marketing case study analysis

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RECKONING WITH JEMIMA: CAN THE BRAND BE REMADE FOR GOOD?

Joseph C. Miller (St. Ambrose University), Michael A. Stanko (North Carolina State University) and Mariam D. Diallo (North Carolina State University) wrote this case to provide material for class discussion in the hope that this case fosters meaningful conversations

regarding race and corporate social responsibility, as well as the power of brands to do good (and harm). The case is provided freely to faculty and students to further this goal. The authors thank Ivey Publishing for freely distributing this case study.

© Joseph C. Miller, Michael A. Stanko, Miriam D. Diallo Version: 2020-08-25

“We recognize Aunt Jemima's origins are based on a racial stereotype. While work has been done over the

years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes are not enough."

Kristin Kroepfl

Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Quaker Foods North America

June 17, 2020

Aunt Jemima was Ad Age magazine’s seventh most iconic brand mascot of the 20

th century,

1 alongside the

Energizer Bunny (#5), the Pillsbury Doughboy (#6), the Michelin Man (#8) and Tony the Tiger (#9). While

awareness of the Aunt Jemima brand was well established, Quaker Oats (who acquired the Aunt Jemima

brand nearly 100 years ago) and their parent company PepsiCo, had long recognized that their Aunt Jemima brand was viewed by many as insensitive. Author, commentator and professor Diane Roberts put it this

way: “Aunt Jemima is so familiar she is practically invisible, part of America’s racial background noise.” 2

Many long-time Aunt Jemima customers were completely unaware of the brand’s heritage.

The first half of 2020 was catastrophic by nearly any metric: with more than 10 million confirmed cases,

the COVID-19 pandemic damaged the US economy and those of other countries around the world, closed

schools and dramatically shifted the lives of millions as “social distancing” became a part of normal speech. On May 25, 2020 the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN led to unrest, protests, and calls

for change from many brands. While George Floyd was the latest unarmed Black person to be killed by

police in the US, there had been many earlier victims (such as Breonna Taylor on March 13). 3

On June 12, 2020 the Onion satirized Quaker Oats, running a story that management was replacing the

Aunt Jemima character with Sheila, a Black female lawyer who “enjoys pancakes sometimes,” complete with a new logo.

4 Online attention towards the brand and its origins was growing. Just three days later, the

singer/songwriter Kirby posted a video to TikTok entitled “How to Make a Non Racist Breakfast”. The

1 https://www.cnbc.com/2011/08/12/Top-Ad-Icons-of-the-20th-Century.html, posted August 12, 2011, accessed June 25, 2020. 2 Roberts, Diane. The Myth of Aunt Jemima: W hite W omen Representing Black W omen. Routledge, 2003 (p. 1). 3 https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/07/world/2020-year-in-review-july/, updated July 3, 2020, accessed July 27, 2020. 4 https://www.theonion.com/quaker-oats-replaces-historically-racist-aunt-jemima-ma-1844015205, posted June 12, 2020,

accessed June 26, 2020.

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TikTok included this dialogue: “Did you know the name Aunt Jemima means slave Mammy in the plantation south? Did you know the founder, Chris Rutt - a white man - got the name after attending a

minstrel show? Think Black Face. Did you also know he hired former slave Nancy Green to be his very

own Aunt Jemima, where she went around cooking pancakes and telling people stories of the good old

south? Then afterwards, they could take home a box of Aunt Jemima and that feeling of having their very own Mammy. Not today. Black lives matter people - even over breakfast.”

5 During the last sentence Kirby

dumped a box of Aunt Jemima pancake mix down the drain. The video was viewed over two million times

and amplified on social media by celebrities and executives, with the Aunt Jemima brand trending to number 10 in the U.S. on Twitter.

6 Web searches for the brand were at an all-time high.

7

On June 17, two days after Kirby’s TikTok was posted, Quaker Oats issued a press release announcing an upcoming rebranding for Aunt Jemima (Exhibit 1). The image of Aunt Jemima would be removed from

the packaging and changes to the brand name would be announced “at a later date”. The next decision

loomed: What should this new brand be? Could it be a force for good? View the TikTok at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBZvTyQZ96M

Quaker Oats’ press release pledged “a minimum of $5 million over the next five years to create meaningful,

ongoing support and engagement in the Black community.” This $5 million was in addition to a much larger set of initiatives announced on June 16 by PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta (Exhibit 2).

The announcement regarding the Aunt Jemima brand was reported by news media around the world.

