Oh, come on - Now it's Eskimo Pies turn??

[packman]

?cache=ez0odb51jx&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale

The company behind Eskimo Pie announced that it will drop the name of the nearly 100-year-old chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar, following similar moves by other food companies in the United States to revise their marketing following racial injustice protests.

Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the company behind Eskimo Pie, said in a Friday statement that the name is “derogatory” and that Dreyer’s is committed to “being a part of the solution on racial equality.”

Wonder when they are going to get around to Black Jack Gum?

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eskimo-pie-name-change_n_5eee2306c5b6deb4a8465197

[Polly Hennessey]

1. Lucky Charms is next.

Derogatory to all leprechauns.

[Beakybird]

2. My thoughts exactly. I've been waging a campaign on behalf of my leprechaun friends.

[Polybius]

17. I saw a meme that mentioned Lucky Charms

Then it said just kidding, us Irish don't get offended with things like this.

[Harker]

19. They're tragically pernicious. n/t

[LuckyCharms]

31. Nnnnext? Next for what????

[In_The_Wind]

3. This a way of getting new business to old companies.

[DFW]

4. In the WSJ there has already been a report of an NCIS investigation

Apparently the Navy has no record of a "Captain Crunch" ever having served. The cereal's days are surely numbered.

[JonLP24]

5. The company is choosing to do this

I don't see the big deal. From what I understand is not a good idea to say Eskimo. They changed a name of a mountain in Arizona because of it's problematic name a long time ago. This is not a big deal.

Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo'

Confused about the word Eskimo?

It's a commonly used term referring to the native peoples of Alaska and other Arctic regions, including Siberia, Canada and Greenland. It comes from a Central Algonquian language called Ojibwe, which people still speak around the Great Lakes region on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. But the word has a controversial history. (Editor's note: And that's why it's not used in the stories on Greenland that NPR has posted this week.)

People in many parts of the Arctic consider Eskimo a derogatory term because it was widely used by racist, non-native colonizers. Many people also thought it meant eater of raw meat, which connoted barbarism and violence. Although the word's exact etymology is unclear, mid-century anthropologists suggested that the word came from the Latin word excommunicati, meaning the excommunicated ones, because the native people of the Canadian Arctic were not Christian.

But now there's a new theory. According to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, linguists believe the word Eskimo actually came from the French word esquimaux, meaning one who nets snowshoes. Netting snowshoes is the highly-precise way that Arctic peoples built winter footwear by tightly weaving, or netting, sinew from caribou or other animals across a wooden frame.


https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/475129558/why-you-probably-shouldnt-say-eskimo

Making jokes about other brands says more about them than the company trying to do the right thing.

[demmiblue]

10. +1

[MLAA]

16. Thanks for posting. I agree with you 🙂

[Sneederbunk]

6. Brer Rabbit Molasses is on the cusp.

[RobinA]

23. Damn

That means Grandma's Molasses must be on the way out. Agest stereotype.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. Unless you're native to a circumpolar region

you probably should use terms that Arctic peoples prefer. Don’t they deserve the same consideration given other people around the world?

[ChicagoRonin]

8. Corporate overreaction

In some ways this is really funny. So many of the upper echelons of corporate America are conservative voters, and a lot of them voted for Trump. But at the same time, especially if they are sellers of consumer products, they are wary of potentially pissing off the tiniest fraction of the buying public.

So, in the wake of BLM and the protests, they are tripping over themselves to make it look they are racially sensitive and doing something to improve society. Though, last I checked, none of the protestors are screaming about renaming products and the like.

On one hand, I'm a little concerned, as this distracts from the real issues and gives the trolls yet another thing to whine about. But, like all things, the culture war stuff will die down at some point.

[LeftInTX]

22. They have marketing depts making decisions

Aunt Jemima is long overdue.

I don't know about Eskimo Pie...I guess their marketing already has a a new name in mind.

[Jirel]

9. Wow, folks.

For everyone upset by “how far” it is going, ask yourselves this:

1. Are certain brand names/logos SO important to you that you care what they call themselves versus enjoying the product? If so, why?

2. If there are real people objecting to being used by marketers to sell you things, how does it hurt you to stop using those names or likenesses?

