In June 2020, Quaker Oats announced the decision to retire the brand name Aunt Jemima, but now it’s possible it may make a return in 2025.
After facing years of scrutiny, the food conglomerate finally recognized that “Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype” and made the decision that the brand needed to put forth more of an effort “to make progress toward racial equality.”
“As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations,” Kristin Kroepfl, vice president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, said in a news release at the time.
A little over four years later, rumors began to spread that due to consumer pushback, the Aunt Jemima brand was set to be revived in 2025.
So what is the truth? Will we see Aunt Jemima back on the shelves or will Quaker Oats’ syrup and pancake mixes continue to be called Pearl Milling Co.?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like that rumor about Aunt Jemima making a return in 2025 was just that, a rumor.
According to Snopes, the buzz began when two Facebook pages shared a post on October 20 claiming, “Boycotts work! Quaker has announced that Aunt Jemima will be back on syrup bottles in 2025.”
Hundreds of comments of support were left, and the rumor even began to spread on X. Unfortunately, a quick Google search will show you there is no indication that Quaker Oats plans to bring its Aunt Jemima brand back to stores.
It seems the rumor originated on the Facebook page ALLOD, a self-described “network of trollery.” The page was responsible for spreading the fictional story from The Dunning-Kruger Times, which gave several hints throughout that the story was fake.
“You heard it here first, patriots. Quaker Oats, the parent company of the Pearl Milling Company, the former owner of the Aunt Jemima Brand, will revive the iconic cook on its boxe4s and syrup bottles starting next year sometime,” the story began.
“According to our source, a guy named Derek who used to work for a company that delivered Quaker Oats to local convenience stores for resale at a 500% markup, told us he heard it from his friend Dale in distribution who used to date Rachel in Human Resources. Rachel’s mom worked for Quaker from 1982 to 1991 and swears that she heard voices in her head tell her all about the transition.”