Shortly after, a social media post stating that Nancy Green became one of America’s first Black millionaires widely circulated. The Associated Press fact checked this and found it to be false, stating, “There is no

evidence that Green’s portrayal as Aunt Jemima made her into a millionaire”. 8

Descendants of other women who portrayed Aunt Jemima discussed their perspectives with the media. Larnell Evans Sr. (the great grandson of Anna Short Harrington, who Evans says was the successor to

Green) said: “This company profits off images of our slavery. And their answer is to erase my great-

grandmother's history. A Black female… It hurts." 9 Vera Harris, a relative of Lillian Richard who portrayed

Aunt Jemima more recently than Harrington, said: “I wish we would take a breath and not just get rid of

everything, because good or bad, it is our history…We are proud of our cousin.” 10

Dr. Jason Chambers (an Advertising Professor at the University of Illinois) responded to these families’ sentiment during a radio conversation about racism and brands: “The image that [these women] helped to

create lasted for the better part of a century; that can’t be erased from history. While I respect [these

opinions], I disagree with it vehemently and I think that you are wrong. You can’t take away the history and the work that [these women] did for the company…that won’t get removed by changing the logo,

changing the brand name.” “Your ancestor will live on in terms of this story, but in terms of this brand its

time has long since needed to come to an end.” 11

5 TikTok @singkirbysing, post June 15, 2020 (screenshot taken June 23, 2020). Video can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBZvTyQZ96M, accessed June 23, 2020. 6 bloombergquint.com/politics/trump-policing-order-atlanta-fuels-reform-calls-protest-wrap, posted June 16, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 7 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2010-01-01%202020-06-23&geo=US&q=Aunt%20Jemima, accessed June 23, 2020. 8 https://apnews.com/afs:Content:9030960288, posted June 19, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 9 https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/aunt-jemimas-great-grandson-enraged-her-legacy- vanishing?fbclid=IwAR3woyP4vrEo8rmSNuexxCBqEMyX9KgjMK-W 1aM_6ivc5v9tQa7Aia_g17I, posted June 18, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 10 https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2020/06/21/aunt-jemima-changes-quaker-oats-racial- stereotypes/3233423001/, posted June 21, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 11 https://the1a.org/segments/reckoning-with-racist-brands/, originally aired June 24, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020.

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Of course, many other brands had racially insensitive histories: Maxwell House advertisements in the 1930s included servers in blackface.

12 In the late 1800s Parker Brothers marketed a card game that included

the N word as part of the product name. 13

Fast forwarding to much more recent times, Land’O Lakes butter

removed its traditional “Indian maiden” from packaging in February 2020. 14

Dryer’s Ice Cream announced

in June 2020 that their Eskimo Pie Ice Cream product would be changed given its cultural insensitivity, though the intended new name had not yet been announced. On June 17

th , Mars announced that its Uncle

Ben’s brand would be evolving (including its “visual brand identity”). Mars’ press release included: “We

don’t yet know what the exact changes or timing will be, but we are evaluating all possibilities”. 15

The Uncle Ben’s brand had been evolving for some time, including a 2007 advertisement featuring Uncle Ben

as a fictional CEO. 16

Writing in Forbes, Michael Stone commented on Mars’ announcement: “What struck

me is that this change at Mars is being driven not only by consumers, but by the employees of Mars”. 17

Other brands that had long resisted change, specifically Cleveland’s MLB and Washington’s NFL

franchises, both announced on July 3, 2020 that they would “thoroughly review” their team names “to

determine the best path forward”. 18

In the case of Washington, on July 2nd, the owner of their stadium’s naming rights (FedEx) made an announcement encouraging a change of the team name,

19 while Nike (their

primary apparel and uniform supplier) removed the team’s apparel from nike.com. 20

It was reported that

these actions were prompted by a group of 87 investment firms who sent a June 26 letter to three brands (FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo – the team’s official beverage partner) asking these firms to sever their ties with

the Washington NFL franchise unless the name was changed. 21

On the afternoon of the day Washington

announced a review of their team name, a PepsiCo statement was issued:

“We have been in conversations with the NFL and Washington management for a few weeks about this

issue. We believe it is time for a change. We are pleased to see the steps the team announced today, and we

look forward to continued partnership.” 22

On July 13, Washington announced that they would move forward with retiring the team’s name and logo, 23

opting to temporarily use “Washington Football Team” as their team name for the 2020 season. 24

Fan communities on social media ignited over the franchise’s decision after decades of resistance. Players

