Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Mrs. Buttersworth depart. Was Lex Anteinternet: Exit Mia.

Back on May 2, before we ended up wherever we currently are on the national timeline, I posted an item about the departure of Mia from the Land O Lakes label. That item is here:

Lex Anteinternet: Exit Mia.: On July 8, 1921, Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association, a dairy cooperative, formed for the purpose of marketing their products. ...

I frankly thought the banishment of young Indian woman, who was drawn for the label by a Native American artist, from the labels was misguided.  But in that article I noted a couple of other such labels that featured depictions of a clearly racist origin:

Slowly, and sometimes controversially, after that time, people began to reconsider the depiction of people it had used in advertising where those people had been minorities.  It didn't just apply to Indians, of course, but too all sorts of things.  Sombrero wearing Mexican cartoon characters and bandits disappeared from Tex-Mex fast food signs.  Quaker Oats' "Aunt Jemima went from being a woman who was clearly associated with Southern household post civil war servants, who had only lately been slaves, in an undoubtedly racist depiction, to being a smiling middle aged African American woman whom Quaker Oats hoped, probably accurately", would cause people to forget what being an "aunt" or "uncle" meant to African Americans.  As late as 1946 Mars Inc. would feel free to do something similar but without the racist depiction and use the "uncle" moniker  and a depiction of  well dressed elderly African American for Uncle Ben's Rice, something they've kept doing as they'd never gone as far as Quaker Oats.  And these are just common well known examples.  There are leagues of others.

Well, the zeitgeist has caught up with Quaker and Mars.  Those labels are going.  As the CEO of Quaker stated:

While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes are not enough

I was frankly surprised that these depictions weren't sent packing years ago, but departing from a successful brand logo isn't easily done. I frankly think sending both depictions down the road is long overdue.  As for Mrs. Butterworth? Well, I don't know that the amorphous Jabby like bottle of Mrs. Buttersworth depicts anyone of any race. 

Indeed, the Buttersworth trade dress has been oddly successful.  In 2009 a contest was held in which her first name was chosen, with that choice being "Joy".  In 2019 she was paired up with Col. Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken in an advertisement for chicken and waffles (something I've never had but which strikes me as a disgusting combination) which spoofed the dancing scene from Dirty Dancing.  She doesn't really strike me as a racist depiction of members of any race, but what is clear is that her 1961 introduction by Pinnacle Foods was an attempt to riff off of Aunt Jemima.

Getting back to that latter moniker, the reason that blacks legitimately find that logo offensive actually is well illustrated by an item that went up here earlier this week on June 15, the same day we depicted the Duluth lynchings. That was in the photograph of the Harding household cook, Inez P. McWhorter. That depiction his here:

Candidate Harding's household cook was photographed for the news wires.

  Inez P.McWhorter, Harding family's cook.

Things seemed to be slow in Washington D. C., where weekday summertime golfing at Chevy Chase was being enjoyed.

Now, there's nothing racist in the photograph  Ms. McWhorter was a household cook and that's honorable, real, work.  A lot more honorable and a lot more real than a lot of work that we label as "work" today.  But wasn't so honorable was the original news service caption, which read:

Inez P.McWhorter, the Aunt Jemima of the Harding household photographed at the Harding residence today.

I didn't post that as it is offensive, and rightly so.

Use of the "Aunt Jemima" name for the product goes back to 1889, and was more racist in depiction as you go back in time.  I note that as I'm not certain that the news service caption was using that simply as Ms. McWhorter was a black domestic cook, or because they were making an intentional reference to the product.  I suspect the former, but I don't really know.  You can seen in either instance, however, why blacks legitimately found the product usage to be racist and offensive, even if Ms McWhorters actual work was dignified.

As an aside, what is she wearing on her right wrist?

Well, anyway, I'll bet Land O Lakes is glad they made Mia depart when they did. They'd have to now, and it'd have the appearance of a corporation bending to the winds of the day for the bottom line, as the latter items do.  The irony is that the Uncle Bens and Aunt Jemima trade dress should have left long ago, and that Mrs. Buttersworth is just. . . whatever it is.

On a final note, Cream of Wheat is debating changing their logo too. That depiction, however, is just a male cook who is black.  Perhaps it had a racist origin, but he's a strong looking guy doing real work as well.  Should that leave?