PepsiCo announced the new brand name replacing Aunt Jemima. Pearl Milling Company is the new brand name. Consumers will see the new brand on the pancake mixes and syrups formerly under the Aunt Jemima brand. Expect to see the new Pearl Milling Company brand on shelves in June 2021.
PepsiCo says the Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was the originator of the iconic self-rising pancake mix that would later become known as Aunt Jemima.
PepsiCo owns the Quaker Oats Company which originally purchased the Aunt Jemima brand in 1925. The company says it updated the image over the years to remove racial stereotypes. The company announced it was transitioning away from the Aunt Jemima brand in June 2020. Consumers found the imagery and branding to still be utilizing racial stereotypes.
Other brands that used problematic imagery, such as Mars Inc. and their Uncle Ben’s Rice, also reevaluated last Summer. Mars said they were going to “evolve” the brand.
Mars Inc. said they were “evaluating all possibilities.” The company said “racism has no place in society.”
