Conagra Brands reviewing Mrs. Butterworth's brand after Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's announcements

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Add another venerable brand to the list of companies under review.

After decisions by Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben’s to overhaul their imaging in the wake of renewed calls for racial equality, Conagra Brands announced Wednesday it has “begun a complete brand and packaging review on Mrs. Butterworth's.”

Though there have been debates over Mrs. Butterworth’s race, some have associated the shape of the brand’s syrup bottles with the offensive "Mammy" racial caricature of stereotype for Black women.

“The Mrs. Butterworth's brand, including its syrup packaging, is intended to evoke the images of a loving grandmother,” Conagra Brands said in a statement Wednesday. “We stand in solidarity with our Black and Brown communities and we can see that our packaging may be interpreted in a way that is wholly inconsistent with our values.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/conagra-brands-reviewing-mrs-butterworths-brand-after-aunt-jemima-uncle-bens-announcements/ar-BB15D1pF?ocid=DELLDHP

Guess I've never considered what the race of Mrs. Butterworth might be. It was always just a syrup bottle to me.

[hlthe2b]

1. To be honest, I thought this was the Onion... I too have never given Mrs. Butterworth a thought

Maybe we focus on the worst offenders?

[Moostache]

5. That - focusing on the worst offenders - is why progress is so achingly slow on equality...

First, I am white, so outside of a historical perspective and self-education, I know exactly JACK-ALL about what it means to be black, how it feels to be a minority or what systemic repression and racism does to an entire group of people for hundreds of years. If I am talking out of turn or simply have this completely wrong, please correct me and help me understand where I err in my thinking or interpretation.

But what I can say is that when something like Aunt Jemina or Uncle Ben or even Mrs. Butterworth is looked at in the abstract, they are indeed offensive symbols. Uncle Ben is obvious, so too is Aunt Jemina...they are quite literally a half-step from minstrel shows and blackface in many ways. They are also powerful marketing images in that they are widely seen in positive light by nearly all white people; and while they certainly raise an eyebrow amongst African-Americans, they probably don't ring too offensive for Hispanic-Americans or Asian-Americans. And there in lies the problem. Something that is just beneath the surface hurtful, tinged with historical analogies and analogs; and yet widely ignored, is like a splinter that is on its way to an infection and a very nasty situation. It indirectly causes pain and amplifies it when larger issues flare up. They are inflammation, not stabs or shots or worse...but they contribute to the overall condition just as surely.

These small things, the things that pass without notice or care by millions every day - mainly through ignorance or lack of recognition; simply reinforce the stereotypes and prejudices in silent strength, they act as threads that when woven together make the rope as strong and as unyielding as it appears when held...a symbol does not have to be the battle flag of the Confederacy, or the Iron Cross of the Nazi Party, or the Swastika to inflict pain and buttress systemic issues. In fact, the little things are what act as the glue to keep the whole thing going. Without these small, overlooked, unthought of and unrecognized things, the larger more obvious and more pervasive issues would be much harder to sustain and ignore.

Once people truly begin to stop and think about these "little things" and ask themself "if that were being proposed TODAY, would it have ANY CHANCE of being adopted? or promoted? or defended?"...then, change is approaching the top of the wave and coming down fast is the next step. If we continue to stay on point and continue to expand and redouble the efforts, especially for White Americans who may have been until very recently in denial or simply on the sidelines, believing in error that equality was someone else's responsibility, someone else's fight, someone else's cross to bear...

I have seen it once in my lifetime with marriage equality, which in 1993 I would have said will NEVER happen to my great and eternal shame...but it has come to pass and we're not going back. Racial injustice is so deeply ingrained in us as a society though that there are literally THOUSANDS of little things that pass unmarked or unchallenged. The fact that they are now being called out, being discussed, being changed is a positive sign that progress - real, true and lasting progress - is within reach. It is clear that so much work remains, so much ingrained behavior, speech, attitude, and symbolical imagery remain to be reconsidered, retired and rethought, but the light at the end of the tunnel is ever so brighter at the moment...and a steady elimination of small things, while continuing to push for bigger things simultaneously, is the way we win in the end.

[hlthe2b]

7. There is no doubt about Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's.

That is the difference. If there is controversy about Mrs. Butterworth's, fine, but it certainly has been kept quiet up to now and I'd dare say it is more likely intended to diminish the strength of the argument for offensive labels and brands in general than it is anything about that specific brand. As such it may well only serve to diminish the case we are trying to make. Thus, we should be aware of such manipulation.

As pointed out in posts downstream, Mrs. Butterworth has always been portrayed on commercials as an elderly white grandmother. So, exactly, what is the issue?

We need to be smart about singling out such products without researching the actual history behind the brand and what the logos and name actually represent--as evidenced by the post downstream suggesting the brand "Stubb's barbeque" sauce to be inappropriate--despite being named and featuring its own owner/originator, Mr. C.B. Stubblefield.

[Moostache]

15. There is ambiguity in Mrs. Butterworth that is definitely not in other symbols for sure.

But that ambiguity is not entirely accidental...Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth's are competing brands to be sure, but there is not much doubt that the two are intended to resonate in similar ways.






