Online users have criticized Aunt Jemima’s new moniker, Pearl Milling Company, for sounding more like a “gravel mining company” or “a James Bond villain.”
Users swiftly expressed their opinions on Twitter, with some threatening to move to Mrs. Butterworth’s or Log Cabin, two of its rivals, due to the new name.
One individual said, “It sounds like a gravel mining company.”
Another person wrote that the Pearl Milling Company sounded like “something owned by a James Bond Villain.”
Another person commented: “Pearl Milling Company? Sounds like a generic house brand for Dollar General.”
Several users said that they would boycott the company altogether.
“Sadly I would never recognize it and will probably go to Log Cabin,” one person wrote.
“They really changed the name of Aunt Jemima syrup to Pearl Milling Company?! Like they really couldn’t think of a better name than that?! I’m sticking with Mrs. Butterworth’s from now on bc she thicc & rich, also doesn’t have a dumbass name,” another person commented.
The Aunt Jemima brand announced its name change following intense backlash for using a “racial stereotype” as basis for its syrup mascot.
The logo was created based on the 19th century “mammy” minstrel character – a black woman content to serve her white masters.
Pearl Milling Company is a reference to the small Missouri mill that produced the pancake mix – later branded Aunt Jemima – in 1889.
Sources: New York Post