Quaker Oats said on Tuesday that its mix of pancakes and syrup from the Tia Jemima brand will be renamed the Pearl Milling Company. Tia Jemima products will continue to be sold until June, when the packaging will officially be exchanged.
Quaker Oats, a division of PepsiCo Inc., announced last June that it would withdraw the Aunt Jemima brand, saying the character’s origins are “based on a racial stereotype”. Aunt Jemima’s smiling logo was inspired by the 19th-century minstrel character “mama”, 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 purchased the Tia Jemima brand in 1925 and updated the logo over the years in an effort to remove negative stereotypes. But in the cultural assessment that followed last summer’s protests, Black Lives Matter, Quaker decided to change the name entirely. Other brands, like Uncle Ben’s rice, followed.
Quaker said the Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in St. Joseph, Missouri, and was the creator of the automatic growing pancake mix. Although the brand is new on store shelves, the syrup boxes and bottles will still have Tia Jemima’s familiar red packaging.
Quaker said it sought information from customers, employees and outside cultural experts when developing the new brand.
Quaker said it is also donating $ 1 million to groups that empower black women and girls as part of the launch of the Pearl Milling Company.
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