Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/18/say-goodbye-to-uncle-ben-mrs.html
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Replace him with Trump: “Uncle Don’s”?
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Replace Trump with a bilious pig. The tweetstorm will be more rational but otherwise we won’t see much change.
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There’s only one obvious option.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/community-sitcom/images/1/1a/Human_Being.jpeg/revision/latest?cb=20121031153244
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I wonder if any of these companies who are frantically trying to re-brand themselves away from their racist origins will ultimately settle on a non-white, human mascot.
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I’m frankly surprised it’s taken this long.
Cue the rightwing troglodytes “But mah childhood!”
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They could cut a deal with Disney/Star Wars: “Old Ben’s converted rice”.
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I had to look up “converted rice” (on the packaging shown).
Google says it’s:
white rice prepared from brown rice that has been soaked, steamed under pressure, and then dried and milled.
What a metaphor.
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They’ll get sued for stealing Cheetos trademarks.
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But if we get rid of these racist caricatures from syrup bottles, how will we preserve our syrup heritage?
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I’m curious about this too. Certainly, they should move away from racist stereotypes, but if this ends up with a bunch of white people in their branding instead, is that really better?
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Now fortified with midichlorians!
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It’s rice that’s turned from its life of sin and now follows Jesus. So every time you pass a box, you can say, Converted! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
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Right. It would be amazing if they did a rotating theme of amazing POC through history and donated a portion of proceeds to BLM or something similar for the same length of time as they profited from using racist stereotypes.
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About bloody time. It’s a testament to the combined creative laziness and racism of these companies’ brand managers that they let these bizarre relics last as long as they did.
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A sticky question, to be sure!
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Mrs. Butterworth is Black? I thought she was like Granny from Looney Tunes. Not that it matters, I don’t really care about preserving the history of brands.
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Where is it written that branding must include a recognizable human?
There are so many trillions of other options, as exemplified by a large number of companies around the world already.
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I prefer my faceless corporations to be faceless.
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“When I’m choosing rice, it’s my chosen one!”
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