12 Behnken, B. D., & Smithers, G. D. (2015). Racism in American popular media: From Aunt Jemima to the Frito Bandito. 13 Ibid 14 https://minnesotareformer.com/2020/04/15/land-olakes-quietly-gets-rid-of-iconic-indian-maiden/ - :~:text=Land O'Lakes released new,a century in February 2020., posted April 15, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 15 https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases/uncle-bens-brand-evolution, posted June 17, 2020, accessed

June 25, 2020. 16 https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/uncle-bens-says-it-plans-evolve-its-brand-including-visual-identity/2262516, posted June 17, 2020, accessed June 26, 2020. 17 https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelstone/2020/06/23/farewell-aunt-jemima-and-uncle-benbrand-symbols-are- falling/#53ea94d02fb9, posted June 23, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 18 https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29406956/cleveland-indians-determine-best-path-forward-team-name, posted July 3, 2020, accessed July 4, 2020. 19 https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/fedex-asks-washington-redskins-team-to-change-name-2020-07-03, posted July 3, 2020, accessed July 4, 2020. 20 https://sports.yahoo.com/after-investors-call-for-name-change-nike-appears-to-wipe-redskins-off-its-website- 014246135.html, posted July 2, 2020, accessed July 4, 2020. 21 https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29396653/report-investors-call-nike-fedex-pepsico-cut-ties-redskins-name, posted July 1, accessed July 4, 2020 and https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29460299/how-events-2020-forced-washington-nfl-team- name-change, posted July 14, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020. 22 https://www.si.com/nfl/redskins/news/pepsico-issues-statement-on-redskins, posted July 3, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020. 23 https://www.wsj.com/articles/washingtons-nfl-team-officially-drops-the-redskins-name-11594645211, posted July 13, 2020, accessed July 15, 2020. 24 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-name-for-washingtons-nfl-team-the-washington-football-team-11595526555, posted

July 23, 2020, accessed July 27, 2020.

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challenged their social media followers to come up with a new team name. 25

Reactions poured in from fans and non-fans alike who shared reimagined logos and uniforms.

26

BRIEF HISTORY OF AUNT JEMIMA

The origins of the Aunt Jemima Pancake brand began in 1889 when Chris Rutt, one of the co-owners of the Pearl Milling Company, bought the abandoned flour mill in St. Joseph, MO with his business partner

Charles G. Underwood. 27

Rutt attended a performance by Peter F. Baker, a white vaudeville performer,

singing and dancing the song “Old Aunt Jemima” dressed as the title character. 28

After seeing this performance, Rutt decided to adopt the Aunt Jemima character as their pancake mix’s persona.

29

RG Davis purchased the fledgling company from Rutt and Underwood, and turned Aunt Jemima pancake mix into a nationally distributed product. To bring the Aunt Jemima image to life for the 1893 Chicago

World’s Fair, Nancy Green was hired to portray Aunt Jemima, which has been described as “the first time

a living person was hired to impersonate a trademark.” 30

An appearance by Green would typically consist

of Aunt Jemima making pancakes in front of a gathering of people, while spinning yarns – that is, telling stories - about cooking in Antebellum (i.e., prior to the American civil war) plantations down south.

31 A

series of advertisements featuring Aunt Jemima’s character in the early 1900s appealed to mainstream white

America’s underlying desire to romanticise the Antebellum south. The ads on the following page, run by the Davis Milling (left)

32 and the later-renamed Aunt Jemima Mills Company (right)

33 serve as artefacts of

the general character of Aunt Jemima as the brand became well known to American consumers.

JEMIMA’S IMAGERY AND THE MAMMY CARICATURE

Aunt Jemima represents one of the most forward examples of the caricature of the “Mammy” - the most

well-known and enduring distortion of African American women. The Mammy trope existed from the days of slavery all the way through Jim Crow America, and remains visible in the modern day. Mammy is

typified by her large smile, full-throated laugh, and dedication to service. In many examples of the

caricature, she is shown to have great affinity and loyalty to the white family she serves. Moreover, Mammy

is effectively desexualized through her portrayal as older, overweight, and swarthy, making her trustable, particularly for white women.

