Eskimo Pie ice cream will drop its ‘derogatory’ name as the 100-year-old brand follows the lead of Uncle Ben’s and Aunt Jemima
- Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings said the marketing would change by 2021
- Dreyer’s head of marketing said they ‘recognize the term is derogatory’
- Eskimo Pie was created in 1922 by Christian Kent Nelson, of Ohio
- Dreyer’s follow lead set by Quaker Oats, Uncle Ben’s, Cream of Wheat and others
The company that makes Eskimo Pie ice cream has announced that the brand is changing its name, losing a 100-year-old trademark which is now considered racially insensitive.
Nestle-owned Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings, which owns the dessert, said the marketing and brand name would change by the end of the year.
Eskimo Pie follows the lead set by Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben’s and Mrs Butterworth – all of whom are changing their branding.
Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for Dreyer’s, made the announcement in a statement on Saturday.
‘We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,’ she told CNN.
‘This move is part of a larger review to ensure our company and brands reflect our people values.’
Eskimo Pie will change its name by the end of the year, the company which owns it has said
Eskimo is commonly used in Alaska to refer to all Inuit and Yupik people, but many associate it with racist colonizers who settled in the Arctic and used the term.
The brand logo features an indigenous child with a fur-lined hood and mittens.
Eskimo Pie was invented in 1922 by Christian Kent Nelson, of Ohio.
Nelson found inspiration from a small boy who came into his confectionary store and could not choose between an ice cream and a chocolate bar.
Nelson asked why he did not buy both.
The boy replied: ‘Sure I know — I want ‘em both, but I only got a nickel.’
Nelson worked for weeks to find the right way to stick melting chocolate to ice cream, archivist Maurita Baldock writes, and found that cocoa butter was perfect.
An early advertisement for Eskimo Pie, which first came into existence in 1922.
He immediately set about producing 500 bricks.
In 1922 The New York Times reported that Nelson, then 29, was making $30,000 a week in royalties from sales of the product.
‘Probably no innovation of recent years designed to meet the cravings of a sweet tooth has met with such instantaneous success in New York, Chicago and other cities,’ The Times reported.
On Wednesday, the owners of Cream of Wheat, Uncle Ben’s rice and Mrs Butterworth’s all said they would be reviewing how the brands’ products are packaged.
Quaker Oats also said it would retire the name and image of Aunt Jemima, acknowledging that the logo of the pancake mix and syrup brand, a grinning black woman, was based on a racial stereotype.
Aunt Jemima pancake and waffle mix is changing its branding, the company said Wednesday
Uncle Ben’s rice is changing its marketing, the company announced on Wednesday