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Say goodbye to the Washington Redskins – pressure from activists and corporate sponsors means the NFL team will be changing its name. Photo: Shutterstock

From Washington Redskins to Aunt Jemima, the US brands pressured to change their racist names, depictions and mascots

  • The Washington Redskins NFL team will soon be getting a new name, as ‘redskin’ is a racist slang term for America’s indigenous people
  • Other brands that are going through reviews or have already been forced to make changes include Uncle Ben’s, Mrs. Butterworth’s and Cream of Wheat

The Washington Redskins National Football League (NFL) team will soon be getting a new name after an internal review, it was announced on Monday. The word “redskin” is a racist slang term for America’s indigenous people.

This comes after mounting pressure from activists and corporate sponsors, especially in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, which has prompted conversations about race and power nationwide in the United States. The team’s owners and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had previously defended the use of the word and the logo, which depicts a Native American.
Recently, however, FedEx, one of the team’s top sponsors and the holder of its stadium naming rights, released a statement asking the team to change its name. It also later threatened to not pay its US$45 million in contract fees if the name was not changed. Additional sponsors, including PepsiCo, Nike and Bank of America, made similar demands.

The football team is certainly not the only popular American brand with a problematic past. Here are several other racist names and depictions that were once considered household staples.

Aunt Jemima was portrayed by a former slave named Nancy Green. Photo: Shutterstock

Aunt Jemima

Quaker Oats, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, announced on June 17 that it will retire its Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix, saying the company recognises that “Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype”.

In the late 1800s, the Missouri newspaper editor Chris L. Rutt decided to name his brand of self-raising flour after Aunt Jemima, a song performed by minstrel actors. A former slave named Nancy Green was later hired to portray Aunt Jemima as a “mammy”, a racist caricature that depicts female slaves as smiling, happy homemakers for white families.

Uncle Ben’s is a rice and grains company. Photo: Shutterstock

Uncle Ben’s

Uncle Ben’s, a rice and grains company, adopted its brand name and logo in 1946. According to the company’s website, the name “Uncle Ben” is that of a black Texan rice farmer and the image is of a black Chicago chef and waiter named Frank Brown.

Uncle Ben has a “contentious history”, The New York Times reported in 2007. “White Southerners once used ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ as honorifics for older blacks because they refused to say ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’,” he said.

Earlier in June, hours after it was announced that Aunt Jemima’s logo would be changed, Uncle Ben’s parent company Mars announced that it will be “evolving” its branding, too.

Eskimo Pies are named for a North American tribe.

Eskimo Pie

The ice cream treat named for a North American tribe became the subject of controversy in 2009 when a Canadian Inuit woman said the product name insulted her heritage. A slow-moving and largely publicised battle in North America’s northland has quietly raged on against the use of the word “Eskimo” to describe people with Inuit and Yupik heritage.

The word “Eskimo” has derogatory connotations stemming from non-native settlers who colonised areas of the Arctic. It was announced recently that Eskimo Pie, a Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream product, will change its name and marketing after acknowledging its problematic origins.
For years, the shape of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup bottles has been a point of contention. Photo: Shutterstock

Mrs. Butterworth’s

Syrup and pancake-mix company Mrs. Butterworth’s adopted the personality of “Mrs. Butterworth” in 1961.

For years, the shape of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup bottles has been a point of contention. “Critics have long associated the shape of the Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle with the mammy, a caricature of black women as subservient to white people,” reporter Maria Cramer wrote.

Conagra Brands, the parent company of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup and pancake mixes, has also released a statement saying that it has started a review of the brand and packaging.

Cream of Wheat last week announced its plans to conduct an immediate review of the brand’s packaging.

Cream of Wheat

Since the 1880s, Rastus has been widely considered a pejorative term associated with black men. A smiling chef of the same name was depicted as childlike and uneducated on Cream of Wheat boxes from the first part of the 20th century.

Cream of Wheat took Rastus off the box in 1925 in favour of a portrait of Frank L. White, a black Chicago chef who remains on the box to this day. Last week, B&G Foods, the parent company of Cream of Wheat, issued a statement announcing its plans to conduct an immediate review of the brand’s packaging.

The Frito Bandito was an armed Mexican con man.

Frito Bandito

Speaking broken English and robbing unsuspecting bystanders, the Frito Bandito was an armed Mexican con man with a dishevelled look and a gold tooth who was the mascot for Fritos corn chips in the 1960s.

Responding to pressure from the Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee, US snack-food giant Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, cleaned up Frito Bandito’s look in the late 1960s. But combed hair and a friendlier expression didn’t quite cut it.

Frito-Lay ditched the cartoon, and a less controversial band of cowboys, the Muncha Bunch, replaced him.

Land O’Lakes has removed the image of a Native American woman from their packaging.

Land O’Lakes

Land O’Lakes recently changed the packaging for its consumer products to remove the image of a Native American woman with a feather in her hair.

The change was implemented ahead of the company’s 100th anniversary. The new packaging is similar to the original, save for the removal of the Native American woman. It also added the phrase “farmer-owned” above the Land O’Lakes name.

Chief Wahoo can still be found on Cleveland Indians merchandise.

Chief Wahoo

The Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team announced plans to remove the logo from their uniforms in 2018. The move came after decades of protests and complaints that the grinning, red-faced caricature used in one version or another since 1947 was racist. However, the controversial mascot can still be found on merchandise sold at the ballpark.
Sambo’s went bankrupt in 1981. Photo: Shutterstock

Sambo’s

When restaurateurs Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett launched Sambo’s, they insisted its name had nothing to do with a children’s book of the time, The Story of Little Black Sambo.

But the businessmen capitalised on the association, with Sambo-inspired decor. In the late 1970s, the chain had 1,200 locations in 47 states. After some backlash, a name change and an attempt at an identity makeover, it went bankrupt in 1981.

Injun Orange and Chinese Cherry are varieties of Funny Face.

Funny Face Drink Mix

When Kool-Aid started dominating the refreshment market, Pillsbury decided to create its own competing brand: Funny Face.

Injun Orange and Chinese Cherry are actual varieties of Funny Face, and the racist overtones didn’t stop at the names: caricatures accompanied each of the flavours. Pillsbury eventually swapped out its original varieties for Jolly Olly Orange and Choo Choo Cherry on its own.

Crazy Horse malt liquor

Though the real Crazy Horse, a Native American tribal chief, may have advocated abstinence, that didn’t stop Stroh Brewery from capitalising on his recognisable name and image – as well as the popular stereotype that Native Americans are heavy drinkers – with this malt drink.

The company had to back-pedal after its product inspired serious outrage from Crazy Horse’s estate and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. In 2001, Stroh apologised in a ceremony on the Rosebud Reservation.

Crazy Horse is still on the market, but under the name Crazy Stallion.

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