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PepsiCo has announced that products sold under the Aunt Jemima name will be rebranded as Pearl Milling Company.
Products branded with the Pearl Milling Company name, including pancake mixes, syrups and flour, will start to arrive on the market in June.
PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats subsidiary acknowledged that "Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype", when it announced that it would replace and retire the range last year.
The Aunt Jemima logo featured an image of an African American woman named after a character from 19th-century minstrel shows, which negatively caricatured people of African descent.
Quaker has already transitioned away from the imagery, and in this new announcement, PepsiCo said that products will continue to be available under the Aunt Jemima name without the character image until June, when Pearl Milling Company-branded products hit shelves.
Though new to stores, Pearl Milling Company was founded in 1888 in Missouri, and was the originator of the self-rising pancake mix that would later become known as Aunt Jemima.
Throughout the effort that led to the new name, PepsiCo says that Quaker worked to gather a range of perspectives, including from consumers and external cultural experts, in an effort to “ensure the new brand was developed with inclusivity in mind”.
In the coming weeks, Pearl Milling Company will announce the details of a new $1 million commitment that will aim to empower black women and girls.