Quaker Oats said Tuesday that the Aunt Jemima-branded pancake mix and syrup will be rebranded as the Pearl Milling Company. Tante Jemima’s products will be sold until June, when the packaging will be officially switched.
Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo Inc., announced last June that it was retiring the Aunt Jemima brand, saying the character’s origins are “based on a racial stereotype.” The laughing Aunt Jemima logo is 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.
Quaker Oats bought the Aunt Jemima brand in 1925 and had updated the logo over the years in an effort to remove the negative stereotypes. But in the cultural reckoning that followed last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, Quaker decided to change the name entirely. Other brands, such as Uncle Ben’s rice, followed.
Quaker said the Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in St. Joseph, Missouri, and was the founder of self-raising pancake mix. While the brand will be new to store shelves, the boxes and bottles of syrup will still have Aunt Jemima’s familiar red packaging.
Quaker said it sought input from customers, employees and outside cultural experts in developing the new brand name.
Quaker said it is also donating $ 1 million to groups that support black women and girls as part of the Pearl Milling Company rollout.
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