The products are no longer called Uncle Bens.
They decided to change the name to just Ben after frequent accusations of racism against Uncle Ben’s logo – an illustration of a black rice farmer – and name. In plantation-era US, white people in the southern states would often refer to a black man as ‘uncle’ to avoid using the more respectful ‘mister’.
Last summer, Mars announced it would “evolve” the brand, in light of Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd
I'm not too sure how it affects us but the name change was seemingly a big thing in the states.
There are other examples of name changes with the same objective as the Uncle Ben one.
Country band Dixie Chicks changed their name to The Chicks, to help highlight racial inequality in the US. "Dixie" was often used as a nickname for the southern states that made up the Confederate States of America during the US Civil War era
The country band formerly known as Lady Antebellum changed its name to Lady A over concerns that the old name was racist . You might recall the song "Need you now" which won a Grammy for sing of the year. Antebellum means before a war and the term has been widely associated with the pre-Civil War period in the United States when slavery was practiced.
The band abbreviated the name to "Lady A" in June 2020 during the George Floyd protests in an attempt to blunt the name's associations with slavery
I grew up with Captain Bird's-eye with the big white beard and was OK for me then and now.
