Aunt Jemima Set to Change Name and Remove Image From Packaging After Social Media Backlash | 22 Words

People have been boycotting Aunt Jemima pancake mix after discovering the brand's very racist origins, and this anger has lead to the company having to change its name and branding...

 

The Black Lives Matter movement has taken over the world...

via: Getty

 Since the death of George Floyd, protests for the movement have been happening across the globe in volumes we've never seen before.

This kind of police brutality has been happening for centuries now...

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 But George's death has sparked an outrage like never before.

Thousands upon thousands of people have been taking to the streets in protest...

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 And they are all marching for one thing: For the blatant racism and injustice in this country to be brought to an end.

Many protests turned violent...

But change needs to happen and, at the moment, this seems like the only way to make it happen.

Remarkably, however, they seem to be working.

Thanks to these riots, the Black Lives Matter movement is dominating global headlines, and it has completely taken over social media.

It has also taken over our streets...

For instance, a group of people painted large yellow letters saying "Black Lives Matter" down two blocks of 16th Street in D.C - a two-lane road that coincidentally leads to the White House.

Protests have been happening across the pond too...

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 Hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

We are witnessing history in the making...

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 And people are continuing to demand justice.

Even though more people have been educating themselves on the history of black people and the racism that they have faced for centuries...

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 It's going to take a lot more to change everyone's attitudes.

Many huge names have been boycotted after accusations of racism have risen against them...

Including Walt Disney World and Kellogg's cereal.

And now...

The Aunt Jemima brand is under fire.

Aunt Jemima has been around for 120 years...

And the company was the first-ever to create the instant pancake mix back in 1889.

In 1926, Aunt Jemima was bought by Quaker's Oats...

And this gave the company huge success with their products, which expanded from pancake mixes to syrups.

On their website, they say:

via: Aunt Jemima

 "Aunt Jamima pancakes stand for warmth, nourishment, and trust - qualities you'll find in loving moms from diverse backgrounds who want the very best for their families."

But it seems that this most certainly isn't the case...

As people have been calling out the brand for being inspired by a very racist story.

A woman named Kirby took to Twitter to expose the truth about Aunt Jamima.

via: Twitter

 The video, that was originally posted to TikTok, was captioned "How to make a non-racist breakfast" and it starts by Kirby opening her fridge and taking out an Aunt Jamima box.

Kirby instantly gets to the facts...

via: Twitter

 "Did you know the name of Aunt Jamima means 'slave men' of the plantation south?" she asks boldly.

She then exposed the truth behind the brand's name...

via: Twitter

 "Did you know the founder Chris Rutt, a white man, got the name after attending a minstrel show - think blackface."

She continued to expose Chris Rutt...

via: Twitter

 "Did you also know he hired former-slave Nancy Green... who would go around cooking pancakes and telling people about the 'good old south'."

She finished the video by emptying the contents of her Aunt Jemima pancake mix down the sink...

via: Twitter

 And saying, "Black lives matter, people."

Kirby's video was an instant hit...

And it seems that a lot of people agree with her opinion on Aunt Jemima.

Many are feeling relieved that the brand has been exposed for what it truly stands for...

And Aunt Jemima has been branded as "harmful" and "full of errors."

But the biggest question being asked...

Why has Aunt Jemima only just been called out for racism now? Its products have always had the same branding which clearly shows racist ideologies.

Aunt Jemima has been a stereotype of black people for years now...

How has it taken us this long to realize how wrong this is?

After the immense backlash...

Quaker Oats has announced that after over 130 years, they will be removing Aunt Jemima from all packaging and they will be giving the product a much-needed rebrand.

The company has spoken out about their decision...

"We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype," Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a press release. "As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations."

Kroepfl said the company has worked to "update" the brand to be "appropriate and respectful" but it realized the changes were insufficient.

via: Twitter

 Quaker said the new packaging will begin to appear in the fall of 2020, and a new name for the foods will be announced at a later date.

The company also announced it will donate at least $5 million over the next 5 years...

Which will be used "to create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community."

This is the change that we need...

And we as a society will no longer be accepting racism and stereotyping.