34 The Mammy caricature was often invoked as an attempt to show the human

side of slavery - essentially a lie to bring American whites a degree of comfort regarding the continuous

subjugation of American Blacks. 35

25 https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29455046/dwayne-haskins-social-media-react-washington-nfl-team-name-change, posted July 13, 2020, accessed July 14, 2020. 26 Ibid 27 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/not-gone-with-the-wind-the-perpetuation-of-the-mammy-stereotype/, posted November 30, 2015, accessed June 24, 2020. 28 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/not-gone-with-the-wind-the-perpetuation-of-the-mammy-stereotype/, posted November 30, 2015, accessed June 24, 2020. 29 Maurice M. Manring, Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima, (USA, The University Press of Virginia, 1998) 30 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/opinion/aunt-jemima-racist-branding.html, posted June 19, 2020, accessed June 26, 2020. 31 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/obituaries/nancy-green-aunt-jemima-overlooked.html, posted July 17, 2020, accessed July 28, 2020. 32 Advertisement from the November 7, 1909 edition of the New-York Tribune for Aunt Jemima’s Pancake Flour. Credit: Image by Davis Milling Company, via W ikimedia Commons 33 Advertisement from the December 1916, Ladies Home Journal. Obtained via The Advertising Archives. 34 https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/, posted 2000, edited 2012, accessed June 27, 2020. 35 https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/, posted October 2000, accessed June 24, 2020.

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Even Jemima’s designation as “Aunt” was a direct harkening back to the period of slavery, as Aunt was a

common title for older Black women - Blacks were unafforded titles of courtesy such as “madam” or “sir”

during that period. 36

The reassuring feeling that Jemima brought to the American breakfast table of the first half of the 20th century was based on a latent desire to have the populace ignore the inhumanities of Black

bondage of the past and Black servitude in the present. 37

QUAKER OATS AND PEPSICO

Quaker Oats purchased Aunt Jemima Mills in 1926. Soon after the acquisition, an artist was commissioned

to reimagine the imagery associated with Aunt Jemima. 38

As a brand of Quaker Oats, the image of Ms.

Jemima was spread even more widely. Sponsorship of a radio show, “The Aunt Jemima Variety Hour” helped build brand awareness during the 1930s and 1940s, routinely featuring Aunt Jemima’s white male

co-star requesting: “One of your old plantation sayings, if you will”. 39

The use of cultural tropes was still

present in advertisements as this 1955 advertisement (following page)40 reveals:

36 https://www.blackvoicenews.com/2008/01/24/boy-uncle-and-aunt-had-different-meanings-when-whites-used-them- referring-to-blacks-part-2-of-3/, posted January 24, 2008, accessed June 27, 2020. 37 Kevin James Byrne Minstrel Traditions: Mediated Blackface in the Jazz Age (New York, Routledge, 2020) 38https://web.archive.org/web/20140424192836/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR5184&chapterID=G R5184-561&path=books%2Fgreenwood, posted 1994, accessed June 24, 2020. 39 Behnken, B. D., & Smithers, G. D. (2015). Racism in American popular media: From Aunt Jemima to the Frito Bandito., p. 30. 40 Life Magazine, April 25, 1955, p. 120. Obtained via The Advertising Archives.

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Over the years the Aunt Jemima brand has been owned by Quaker Oats, Quaker has performed a balancing

act of maintaining the feel of the brand while providing subtle updates to Aunt Jemima’s look to keep up with contemporary tastes. One prominent brand sponsorship, the Aunt Jemima Pancake House, was located

in Disneyland’s “Frontierland” section from 1955 until 1970. 41

During the 1960’s, in response to criticism

from African Americans on the caricature that Aunt Jemima evoked, Quaker gave the character of Jemima lighter skin, a slimmer physique, and replaced her bandana headgear for a head band.

42 Dr. David Pilgrim

described the new Aunt Jemima as having the “appearance of an attractive maid – not a Jim Crow era

mammy”. 43

During the 1950s and 1960s Aunt Jemima tended to appear in television ads only inanimately

on a box, surrounded by white actors. 44

To celebrate the 100 th Birthday of the Aunt Jemima brand, in 1989 Quaker Oats once again updated Jemima,

giving her more of a look of an active grandmother – removing her hair accessories and granting her pearl earrings and a lace collar.

45 Her wide smile was still recognizable as the venerable Aunt Jemima. Although

the imagery of Jemima was modernized, the name of the product remained intact despite its racially charged

connotations. As Ron Bottrell, Quaker Oats spokesman, remarked in response to questions near the time of

41 https://duchessofdisneyland.com/park-history/aunt-jemima-pancake-house/, posted May 4, 2017, accessed June 25, 2020. 42 https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/food-matters/not-gone-with-the-wind-the-perpetuation-of-the-mammy-stereotype/ 43 https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/, posted October 2000, accessed June 25, 2020. 44 Behnken, B. D., & Smithers, G. D. (2015). Racism in American popular media: From Aunt J emima to the Frito Bandito., p. 31. 45 https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-04-28-8904080069-story.html, posted April 28, 1989, accessed June

25, 2020.

