Companies are developing a new recipe for brands that are being called out as offensive by promoting racial stereotypes.

Within the last several days, the marketing minds behind brands such as PepsiCo’s Aunt Jemima, B&G Foods’ Cream of Wheat, Conagra’s Mrs. Butterworth and Dreyer’s Eskimo Pies have moved swiftly to demonstrate their “woke” credentials by re-examining, repositioning, repackaging and/or renaming popular brands that have been very publicly called out as racially insensitive.

Corporate Soul Searching
It’s a time of corporate soul-searching, much of it tied to the rise of the Black Lives Matter protests. It’s an environment in which brand owners of all stripes are undoubtedly poring over their brand rosters, packaging and trademarks from a different perspective.

The latest rebranding push accelerated last week after singer/song writer Kirby posted a 41-second TikTok video highlighting Aunt Jemima’s history.

Ongoing process
While the current round of moves and announcements have taken place under a spotlight, there’s been an ongoing process over the past several years. In February, for example, Land O’Lakes for its 100th anniversary next year unveiled new packaging that eliminated the indigenous woman that’s been its focal point.

And even the moves surrounding Aunt Jemima are only the latest iteration of an ongoing process whose most recent round of evaluation goes back four years.

And corporate reaction can be a function of context. A decade ago, a young Inuit woman publicly denounced Australian candy maker Cadbury/Pascall for appropriating her culture to sell its “Eskimo” marshmallows and other sweets. Her complaint fell on deaf ears.

And let’s not forget the ongoing controversy around the NFL’s Washington Redskins and MLB’s Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians; the latter last year dropped the caricatured Chief Wahoo logo that been the fabric of their game-day uniforms in various forms since 1946. And St. John’s University became one of many schools to change mascots and nicknames, dropping “Redmen” in favor of “Red Storm” in the early ‘90s.