3. For those who are claiming it’s a way for corporations to look like they’re doing something helpful, but are actually doing it to promote brands, why does this matter when it DOES address complaints of actual people? Does it matter that doing ANYTHING right may have more than one consequence, or that it may benefit the actor?

4. If you are “concerned” about the “culture war,” why? Are you, or a principle or institution you care about, threatened in any way by it? How and why?

[RobinA]

24. It Doesn't Hurt Me

to have every person removed from company branding, it's the scrubbing of our lives. If you think about what public life would be like with everything removed that could possibly upset anyone, it strikes me as pretty grim. I see a black and white picture of East Germany circa 1950. Hell, I don't even think the things I don't like should be removed from existence. I can find The Bachelor offensive to women and not call for its removal.

[Jirel]

28. How is that "the scrubbing of our lives?"

It's commercial brands. Who cares?

The worry that "everything" will be "removed that could possibly upset anyone" is a right-wing talking point. What are we going to lose? Some changes to band and sports team names, playing a few songs less on the radio, what? Even Disney figured out never to release Song of the South on video, long ago. All those guilty pleasures that don't age well, like MASH reruns, will still exist on DVD, cable channels, and in our homes. BS like The Bachelor will die out on its own when nobody wants to watch it or sponsor it. What things of any worth will really be lost?

[wryter2000]

11. Is it really going to hurt you if they call it something else?

Maybe you should ask an native Alaskan how they feel about it.

[Phoenix61]

12. It's an opportunity to rebrand their product.

Have a launch and recapture part of the market Klondike has taken. Hope it works out better than “New “ Coke for them.

[hlthe2b]

13. Is there any evidence (as there is for the other products) that Eskimo natives or other

indigenous people of northern climes have found this offensive? If so, hell yes let it go. But this seems unusually timed.

[TlalocW]

14. Oh, noooo

A product I haven't bought in years (and then probably a knock-off version with a different name) and will have no effect on my life whatsoever is changing its name... Grrr, I guess.

I'll show them. I'll show them all. First I'll start buying their product - and Land O'Lakes, Aunt Jemima syrup, etc. and then go back to my preferred brands. I hope they're ready for the boom as they'll not see my $2.98 again!

TlalocW

[LeftInTX]

15. I am gonna miss Mia on Land O Lakes

It was the one product that I bought because of the packaging. It was good quality art. Their newest packaging is blah.

[DFW]

18. Aunt Jemima products aren't sold here in Germany

But I think Uncle Ben's rice is available in some stores. Even in politically sensitive Germany, no one has remarked on that as far as I know. No one has said anything about Quaker Oats, either, but that could be due to a severe shortage of Quakers in Germany.

[LeftInTX]

20. The Quaker guy isn't facing controversy.....yet!!

I like the Quaker oat guy.

I also really liked the Cream of Wheat guy, because it was served to me by a black man in the same outfit when I was in the hospital. I was only 2 and was all alone and scared. My roommate was about 12 and I thought she was an old lady. She had just had a tonsillectomy and snored all night. I was afraid of her!!! I cried all night!!


In comes this guy with Cream of Wheat. It was so comforting. I was hooked on Cream of Wheat after that.

This was in the 1950's, so nowadays food service is quite different and toddlers aren't stuck in rooms in the same manner.

[packman]

25. What's the beef about the Quaker Oats guy?

[LeftInTX]

27. Nothing that I know of

[DFW]

30. But the Quaker used to say "Nothing is better for Thee than me"

Bad grammar and a little on the arrogant side. VERY un-PC!!

[RobinA]

26. Agree Completely

I always thought that packaging was lovely on the shelf and bought it accordingly. I also bought Aunt Jemima because when I started buying for myself I remembered the warm homey feeling I used to get from the pre-business attire Jemima. To me she was a warm woman who cooked good food. I won't purposely stop buying those products, but the branding won't guide my hand anymore.

[Jirel]

29. In other words, nothing of value has been lost.

If you want the old Aunt Jemima bottles, you can keep one or buy an antique. You can even put REAL maple syrup in there and have the best of both worlds. Who cares if the branding won't attract you once they get rid of a racist stereotype? You'll either transition to a much better tasting product or they'll up their game and you might like theirs best. Win/win either way.

[RandiFan1290]

21. Are you going to be OK?

[Iggo]

32. Good.