Uncle Ben's Rice Branded as Racist Caricature, Pulled From Shelves
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Food giant Mars Inc. announced Monday that it will be discontinuing its Uncle Ben's rice brand, following a wave of criticism over its depiction of a Black man on its packaging. The company said in a statement that it recognizes that the brand's "image and packaging" have "become outdated and inappropriate" and that it is "committed to removing all remaining instances of racial imagery from our brands."
The Uncle Ben's brand has been around for more than 100 years, but its origins date back to the 1940s when it was created by a Texas rice farmer named Gordon L. Harwell. Harwell named the brand after a Black rice farmer he knew named Uncle Ben. The original packaging featured a smiling and contented-looking Black man in a white suit and tie.
In recent years, however, the brand has come under fire for its use of racial imagery. Critics have argued that the Uncle Ben's logo perpetuates negative stereotypes about Black people and that it is a reminder of the racist history of the United States.
Mars Inc. said that it understands that the Uncle Ben's brand is "a symbol of pride for many Black families" but that it also recognizes that the brand's "packaging no longer reflects the values of our company or our consumers." The company said that it is working on a new brand identity for the Uncle Ben's product line and that it will be sharing more information about the new brand in the coming months.
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