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the brand’s anniversary regarding why the name wouldn’t be changed: “That kind of familiarity and recognition is an invaluable asset.”

46

In 1994, the Aunt Jemima brand used the singer Gladys Knight as a spokesperson, particularly for their

lower calorie syrup. 47

Knight’s involvement with the brand led to an uproar. 48

The Associated Press described it as follows: “Some critics are taking a bleak view of the prominence Knight is bringing to Aunt

Jemima. They claim it is another example of the corporate missteps that occur when race and advertising

meet.” 49

Knight defended herself: "For me, it's what's in the box, not what's on the box…they have excellent products.”

50 In the years following this, Aunt Jemima advertising kept a lower profile.

PepsiCo Inc. purchased Quaker Oats for $13.8 billion in 2001. 51

Speculated to be a purchase motivated by Quaker’s valuable Gatorade brand as well as its snack food business, analysts at the time expected many of

Quaker’s food products to be sold off. 52

Instead, PepsiCo largely kept the portfolio of food products

acquired in the Quaker Oats acquisition, despite some calls for PepsiCo to divest the Quaker Oats division. 53

As of 2019, Quaker Oats North America represented approximately 3.7% of PepsiCo’s worldwide revenue and 5.1% of PepsiCo’s worldwide operating profit (see Exhibit 3).

INERTIA: WHY HADN’T CHANGE COME SOONER?

There had been continued calls to change or get rid of the Aunt Jemima brand for decades, including a 2015

editorial entitled, “Can We Please, Finally, Get Rid of ‘Aunt Jemima’?” 54

It has been reported that Quaker

Oats had been considering significant changes to the Aunt Jemima brand during the mid 2010s. A team was formed to work on rebranding possibilities, with the intent to implement changes during a relatively

tranquil period in the future. Dominque Wilburn, a former PepsiCo employee who was part of a rebranding

group at the time, commented that team members were “very aware of the broader implications, and what would happen if we got this [rebranding] wrong”.

55 While Wilburn’s team recommended changing the Aunt

Jemima name and removing her image at the time, neither of these tactics were approved by top

management nor implemented until 2020. PepsiCo commented that in 2016 “several workstreams” were

reviewing the brand. “Due to personnel changes and shifting priorities, the workstream was eventually put on hold.”

56 Wilburn implied that different motivations were in play: “Aunt Jemima was a category leader,

and nobody wanted to mess with that stream of revenue.” 57

In 2017, a Pepsi ad featured model Kendall Jenner giving a can of Pepsi Max to a police officer at a protest

that appeared similar to those associated with Black Lives Matter. The ad was quickly pulled by PepsiCo 46 W itt, Doris. Black hunger: Soul food and America. U of Minnesota Press, 2004, p. 22. 47 The ad can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1zmnW UKe50, posted February 12, 2012, accessed July 2, 2020. 48 https://adage.com/article/news/aunt-jemima-problem-gladys-knight/89595, posted October 24, 1994, accessed July 2, 2020. 49 https://www.greensboro.com/blacks-question-aunt-jemima-ads/article_b1774f40-4b0c-5173-a2a8-368cf5a615b2.html, posted November 12, 1994, accessed July 2, 2020. 50 Ibid 51 https://money.cnn.com/2001/08/02/deals/pepsico/#:~:text=PepsiCo%20completes%20Quaker%20merger%20- %20Aug,2%2C%202001&text=NEW %20YORK%20(CNNfn)%20-%20PepsiCo,acquisition%20of%20Q, posted August 2, 2001, accessed June 24, 2020. 52 https://www.forbes.com/2001/08/02/0802topnews.html#385c97676e5c, posted August 2, 2001, accessed June 25, 2020. 53 https://www.thestreet.com/markets/mergers-and-acquisitions/why-pepsi-should-consider-selling-quaker-oats-or-part-of-it- 13138647, posted May 5, 2015, accessed June 25, 2020. 54 https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/06/24/besides-the-confederate-flag-what-other-symbols-should-go/can-we- please-finally-get-rid-of-aunt-jemima, posted June 24, 2015, accessed June 26, 2020. 55 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-racial-stereotype.html, posted June 17, 2020, accessed June 26, 2020. 56 Ibid 57 Ibid

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after being accused of being tone deaf to issues of privilege and trivializing to the Black Lives Matter movement.

58 Criticism of the ad was immediate and immense.

59

The parent company, PepsiCo, had set ambitious sustainability goals, including goals for employee

diversity and pay equity. PepsiCo’s “Performance with Purpose” program had been in place since 2006, as an effort to integrate sustainability into PepsiCo’s operations.

