Called it.

Actually, I called it years ago and then again on this blog.    I don’t know which date, but it’s there.

Now it’s official.

Quaker is retiring Aunt Jemima.
–  After 130 years.

Not to be outdone, Mars is repackaging Uncle Ben.   It didn’t say that it was going to get rid of his image, but was going to update it somehow…?   It’d probably be easier if he just joins Jemima in the box of forgotten memories.

Jemima survived World War 1, World War II, Rodney King, and Trayvon Martin.   She has survived multiple pandemics, the first flight, and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

All of this to finally be retired by George Floyd’s movement.

That is really kind of amazing.
After going through so much turmoil, feminism renovations, and protest movements, why now?

If Quaker was really a ‘caring’ company as they claimed to be, Jemima wouldn’t have lived as long as she did.

So, are they jumping on the BLM bandwagon?
Have the sales of Jemima been slipping and this is a way to refresh the brand?

We’ll probably never know, but it’s got to be something other than respect.
If it was respect, Jemima would have been buried a long time ago.

What does this mean?

Jemima, once a fully bottle of syrup in a southern type gown, has been reduced to basically a smiling head.  I think she stopped aging somewhere in her 50s.   Big smile.  Short curly hair.

They’re basically taking one of the most prominent African American women out of advertising.

Gone with the Wind has been banned.  The antebellum south has pretty much been erased from school history books.

This generation isn’t familiar with what Jemima is based on.
The see her for what she is – an advertising gimmick.

Maybe to this generation and the next, all they know is that there is less representation on the grocery shelves.

I don’ t know the specifics of BLM, but I doubt less representation is one of them.

So, we know Uncle Ben is next.
That’s a given.

I read somewhere that Snap, Crackle, and Pop are being criticized for being three white guys.   They’re fronting white rice.   Their names are indicators of what to expect from the rice in milk.

I don’t see how that’s racist.   It’s a solid marketing tactic, but what do I know.

Okay.
We know Mia from Land O Lakes passed on a month or two ago.

Who is next?

Count Chocula for being Jewish?

Is this a form of white-washing?
Icons that are not caucasian should not be on shelves out of respect?
Even if the time period that they’re based on has been sealed with with Jesus’ stone?

I don’t know, but I called it.