Cancel Culture Is Nothing New

The Name Changers — Full of Fun Facts!

“…in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” ~Benjamin Franklin

“…and change.” ~ Arthur Keith

Change in this world is taking place faster than ever, primarily due to technology.

But increasingly, change has been sought to improve the perception of products and services and to help bring them into 21st Century thinking — by the people. And it’s been going on for years.

In some cases, these changes were forced by public opinion. Some entities proactively changed the name of their companies or products to avoid that harmful exposure. Even Facebook did it. While I’m still on the fence about Meta, based on its definition, it wasn’t a bad pick:

Met-a — a prefix meaning: 1. changed in position or form, altered, transposed

There’s a Meta Street in Ventura, California.

Facebook has been fighting negative press based on its policies, power, and taking over people’s lives! Their recent ad losses, now in the hundreds of billions of dollars, may have influenced the changing of their corporate name.

Let’s look at some of the names that have changed in these categories (I’m sure you’ll have more to add): Consumer Products/Food, Sports, and Places.

Consumer Products/Food

• Aunt Jemima pancake mixes and syrup are now Pearl Milling Company, which started business in 1891. Quaker Oats, the parent company, felt Aunt Jemima carried a racial stereotype. But there really was an Aunt Jemima! From what I’ve read, she was a charming woman. Personally, the new name does nothing for me, and I probably won’t buy it anymore.

• Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup. No changes yet, but it is under review for its packaging, which is in the shape of a matronly woman. It has long been associated with the “mammy,” a caricature of Black women subservient to white people. When I’d serve this to my kids, I’d speak like Mrs. Doubtfire, asking if they’d like some “rich and thick” syrup on their waffles, which was the basis of the theme in their advertising. So I don’t think they should change a thing.
• Uncle Ben’s rice and rice mixes. White southerners once addressed Blacks as “Aunt” and “Uncle” because they refused to call them “Mr.” or “Mrs.” The change happened right after the Aunt Jemima announcement. It is now Ben’s Original. How original.
• Eskimo Pie is now Edy’s Pie, a Breyer brand, as the Eskimo was considered derogatory to northern Native Americans. It seems to me that if this is the case, why do Alaska Airlines planes fly around with Eskimos on their tails?
• Chiquita Bananas. Not a racially based change, just the logo. Initially, Miss Chiquita was an animated banana wearing women’s clothing and a fruit hat. The banana was changed into a regular woman in 1987.
• Frito’s. The Frito Bandito was seen in advertising from 1967–1971. He was depicted as an armed Mexican con man with a disheveled look and a gold tooth. The Mexican American Anti-Defamation Committee forced Frito-Lay to clean up its look, but soon after that, he became history. Ai-Yi-Yi-Yi.
• Land O’ Lakes butter removed the image of a Native American woman with a feather in her hair (probably seen as a squaw) from its packaging recently.

• “Funny Face” powdered drinks by Pillsbury competed with Kool-Aid. “Injun Orange” flavor was replaced with “Jolly Olly Orange,” and “Chinese Cherry” became “Choo-Choo Cherry.”
• Sambo’s Restaurants was derived from the founders’ names (Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett). However, the business capitalized on the children’s book, “The Story of Little Black Sambo.” With 1,200 restaurants, a name change was attempted, but the firm went bankrupt in 1981.
• Post Sugar Crisp, Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes, Super Corn Pops, and Sugar Smacks, among others, all had to modify their names to eliminate the word “sugar” from their cereals. Why? In the 1970s, the FTC began examining how companies marketed cereals to children. As a result, “Sugar” had to be removed from the name of any cereal that contained the word in its product.
• The Mutual of Omaha quietly removed the Native American image from its logo.

Sports

Perhaps no area has had more media attention than the changing of names of sports teams. Republicans often say it’s “cancel culture,” but come on. We stole their everything! We need to show our indigenous peoples dignity and respect. Personally, I had never given it much thought. It was just a name. Let’s look at how some of them have changed.

• The Washington Redskins came under tremendous pressure to change their name. In 2020, the team announced they would shed the Redskins name for something else. In the 2021 season, they used a temporary name, the Washington Football Team. All that marketing money was spent, and that’s what they came up with! For the 2022 season, they are now the Washington Commanders, with a new logo, uniforms, and branding.

