I think that there are a lot of changes being made right now that weren’t considered “important enough” in the past. Arguably, Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Jemima are pretty low-hanging fruit, but it does help to illustrate just how deeply ingrained racism is in our society. Just because passive acceptance is coming from a place of ignorance doesn’t make it excusable.
Heck, up until this branding shift was announced, my eyes just glazed over the packaging of those two brands and accepted it at face value. Now that I’ve had an opportunity (not to mention a reason) to think about them, of course they should be updated. Is it a shame that it’s taken this long for a change to occur? Sure. Is now better than never? Definitely. You have to start somewhere.
I am all on board with deep-sixing Aunt J and Uncle B, but like others I’m confused that Mrs B is being grouped with them. I don’t recall her ever being seen as anything but a syrup bottle sculpture, but her bottled features don’t seem African and her voiceovers were standard Charming Old White Lady. Like an earlier writer noted, she was the Looney Tunes Granny. Not that I’d be sad to see her go. It was upsetting having her skim over the table and start talking to me while I was eating my pancakes.
I think context plays a part here. If you don’t know the brand’s history what is there about ‘Uncle Ben’s’ present iconography that indicates racist intent? I’m not really familiar with ‘Aunt Jemima’ (hey, Canadian maple syrup lover here) but the ‘Cream of Wheat’ packaging is just a chef on a box without knowing about the origins of the character.
Fun fact - I used to think if we ever got Mrs Buttersworth, she would talk to me. We got generic syrup, so I could never test my theory.
But, anyway, yeah, probably time to retire these problematic brands. It isn’t like we are losing something - its just brands to sell you stuff. Not real people.
I buy the good rice here* and it’s called Tilda. I guess that’s a name but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any image other than something representing rice plants on it.
TBF I really mostly buy East End which is an, I think, English/Asian brand
I just looked it up and I’m so disappointed! The liars, East End my arse! They’re from Wolverhampton and they are using a brand name driven by the recognition of the quality of London’s East End for curry. https://eastendfoods.co.uk/driving-force/
Oh, for sure. I never grew up eating either of those brands (yay, NH/VT maple syrup ). The larger point I was trying to make was that it matters what you do once you discover said history.
I just watched her film about John Berger last night. She’s just doing ordinary stuff, cooking and chatting with Berger in his kitchen, and she’s luminous!
Edit
Might as well post a link to the film
). The larger point I was trying to make was that it matters what you do once you discover said history.