60 As can be seen in Exhibit 4, PepsiCo

had been following what was seen as a best practice to foster diversity: to fully disclose race and gender of

employees by job category. As of 2017, Fortune reported that only 3% of Fortune 500 companies followed this practice, with most complying companies operating in the tech sector.

61 As of 2020, PepsiCo was on

Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list and named by Forbes to be among America’s Best

Employers for Diversity. 62

PepsiCo was #51 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list. 63

In 2019, the Pepsi brand was valued by Interbrand as the world’s 24

th most valuable brand, with a brand value of $20.5B.

64

CHANGE IS CERTAIN, BUT WHAT IS THE RIGHT CHANGE?

Since 2016, it had been reported that spending on advertising and other forms of promotion for Aunt Jemima

had been minimal. According to the market research firm Kantar, in 2019 Quaker Oats spent an estimated

$245,000 promoting the Aunt Jemima brand, a fraction of what Quaker Oats spent on other brands (for instance, Life Cereal, another product of Quaker Oats, spent an estimated $6.2m on promotion in 2019).

65

Aunt Jemima’s product line-up primarily consisted of pancake mix and syrup, sold in the US and around

the world. While a line of frozen foods had been licensed to a different company, production of these frozen foods was discontinued in 2017 (which did not appear related to ethical concerns).

66 Until very recently,

sales in the pancake mix category had been slightly declining; Food Manufacturing reported that 60% of

U.S. households used pancake/waffle mix in 2016 compared to 64% in 2006. 67

However, during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine, sales of pancake mix increased dramatically as consumers stocked up on shelf

stable, relatively low cost food options (many baking products showed increased sales during the

pandemic). 68

US annual retail sales of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup were estimated at $144m in 2018, showing slight

growth from 2017. 69

Statista reports that in 2019, 131 million Americans used Aunt Jemima syrup, making

it the pancake syrup used most often in the United States, more than doubling competitors such as Mrs.

58 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8y9i1gkAFQ, ABC News “Pepsi, Kendall Jenner protest ad called ‘tone deaf’, posted April 5. 2017, accessed June 26, 2020. 59 https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/04/kendall-jenner-pepsi-ad-protest-black-lives-matter, posted April 4, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/critics-notebook-real-problem-kendall-jenners-pepsi-ad-991932, posted April 7, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020. 60 https://www.pepsico.com/docs/album/sustainability-report/2019-csr/2019_sustainability_report_summary.pdf, accessed June 26, 2020. 61 https://fortune.com/2017/06/07/fortune-500-diversity/, posted June 7, 2017, accessed June 26, 2020. 62 https://www.pepsico.com/about/awards, accessed June 26, 2020. 63 https://fortune.com/fortune500/2020/search/, accessed June 26, 2020. 64 https://www.interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2019/ranking/pepsi/, accessed July 2, 2020. 65 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-racial-stereotype.html, posted June 17, 2020, accessed June 26, 2020. 66 https://www.fooddive.com/news/pinnacle-recalls-aunt-jemima-frozen-products-then-discontinues-them-altog/442190/, posted May 8, 2017, accessed June 25, 2020. 67 https://www.foodmanufacturing.com/consumer-trends/news/13163815/packaged-facts-still-room-for-pancakes-and- waffles-at-americas-breakfast-table , posted August 25, 2016, accessed June 25, 2020. 68 https://www.iriworldwide.com/IRI/media/Library/COVID-19-Thought-Leadership-4-17-2020.pdf, posted April 17, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020. 69 Mintel report, Sugar and Alternative Sweeteners, US December 2018.

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Butterworth’s (52m), Log Cabin (48m) and Hungry Jack (36m). 70

In the smaller pancake/waffle mix category, Aunt Jemima was also the market share leader, with a 32% share in the U.S. as of 2017,

representing retail revenue of $125m. 71

Competitors in this space included Krusteaz (13% market share),

Hungry Jack (also 13%) and Betty Crocker (11%). 72

PepsiCo’s total annual worldwide revenue derived

from Aunt Jemima products was estimated at $350m. 73

As part of the June 17 announcement, Quaker Oats announced that it would “donate a minimum of $5

million over the next five years to create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community.”

74 Of course, “at least $5m” (Exhibit 1) could turn into much more. This was alongside the

more substantial PepsiCo initiative announced the day before, which involved more than $400m over five

years across initiatives such as increased sourcing from Black owned suppliers and scholarship support for Black students (Exhibit 2).

