The parent company of Eskimo Pie has vowed to change its name.
The term was referred to as “derogatory” by a representative for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the parent company of the brand, and the U.S. subsidiary for Froneri, reports Associated Press.
“We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,” said Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for Dreyer’s, said in a statement.
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Marquez added: “This move is part of a larger review to ensure our company and brands reflect our people values.”
Eskimo Pie is the latest of a list of brands reappraising their branding following protests to the death of George Floyd that have broken out throughout the country in the last few weeks.
Last week, Quaker Oats vowed to find a new name and packaging for the Aunt Jemima brand, whose origins the company said “are based on a racial stereotype.”
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Vera Harris, second cousin to Lillian Richard, who became a brand representative for Aunt Jemima in 1925, has since asked that the company and critics of the branding “reconsider just wiping all that away.”
“A lot of people want it removed. We want the world to know that our cousin Lillian was one of the Aunt Jemima’s and she made an honest living,” Harris told KLTV. “We would ask that you reconsider just wiping all that away. There wasn’t a lot of jobs, especially for black women back in that time. She was discovered by Quaker Oats to be their brand person,” she added.
Other companies that have publicly addressed their branding include Mars Inc., which announced that it will review its Uncle Ben’s rice brand, B&G Foods Inc., which said it will commence “an immediate review” of its Cream of Wheat hot cereal brand, and Conagra Brands, which said that its Mrs. Butterworth’s bottles are meant to evoke a “loving grandmother” but admitted that it can understand how the packaging could be misconstrued.
Eskimo Pie was patented in 1922, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
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