She was racist in the now. It was and remains racist… There is literally NO REASON to have racist packaging. Ever. Full stop. We can NOT have racist packaging and address other aspects of systemic racism. 
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She was based on a minstrel song called “The Ol’ Aunt Jemima” which was popularized by white people in blackface playing the roles. She was created as a brand by two white people in a company that was led by white people playing off the role forever. Between her and Mrs. Butterworths you basically had two black racist stereotypes competing against each other for massive white companies , from the start of BOTH brands.
It was never NOT racist.
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I never ever connected Mrs. Butterworth to a black servant. The Commercials in the 70’s were she speaks sounds more New England in accent. If anything she was more North Atlantic BBC english from “Maple country”. Or a “Magical Nanny” in the tradition of Mary Poppins more so than a black servant.
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This is probably because the bottles have been lightened over time. The original bottles were dark brown to make the situation clearer.
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They were dark brown to keep the light out…and also Mrs Butterworth spoke with a ENGLISH accent. More of a English Nanny precise fussy accent from BBC english radio style.
Okay…what about HONEY BEAR? Is that Homophobic or racist because it’s a Bear.
And trust me … I know bears.
These are all things you would have never connected with the brand unless ‘outrage/internet’. Things you didn’t connect until now.
There are probably plenty of other things you might want to erase. Go back to Greek Mythology and some of the origins of words or stories, or even foods. Plenty of stuff there about slavery, rape, etc. That’s basically in our words and common language. And customs from pictures of Valentine day cards with drug tipped arrows, to ‘enthrall’ ing someone to make them a slave. Do you eat a “Croissant” at starbucks…do you know it’s about muslims. christians and war?
You can try to scrub the past…but be aware of the intent in the present.
There’s no racist intent in Aunt Jemima brand today. You wouldn’t have given it a second glace as the current model on the box is depicted until it became a ‘thing’ suddenly.
Lot of assumptions there.
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Lots of assumptions there.
Lots of bottle use dark colors to keep sunlight from degrading the product.
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So if someone had no idea there was any racism involved in a brand image like Aunt Jemima, why is it so important to them to keep that ‘unremarkable’ image in perpetuity when they learn that the company is choosing to change it? Companies change their logos all the time. What’s it to them? Why did the image not matter until this moment?
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Because then the socialists, win… and then it’s just straight up Stalinism from there! /s 
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I think there are actually a lot of these, but they tend to be smaller locally (and minority) owned businesses trying to do good works while running an economically sustainable business.
And there are examples of businesses started by caucasians that use “ethnic” references that aren’t exploitative. A good example would be “Homeboy industries/Homeboy bakery” that we have here in So. Cal. Started by a very white “Father Boyle” it’s a pretty respected business that does a lot of good works in largely “ethnic” areas.
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I leave this thread and come back to this fecal exhibition. Bigoted against quakers? Homophobic against bears? Muslim croissants? Fucken sexist against men 
It seems that in threads like these, about confronting our racist legacy, there are certain people who don’t want to talk about it. And instead of leaving well enough alone, they post to these threads persistently, actively trying to deflect, even though the conversation is not about them. At all. So why is holding on to the casual bigotry of long bygone generations so important to them that they feel the need to disrupt any attempt to discuss it honestly? Hmm.
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Not even close to correct. It’s very hard not to notice in the cabinet. How could one not see that?
(And it’s only there because our broken housemate uses actual maple syrup when he helps himself to whatever we cook, but buys a two dollar bottle of Racist Corn Syrup every once in a while to act like he’s contributing.)
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Yeah and that giant statue of General Lee on a horse on Monument Ave, it’s always been there just lurking, unnoticed for years, until now?
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I can almost see the meeting notes from the 80s:
- Black people upset by Aunt Jemima - “stereotype”?
- Have design team dig up old Betty Crocker clip art - color skin brown, hair black
- Press release (copy to NAACP)
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You can only have one Generic of something before it gets confusing.
If Beer, Beer, Beer, and Beer all have the same branding, how do you tell the difference between the one that tastes like honey and the one that tastes like piss?
When I was about 8, I read a British book with a character named “Jemima” and asked the librarian why there was a slave name in the book. (Why yes, I did grow up in the pasty white suburbs, how could you tell?)
The librarian, bless her heart, calmly explained it was a British name before it was a slave name.
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Is your argument that it isn’t racist if it’s in the past? That’s some wild shit.
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But they didn’t KNOW better back then… /s
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