There was a wide range of possibilities for the future of the brand: A completely new brand name could be

developed. The chairman of one branding consultancy estimated that developing a new brand name would cost between $100,000 to $200,000, though promoting the brand to build initial awareness would cost

substantially more: $20m to $50m. 75

Should Quaker Oats seize this moment to create a dramatically

different brand for the products formerly marketed under the Aunt Jemima brand? Is there a way to meaningfully connect the rebranding effort to PepsiCo's sustainability initiative?

76

One possibility that had been reportedly considered was changing the brand (and character’s) name to “Aunt J”.

77 The use of a brand (like “Aunt J”) derived from the original brand would lower advertising costs since

awareness of the original brand could be leveraged. It might also be possible to dramatically change the

character’s image to reflect Quaker Oats’ unfulfilled vision for this brand to represent “loving moms from

diverse backgrounds” (Exhibit 1).

There was also the option to shift the Aunt Jemima products to a different existing brand, such as branding

products directly under the Quaker Oats brand (which seemed more logical for pancake mix than for syrup), or their Life brand. Of course, removing the brand and the products entirely was conceivable, but there

didn’t seem to be any modern precedent for a category sales leading product being discontinued on ethical

grounds.

Mike Jackson, Founder of 2050 Marketing and former VP of Marketing for General Motors North America

commented during a discussion about brands and racism: “I do believe that it’s important for these brands

to acknowledge their past, to address it head on, to really understand how they got there. They also need to make sure that they move beyond that. Once they acknowledge that the name is derogatory…they need to

lead. By leading they need to invest in their communities, they need to invest in their employees, they need

to move beyond profits and shareholder return and really understand that they have a responsibility to the consumers that they serve. At the end of the day, it’s about action: that’s what’s going to drive their bottom

line and that’s what is going to ensure that those brands are successful for the next 100 years”.

70 https://www.statista.com/statistics/278485/us-households-most-used-brands-of-pancake-table-syrup/, accessed June 23, 2020. 71 Mintel report, Baking and Dessert Mixes, US February 2018. 72 Ibid 73 Estimate by case authors only for the purposes of providing some financial scope for the brand. 74 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aunt-jemima-brand-to-remove-image-from-packaging-and-change-brand- name-301078593.html, (posted June 17, 2020, accessed July 26, 2020). 75 https://fortune.com/2014/08/12/aunt-jemima-racism/, posted August 12, 2014, accessed July 5, 2020. 76 https://www.pepsico.com/docs/album/sustainability-report/2019-csr/2019_sustainability_report_summary.pdf, accessed June 26, 2020. 77 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/business/aunt-jemima-racial-stereotype.html, posted June 17, 2020 accessed June

26, 2020.

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Andrea McDaniels discussed her perspective in a Baltimore Sun commentary: Quaker Oats “only succumbed amid public pressure to review whether or not to change the images and words used to market

their products. I await the final outcome”. 78

Now that the announcement had been made, how fast did the brand need to move? The first steps had been taken, but what was the best path forward? How could the new brand be a force for good?

78 https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0619-mcdaniels-aunt-jemima-20200618- buf4uz6tlfduzjghljm5zkamca-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2H4dcxmLxoB8E7JL9747mMqmg8-6-

Lkyp7pFGSvZipCV3vDHDW wK0c6eA, posted June 18, 2020, accessed June 30, 2020.

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Exhibit 1: Summary of Quaker Oats’ Press Release Regarding the Aunt Jemima Brand

The entire press release is available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aunt-jemima-brand-

to-remove-image-from-packaging-and-change-brand-name-301078593.html, (posted June 17, 2020,

accessed July 26, 2020).

Date: June 17, 2020

The Quaker Oats Company announced in a press release that it would remove the image of Aunt Jemima

from packaging (new packages will appear Q4 2020) and retire the Aunt Jemima brand name as it worked

“to make progress toward racial equality”. The new brand name will be announced “at a later date and will quickly follow the first phase of packaging changes”.

Kristin Kroepfl, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quaker Foods North America, said, “We

recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype. While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes

are not enough.” “As we work to make progress toward racial equality … we also must take a hard look

at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations.”

“We acknowledge the brand has not progressed enough to appropriately reflect the confidence, warmth

and dignity that we would like it to stand for today.” “The Aunt Jemima brand…has evolved over time with the goal of representing loving moms from diverse backgrounds who want the best for their

families.”

