The Juneteenth Branding Scramble

One of the crowd source outcomes of these #BLM protests is the public's reaction to state and city monuments regarding key figures of our nation's history. These are former presidents, politicians, and war "hero" figures who transformed our nation a couple hundred years ago...such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, etc., and pro-Confederacy monuments in the southern US states (e.g., Jefferson Davis). Here's a site that goes into detail about Juneteenth, celebrated annually on June 19. I'm pretty sure most people in the US have not really heard nor seen any cultural awareness festivals surrounding this non-holiday significant date; unless you live in Texas where it became a state holiday in 1980.

Racism is a hot topic this year and legacy brands want to be seen as being culturally sensitive to its consumers. These companies have announced that they're changing their racial stereotype product images of certain branded products:

• PepsiCo / Quaker Oats North America
• Aunt Jemima (product features a black woman)
• Mars Inc
• Uncle Ben's (logo features a black man)
• B&G Foods - Cream of Wheat (logo features a black chef)
• Conagra Brands
• Mrs. Butterworth's (a matronly-shaped bottle since 1961)
• Land o' Lakes - changed its almost 100-year old logo earlier this year to replaced the focal image of a Native American woman with the text "farmer owned"

Do you think brands are overreacting to public sentiment? Why would it matter if a black man or woman is a spokesperson for a consumer product? To me, as an Asian consumer, these products don't appear to have a sinister, racist motive for featuring African Americans in their product packaging.

If there were really such a fervor over racism on branded packaging, why then are Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworths the two most popular syrup brands by product revenue? 130.59 million Americans used Aunt Jemima and 51.8 million American used Mrs Butterworths in 2019, according to Statista. 54.86 million Americans consumed Uncle Ben's rice and rice dishes in 2019 (source: Statista), yielding $11 million in annual revenue.

Frankly, I'm not sure that a logo change would help you sell more product to the demographics that already purchase the product based on other factors: price, availability, taste, quality, etc. For brands that have been around for a long time, these announcements seem more like a PR stunt than anything else. IMHO. 

I suppose time will tell us if the logo rebrand has helped Land o' Lakes capture more consumer market share next year when they celebrate their 100th anniversary.

Library Kindle Reading List

Here's what's currently on the Kindle. Eventually I'll get through most of these and maybe even write a review of it. The current theme revolves around negotiation and its related tools subset: influence, charisma, and competitive intelligence gathering. Marketing is a lot like that. In the product and services content we write, we try to get you (the consumer) to want our products and services. 

• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
• The Scientist and the Spy by Mara Hvistendahl
• Sizing People Up: A Veteran FBI Agent's User Manual for Behavior Prediction by Dreeke & Stauth
• The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane

It is unlikely that I'll get through all of these in the 21 days the library lets me read these books. But, fortunately, there's the renew button. Unfortunately, there is a long wait list for many of these titles. 

If you're more of an audiophile, you can see Chris Voss' presentations on TED, Talks at Google, or listen to the Armchair Expert podcast.