Aunt Jemima’s breakfast brand is to be renamed Pearl Milling Company, it was announced Tuesday, after the 130-year-old maple syrup mascot was examined last year for his links to slavery.
Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo that owns the brand, has unveiled the new name and logo, which it said would hit store shelves in June.
“Although the name on the box has changed, the great tasting products – the” pearl “in the familiar red box – remain the same, with the mission to create joyful breakfast moments for everyone,” the company said on its website.
Last June, Quaker Oats announced Aunt Jemima’s future retirement, saying the character’s origins are “based on a racist stereotype.”
The logo was originally inspired by the nineteenth-century ‘mammy’ minstrel character, a black woman content to serve her white masters.
A former slave, Nancy Green, became the first face of pancake products in 1890.
The move to retire the brand came after the company faced severe backlash following nationwide protests from Black Lives Matter over the police killings of George Floyd and several other black Americans.
With pole wires