Quaker Oats plans to “further evolve” the more than 130-year-old breakfast brand into something “everyone can be proud of to have in their pantry”. Kroepfl also said that the company would continue

the conversation by listening to diverse perspectives, both internally within PepsiCo and externally from

the Black community. “The Aunt Jemima brand” pledged to donate at least $5 million over the next five years “to create meaningful, ongoing support and engagement in the Black community”. This $5 million

minimum commitment came the day after PepsiCo’s announcement from Chairman and CEO, Ramon

Laguarta, that the company will invest $400 million over five years “to lift up Black communities and

increase Black representation at PepsiCo”(see Exhibit 2). 79

79 https://www.pepsico.com/racial-equality-journey, accessed July 27, 2020.

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Exhibit 2: Summary of PepsiCo’s Announcement: “The Next Step in Our Equality Journey”

The full announcement from PepsiCo is available at: https://www.pepsico.com/racial-equality-journey

(accessed July 27, 2020). Note that the outline below is a non-comprehensive summary.

Date: June 16, 2020

Referring specifically to numerous recent killings of unarmed Black people, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, Ramon Laguarta recognized “that the first step toward change is to speak up, so I want to be very clear:

Black Lives Matter, to our company and to me.” Laguarta went on to speak broadly regarding the

importance of equality: “The struggle for equality exists in many forms around the world, from religious freedom, to gender equality, indigenous people’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, Latino rights in the U.S., and

other racial and ethnic discrimination.”

PepsiCo announced a five-year commitment involving over $400 million to address inequality, create

opportunity for Black communities and increase Black representation within the multinational company,

organizing these efforts across “People, Business, and Communities.”

People (total investment: $25m over 5 years)

- Grow number of Black managers by 30% by 2025. - Increase recruitment from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and “diversity

organizations” elsewhere.

- Scholarship support for students, including full support for 400 Black community college students per year.

- Unconscious bias training across the company.

Business (incremental investment: $400m over 5 years)

- “More than double” sourcing from Black-owned businesses. - Use PepsiCo’s clout to create more opportunities for Black creative professionals within

PepsiCo’s marketing agencies.

- Invest in local Black-owned businesses.

Communities (incremental investment: $12.5 over 5 years)

- Grants to support social programs focused on Black communities. - Support for Black owned restaurants (mentoring, training, assistance with financing) - Launch a fellowship program for Black non-profit CEOs.

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Exhibit 3: Financial Data ($ millions)

Quaker Foods North America PepsiCo

2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Revenue 2,482 2,465 2,503 2,564 2,543 67,161 64,661 63,525 62,799 63,056

Operating Profit 546 644 653 654 639 10,602 10,620 10,789 10,393 9,937

Quaker Foods North America data from Wharton Research Data Services, accessed June 24, 2020.

PepsiCo data from annual reports, https://www.pepsico.com/investors/financial-information/annual-reports-and-

proxy-information, accessed June 26, 2020.

Exhibit 4: PepsiCo Employee Diversity Statistics (2010-2019)

People of Color as a Percentage of Employees (U.S. only)

2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Board of

Directors

31% 36% 31% 33% 29% 31% 38% 38% 31% 33%

Senior

Executives

29% 38% 29% 42% 36% 36% 25% 25% 15% 23%

Executives 25% 25% 24% 24% 23% 22% 22% 22% 21% 20%

All Managers 28% 30% 29% 29% 28% 27% 27% 27% 27% 26%

All Employees 42% 41% 39% 38% 37% 35% 34% 34% 33% 29%

Women as a Percentage of Employees (Global)

2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Board of

Directors

23% 21% 23% 27% 29% 38% 31% 31% 31% 33%

Senior

Executives

20% 15% 21% 25% 27% 27% 25% 25% 31% 15%

Executives 35% 36% 34% 34% 32% 32% 31% 31% 31% 31%

All Managers 41% 36% 35% 35% 34% 33% 33% 33% 36% 32%

All Employees 25% 19% 19% 19% 18% 19% 19% 19% 19% 19%

PepsiCo’s stated target for 2025 is 50% of women in management roles.80

In terms of pay equity, Pepsi states that “after controlling for legitimate drivers of pay such as job level, geographic

location and performance ratings,” in the U.S. people of color and non-minorities are paid within 1% of each other.

Men and women are also paid within 1% of each other.81

All data for these tables assembled by the authors from PepsiCo annual reports,

https://www.pepsico.com/investors/financial-information/annual-reports-and-proxy-information, accessed June 25,

2020.

80 https://www.pepsico.com/about/diversity-and-engagement, accessed July 27, 2020. 81 Ibid

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