What's Uncle Ben's Rice Called Now? The Popular Brand Is Making Big Changes

Uncle Ben's rice is no more.

Mars Inc., the parent company behind the 70-year-old rice brand revealed its new moniker, Ben's Original, on Wednesday.

Shoppers will likely still find boxes and packages of rice at their local grocers with the rice's former name though as the rebranded rice won't hit store shelves until sometime next year. The name change is just the company's latest efforts to leave behind its questionable past after being criticized for promoting racial stereotypes with its former name and logo.

"We listened to our associates and our customers and the time is right to make meaningful changes across society," Fiona Dawson, global president for Mars Food, multisales and global customers, said in a statement. "When you are making these changes, you are not going to please everyone. But it's about doing the right thing, not the easy thing."

The rice brand, along with dozens of others like Quaker Oat's Aunt Jemima came under fire in the midst of the many protests over social and racial injustice that occurred during the summer in light of the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minnesota who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes.

As a number of companies issued statements of solidarity with movements like Black Lives Matter and pledged to more diligently address matters of racism and inequality, some people called out Mars Inc.'s historical rice brand for its logo, which has included an image of a white-haired Black man wearing a bow tie since the 1940s. Some critics claimed the character embodied racial tropes associated with slavery. According to Mars, the face displayed across Ben's Original's former packaging belonged to a man named Frank Brown, who was a maitre'd in Chicago.

Although the company has finally come up with a new name for the rice, Mars Inc. said it was still mulling over an image. But it has settled on a number of other initiatives to amplify its diversity and inclusion, starting with a $2 million investment in culinary scholarships for Black chefs in collaboration with the National Urban League. Mars Inc. will also donate $2.5 million to various nutritional and educational programs for students in Greenville Mississippi, the home of Ben's Original productions.

Back in July, Quaker Oats announced plans to move away from the racist stereotypes with which the Aunt Jemima brand has long been associated. Along with dropping the name, Quaker Oats said the pancake-mix and syrup brand would also change its packaging including the Aunt Jemima character. It has yet to announce the new name and imagery.

Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, the company behind Eskimo Pie ice cream, announced plans to change the brand's name and marketing in June and admitted that the name of the more than 100-year brand was "derogatory." Geechie Boy Mill, a grower of milled white grits in South Carolina, said it too would undergo a name change.

Attempts to stray away from racially charged origins haven't just impacted food brands, though. In July, Washington state's football team dropped its longtime name, Redskins, which has long been criticized as a racial slur against Native Americans.