Edy’s has officially rebranded the name of its popular ice cream bars from “Eskimo Pie” to “Edy’s Pie” as part of an ongoing shift by American companies to abandon brands that have racially stereotyped people of color for decades.
The company, owned by Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, ceased production of the chocolate-covered delights about three months ago while rethinking the name and allowing time for its old branding to sell out, NBC News reported.
The treat’s new name honors its co-founder Joseph Edy and will begin appearing in store freezers by early 2021, nearly 100 years after the introduction of the first-of-its-kind ice cream bar.
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Since George Floyd’s death on Memorial Day, a sea of change has swept the country as many corporations embrace the BLM movement or face social pressure to reconsider practices that often upheld racial stereotypes.
The movement began snowballing in June after Quaker Oats Company announced it was removing the name and image of Aunt Jemima from its brand after 131 years, calling the change necessary “to make progress toward racial equality.”
»FROM JUNE: Quaker Oats to end ‘Aunt Jemima’ brand to promote racial equality
Two other popular consumer products, Uncle Ben’s rice and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup, immediately followed suit, announcing they, too, would phase out their longtime brand logos.
Since then, many other brands, including Edy’s, have taken similar action.
At one time the word “Eskimo” was used commonly among Americans as a reference to the Inuit and Yupik people of Alaska, according to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. However, “this usage is now considered unacceptable by many or even most Alaska Natives, largely since it is a colonial name imposed by non-Indigenous people.”
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The chief of marketing for Dreyer’s confirmed the company’s goal was to eliminate the pejorative, according to a report by NBC News.
“We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory,” Elizabell Marquez, head of marketing for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the U.S. subsidiary for Froneri, said in a statement at the time. “This move is part of a larger review to ensure our company and brands reflect our people values.”
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