A Call for Change: Stereotypes & Racism in Brands

Over the past few months, we have been encouraging marketers to take a good look at their offering, and see if they can find any aspects that can be more relevant, and thus popular, in times of a global pandemic, economic recession, social distancing and self-quarantine.

Now, we got a new suggestion for the people in charge of branding and communications: Take a good look at your brand, language, offering, and style – and try to predict what parts of it can be possibly offensive. Then, be proactive about fixing it.

About two weeks ago, BLM protests ignited by the police killing of George Floyd, pressured HBO to remove the 1939 classic American movie, Gone With the Wind, to put it back up but with notes and warnings about the way the film depicts slavery in the United States.

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“We are being slow and careful, and I think that’s the right response. It will be represented, but with context and framing,” said HBO Max’s Sandra Dewey.

“No one wants to take [away] these pieces of content — and there are many of them — that have what would accurately be depicted as racial insensitivity. We feel that requires a framework in today’s discourse.”

Since then, others have followed – mostly after the initial criticism came from people, consumers, protestors. The public, basically.

In recent days Aunt Jemima – the breakfast foods brand owned by the Quaker Oats Company (which in turn is owned by PepsiCo) – announced that they will be changing their name and logo as it signifies racial stereotypes, originating in the Antebellum South, also known as plantation era, a period known for its Black slavery.

The 131-year-old brand said it would change the name “to make progress toward racial equality.”

“It is urgent to expunge our public spaces of a lot of these symbols that for some people are triggering and represent terror and abuse,” Riché Richardson, an associate professor of African American literature at Cornell University, said.

Richardson wrote that the logo was grounded in the stereotype of the “mammy… a devoted and submissive servant who eagerly nurtured the children of her white master and mistress while neglecting her own.”

And so, PepsiCo itself is pledging to do a lot to support social causes such as Black Lives Matter and Gay rights – including donating more than $400 million over five years to lift Black communities and increase Black representation at PepsiCo.

The new Aunt Jemima packaging, according to Quaker Oats, will begin to appear in the fall of 2020, and a new name will be announced around then.

As Kirby on Black Press Radio put it, “Black Lives Matter, even over breakfast.”

And in the wake of the Aunt Jemima announcement – Uncle Ben’s Rice and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup will also be going down a similar re-branding path, phasing out racial stereotypes in their names and logos.

“We don’t yet know what the exact changes and timing will be, but we are evaluating all possibilities,” said Uncle Ben’s owner Mars.

Of course, these acts of recognition come with – and mostly after – plenty of scrutinies, and criticism from all directions. Overall, we see this as good, smart, sensitive, and just actions that have finally been set to come.

Oh, and since we mentioned Antebellum earlier, the country music rock band Lady Antebellum has announced that they will be changing their name – for the same reasons – to Lady A.

Band members explained why: “… we are regretful and embarrassed to say that we did not take into account the associations that weigh down this word, referring to the period of history before the Civil War, which includes slavery.”

The conversation surrounding all of this is educating many about “blind spots some of us were not even aware existed”, as the Lady A band said – and, as a brand, being proactive about it, not waiting for it to become the conversation but to create and lead it, is indeed something we encourage.

It’s never too late for that.

Hear that, Washington’s professional football team?