• After the 2021 season, the Cleveland Indians ceased using the name “Indians” and assumed their new name of the Cleveland Guardians.
• Management of the Atlanta Braves has dismissed pleas to change their name. They say that they see no reason to change the name, refusing to replace it, which many Native Americans consider offensive and derogatory. The issue last erupted when the St. Louis Cardinals met the Braves in the 2019 National League Division Series Playoffs.

“It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misrepresentation of us Native Americans, and it degrades us and how we’re perceived in that way or used as mascots. The Redskins and stuff like that.” ~ Ryan Helsley, Cardinals Reliever and Member of the Cherokee Nation

• The President of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mark Donavan, says there are no plans to change their name. Having nothing to do with any racial controversies, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City is now GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. I’m sure those of us who follow the Chiefs will always just call it “Arrowhead.”

Places

This category is almost too big for this! I’m not even going to touch on mergers and acquisitions. Just random changes that have come to mind. Surely you’ll have more to add.

• The Republicans hate this one. The Dixie Chicks renamed themselves “The Chicks,” as dixie is used as a name for the Southern/Confederate states in the U.S. during the Civil War. In June 2020, Lady Antebellum officially changed its name to Lady A after being “awakened” to the historical connection of the word “antebellum,” a period in history pre-dating the Civil War.
• Then-President Trump compared these changes (anything even mildly related to the Confederacy) to totalitarianism — a political weapon to punish and shame dissenters. He opposed the “cancel culture” that came to light, particularly after Charlottesville.
• In March 1950, host Ralph Edwards of the NBC radio show “Truth or Consequences” announced he would air the show’s tenth anniversary from the first town that renamed itself after the show. Overnight, Hot Springs, New Mexico became Truth or Consequences.
• Bally’s Las Vegas is now the Horseshoe Las Vegas.

• Las Vegas’ airport is now known as Harry Reid International Airport, one of Nevada’s former senators. From 1968 it was McCarran International Airport. McCarran was also a senator and was said to be racist and anti-semite. McCarran is Las Vegas, and I’ll always think of it as that.
• And speaking of airports, other ones have just elongated their names. Houston Intercontinental is now George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport. Honolulu International Airport is now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, named after the former senator, the second longest serving member of the U.S. Senate before his death. Originally the Atlanta Municipal Airport, it changed its name to William B. Hartsfield Airport in 1971, then to William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, and finally to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Both Hartsfield and Jackson were former mayors of the city.
• From the beginning, it was the Sears Tower. It kept that name even though Sears moved out of the tower and into a campus in a far-western suburb of Chicago. Although United Airlines is its largest tenant, it was renamed the Willis Tower when Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company moved there in 2009. Willis has naming rights on the building through 2024. It was the tallest building in the world when built. Chicagoans are a stubborn bunch; to them, it will always be the Sears Tower.

• Chicago went berserk when Macy’s purchased Marshall Field’s in 2005 and changed the name accordingly. “Marshall Field and Company” plaques remain on each corner of the building on State Street, which was its flagship store. Chicagoans still refer to the store as Marshall Field’s or Field’s.
• Living in Albuquerque, one thing that puzzles me is Indian School Road. Phoenix has one too, where it is a 40-mile-long major east-west thoroughfare. All over the country, cities and towns have changed the names of streets with names derogatory to Native Americans to something more politically correct. In Phoenix, they did study changing the name, but the city’s residents, as well as graduates of the school, wanted it to remain, as it was a part of their history. My favorite Mexican restaurant in the country is Tee Pee Mexican Food on Indian School Road in Phoenix. It serves the Sonoran style, which I much prefer. But the name? I don’t think Mexicans ever lived in Tee Pees! It must be an ode to the street.

In the End

As the saying goes, “Everything old is new again.” Or, “Only the names have been changed.” Change is inevitable. Change is good, they say.

Remember “New Coke?”

I like my technology as much as the next guy. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be fond of the past and wax nostalgic about it. There are times when I wish the world would stand still. I want a 25-cent cheeseburger from Burger Chef and a pizza from Shakey’s while I wait for my plane at Stapleton Airport in Denver. I wouldn’t have minded a delay knowing my seat would have a 35 “-36” inch pitch once I got on (today’s are 30 “-31”, and we’ve only gotten bigger as a society).

This will all be irrelevant to future generations. I hope they have replacements as good as ours were.

As a Chicagoan of 35 years, there will never be another store like Marshall Field’s. And it’s the Sears Tower, mind you.

Sources include The Arizona Republic, Historical Albuquerque Incorporated, my ridiculous ability to remember trivial details, and Wikipedia when memory fails me!

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