It’s been roughly two years since PepsiCo erased Aunt Jemima and reintroduced Pearl Milling Company.
Per the corporate website navigation logos, Pearl Milling Company boasts having existed “Since 1889”—yet still embraces the “Same Great Taste As Aunt Jemima.”
“Our History” delivers revisionist history, acknowledging how the company bought and adopted the Aunt Jemima brand, while ignoring how the “mammy cook” toiled on the plantation of her master, Colonel Higbee.
The iconic mammy figure has been replaced by seemingly stock photography of grinning Black women, presumably representing the recipients of P.E.A.R.L. Pledges.
In 2022, PepsiCo and Pearl Milling Company awarded “$1 million in grants to seventeen nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating opportunities for Black women and girls across the country.” Although $1 million feels like low reparations after profiting from Aunt Jemima for over 125 years.
One can’t help but wonder about the number of Black women actually working for PepsiCo and Pearl Milling Company. And how many Black women lead at the advertising agencies cooking up campaigns for Pearl Milling Company?
The truth is probably a pile of pancake crumbs.
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