Are the similarities vague and up to interpretation? Undoubtedly...but while Aunt Jemima is very clearly a racial stereotype almost pulled from Mammy in 'Gone with the Wind' on purpose, the use of a similar yet not identical image as a brand identity is in some ways trading on the cache of one to give staying power to another. It may not be insidious and overtly racial in intent, but is certainly also not accidental.

I think it challenges me because in my mental image, Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth were not opposite races, they were the same and while neither one bothered me even a little as a kid in the 1970's, I can see the symbols in a different light as an adult than as a child. But the images evoked - whether intentionally racist or not (and most probably purely economic in nature - looking to borrow a little branding and imagery without having to be so obvious and upfront with it).

This is where nuance and today's world can run off the tracks and positive outcomes disappear into needless hurt feelings and acrimony...I will simply leave it there and comment no more for now, other than to say I mean no hurt to anyone with this and would be upset if it got to such a level for any reason. My intent is not to be a wedge in any way.

[hlthe2b]

16. You are being offensive by suggesting anyone here is defending or equating Aunt Jemima issue.

Not to mention, just plain wrong.

[Moostache]

19. Then I have utterly failed.

That is 180-degrees the opposite of the point I was trying to discuss.
Apologies for the misunderstanding, but my internal Emile Zola was not active today - there was no "J'acuuse!" intended.

[RhodeIslandOne]

28. Wait until the questioning of Log Cabin Syrup starts.

[orwell]

2. No...Not Mrs.Butterworth!

...Oh the Humanity!

[Ex Lurker]

3. There used to be a commercial with a talking bottle of Mrs. Butterworth syrup

the voice sounded like that of an elderly white woman.

[ms liberty]

4. If you look at the old commercials

Mrs. Butterworth ws always portrayed as a kindly white grandmother, as far as I can remember.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. That's My Recollection

I never saw "mammy" in that bottle.
Admittedly, Jemima is pretty obvious.
Not sure Uncle Ben ever struck me as anything but a kindly older man, either.
The back story on that might be more nuanced, and I just don't know it.

[Sneederbunk]

8. Mrs. Butterworth commercial was voiced by a white lady.

.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. I Thought That's What I Said

The post to which I replied said Mrs B was a white grandma.
I said I recalled the same.

[SMC22307]

24. Yep. "Mrs. Butterworth, I love you!"

[Sneederbunk]

9. Stubbs BBQ sauce must go.

[GoCubsGo]

11. You do realize that's the photo of the guy who marketed his own sauce, right?

He put that photo of himself on his label. It's up to his estate whether or not it should remain.

[hlthe2b]

13. see my post below making that very point.

[Sneederbunk]

14. Does not matter in these sensitive times

anymore than the fact the chef on the Cream of Wheat box is a real person.

[GoCubsGo]

18. So, people aren't allowed to put their own image on their product?

Seriously????

[Raine]

23. I guess Famous Amos and his cookies

will soon be going too since some think even a person's own image shouldn't allowed.

[hlthe2b]

12. The Stubbs Story

The Stubb's Story
https://www.stubbsbbq.com/en-us/stubbs-story

Fifty years ago, after feeding thousands as a mess sergeant during the Korean War, C.B. Stubblefield, known simply as “Stubb”, opened his own bar-b-q joint in Lubbock, TX. The ramshackle building soon turned into a hangout for local and touring country and blues legends who would stop by to play for a plate of their favorite bar-b-q. When Stubb later moved to Austin, he was urged by friends and patrons to sell his signature sauce. So using old whiskey bottles and jam jars, Stubb began hand-bottling his sauce for sale, corking each makeshift container with a jalapeño. While our bottling methods have changed, Stubb’s belief in legendary ingredients, hard work and careful craftsmanship remains the backbone of the company that proudly bears his name. We hope our sauces inspire you to create your own delicious dishes in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Stubb’s bar-b-q beginnings.

This is CB Stubblefield, who named his business and product after himself. Should he be ashamed of his own name and image so that his product must be disallowed?

[GoCubsGo]

17. Yep. That's what I'm saying, too. n/t

[MichMan]

20. I expect that many corporations will avoid putting any characterizations of AA on consumer products

Much safer to use graphics instead.

[Raine]

21. I always assumed Mrs Butterworth was a fat white woman

but actually never really gave it much thought at all.

[cabot]

22. As a child, I thought Mrs. Butterworth was Swedish

I have no idea why...I just thought I'd throw that in there.

[Catherine Vincent]

25. Mrs. Buttersworth?

Tootie will not like that one bit!

[RhodeIslandOne]

26. So Conagra doesn't even know their own product history???

They have to "research and review" this?

So idiotic.

[TheBlackAdder]

27. The animated Mrs. Butterworths used to remind me of the ice robot in the movie Logan's Run

.

.

[lame54]

29. Isn't that just Robin Williams in a dress?

[NurseJackie]

30. I thought Mrs. Butterworth was a white woman...

... just like Betty Crocker and Chiffon Margerine's "Mother Nature" character.

It just never occurred to me.