Uncle Ben’s rice will now be known as Ben’s Original, in a nod to either overweening political correctness or common decency, depending on your political orientation.
Mars Food announced Sept. 23 that the image of the smiling, bowtied black chef will be gone from packages of instant rice and other Ben’s products starting next year. Mars had let it be known back in June that it would be making changes to the brand; this announcement specifies those changes.
As I’ve said before, I’m happy to see Uncle Ben go, and take Aunt Jemima and the Cream of Wheat chef with him. What interests me now is how Mars finessed the whole thing.
Changing a brand name is never easy, even when it’s clearly necessary. That’s especially true for long-standing brands – and the ones with racial imagery tend to be long-standing, for obvious reasons. I think that’s one of the reasons Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima lasted as long as they did. Criticism of those two didn’t just start this year, but Mars and PepsiCo had a dilemma: How do you get rid of them without throwing away decades of brand equity?
There probably is no perfect solution, but I think Mars came close. “Ben’s Original” preserves continuity, at least to the point of making it clear to consumers that it’s the same product. The “Original” hints at the brand’s lineage. And of course, the removal of the photo and of “Uncle” as a condescending “honorific” takes away the racist connotations.
This won’t satisfy everyone. Some will bemoan rampant political correctness; others will see any allusion at all to “Ben” as racist. So Mars made a compromise that probably will annoy some people on both sides of the debate.
That’s how you know it’s a pretty good compromise.
