Aunt Jemima's New Name Is…

In May of last year, Adweek’s Lisa Lacy penned one of our most-read stories of the year, examining how the mascots for Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s, Cream of Wheat and Mrs. Butterworth’s were rooted in nostalgia for slavery—and pointed out how it’s hard to update a controversial mascot. All of these brands have since dropped or initiated reviews of their mascots, with PepsiCo leading the charge in June by announcing that it would retire the Aunt Jemima name and character after 131 years.

Now, the rebrand has been unveiled: The brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima is now called the Pearl Milling Company after a mill that produced the pancake mix in 1889. Learn about Aunt Jemima’s origins, how the revamp came together, and why the brand kept its overall look and historic feel.

This year’s Big Game ads performed somewhat weakly in more ways than one, but they especially missed the mark on diversity and inclusion. Of the 67 public figures who appeared in the commercials, only 14 were women, only 18 were African American, one was Asian American, one was Indian American, and about five were of multiple ethnicities. Two identified as LGBTQIA+, and one was differently abled. 

And that’s just the faces we saw: The vast under-representation of most communities also extended to the people who made the ads—which is at the core of the problem.

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Turns out Oatly doesn’t much care whether you hated its decidedly strange Super Bowl ad starring its CEO Toni Petersson singing the “Wow, No Cow” jingle. It even came prepared for that eventuality with dedicated t-shirts expressing such hatred—and they sold out within three minutes, according to chief creative officer John Schoolcraft.

We talked to Schoolcraft about why the brand went with that angle and how it paid off.

The constraints of the pandemic made Super Bowl 55 a show like no other, especially for advertisers, with an army of first-timers charging in as regulars sat on the sidelines. Meanwhile, brands did their best to carefully tip-toe around tonal pitfalls, offering a safe escape through humor, nostalgia and familiar celebrity faces. Things were different, yes, but this year’s landscape could point to some permanent changes. Adweek’s Erik Oster has expert analysis of what might stick around in years to come. 

More Updates and Analysis from Super Bowl 55:

MTV has unveiled its new spot “Unify the Dream,” which features narration encouraging people to “dream big” and “dream bold” in order to make Black history happen now, featuring prominent Black voices like House Rep. John Lewis and Vice President Kamala Harris. Learn how it came together.

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