It’s crazy to see how in this modern era people are still being judged upon over something as stupid as the colour of someone’s skin. I think for a long time we wanted to make a difference and the Black lives matter movement gives us that opportunity to share our anger and pain. After the death of George Floyd, the world began to change, along with the food branding industry.

Worldwide Attention

For me what was most striking was the word wide and societal impact the movement has on society. Through the use of social media, people are far more likely to express their views. It created this chain effect whereby as soon as one person shared an image or a message about the protests people followed. Media has become far more political rather than being used as a platform whereby we share the self-obsessed images of our idealistic lives. With so many people involved in the movement, it was not a surprise when society started to show a change in accordance with the protest.

Food industry

I want to focus in particular on the food industry and how brands are changing their names and logos in order to become more socially acceptable in our ever-changing world.

Uncle Ben’s

Uncle Bens is a key example of food brands that are changing their logos in order to fit in with society. It’s logo holds very strong connotations to slavery in America which has angered many people. The original logo features a black man known as ‘Uncle Ben’. The word ‘uncle’ itself was used as a name of a slave particularly in the Southern regions of America. The move was made in order to ‘put an end to racial injustice’ as stated in the Daily Mail.

The font style remains pretty much the same. Very bold and blue which gives a calming effect to the reader. The contrast as well between both the blue and orange makes the text stand out far more than if the font was only placed on a single colour. Pastel colours are also now used which gives the logo a far more modern feel than before.

Aunt Jemima’s

Aunt Jemima’s is another food brand pledged to change its logo by the end of 2020. The current logo as the New York Times stated is ‘built on racist imagery’ as shown by the image of Aunt Jemima in the background. TikTok recently released a video about the history of the brand which sparked outrage across America. It is not yet known as to what the new logo will be changed to however there is said to be a completely new name change and it can be presumed that the image of Aunt Jemima will no longer be featured.

Moving Forward

There are still many food brands, mainly in America, that have racial connotations linked to the brand. ‘Cream of Wheat’ for instance and ‘Mrs Butterworth’s’ have pledged to change their logo due to the racial connotations they hold. From research, it is clear that many of these brands have a stereotypical image of a black person which in this modern era is completely unacceptable. In the future, I hope all food brands that may be linked to racism will change their typography in order to fit with the positive changing views in society.