto child(ren) families. And so on.
What’s next, doing away with the white background on Firefox, making it all black? Yeah, that’ll make it easier to read.
.
Nothing confirms to me the shallowness of todays SJWs as the focus on brand figures. Yes, children, change all the advertisement pictures and that will bring racial peace to the nation. Without Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben asserting racial stereotypes, the attitude of the nation will change. We won’t even notice that BLM is somehow an international movement with definite leftist tendencies. No, we’ll just be home in front of the TV focusing on the ads designed to make us all into better people.
Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Mrs. Butterworth are BELOVED characters / logos / brands, ubiquitous with Pillsbury Doughboy and the Koolaid Pitcher Dude. If people are so sensitive that THIS is a pressing issue of our day, I just don’t know what point there is on carrying on…we will NEVER fix the REAL issues.
This explosion of craziness isn’t getting their “real issues” any more respect, for sure. I already don’t pay extra for their brand names, and I won’t pay extra for their new brand names, so this is just another thing going on now that I have nothing to do with.
I think the Oscars, Academy Awards and other celebrity awards should be canceled for racial inequality reasons.
No, just have separate ceremonies. Just like the separate commencement exercises and separate dorms they demand. Im fully in favor of all of it and more. Give them what they want. Then, shut the gate.
Truly evil people are behind all this bullshit, hiding behind the naive and well-intentioned.
It is turning out that barack obama is one of the most sinister, evil people in history.
Let’s also remember that what we are fighting today is the racist legacy of the democrat party. The natural healing that would have taken place after the war was cut short by Lincoln’s assassination, but was buried forever by 100+ years of democrat inspired and supported Jim Crow legislation and KKK murders. Like Antifa today, the KKK was the brown shirts of the dem party. Like the KKK, Antifa stirs racial tensions for democrat party gain.
And don’t forget that the real reason the dems want the statues of the civil war leaders to come down is because they put them up. That’s what they want us to forget.
next on the “hit” list will be Jefferson from all in the family.
instead of a successful small business man, he be re-imaged into a gang banger. guess he won’t be “movin’ on up” to the east side after all!
to change their name to Uncle TOM’s rice
How about Professor Ben’s Rice? Give him glasses, with a chalkboard/whiteboard in the background with physics equations.
The biggest joke in all this is Nike’s use of black men to sell poor black kids 200 dollar sneakers.
Nike should be forced to pay reparations to the black people it forced the 200 sneaker onto, causing robberies and murders over them.
Black lives matters scientists have made a breakthrough in female bladder medicine.
They’re calling the discovery “Mo’ flo fo’ yo’ ho”. Still to be approved by the FDA, however.
The Marxist Minister of black lives matters announced that the movemment is indeed Marxist. But she has had problems finding a rulebook. She also was unable to explain her animus to Jews, while at the same time adopting a Jews’s ideas. But she rationalized that if she could take soros’ money, she could take any Jews’ ideas.
How about “White Rice for Whitie”?
Or “Syrup for Ofays”?
Anyone know an modeling agent for the Land o’ Lakes Indian and the Eskimo Pie girl to find a new gig?
Will they name obama’s nobel prize for nothing the “Uncle Bendover Peace Prize”?