Racist product placement in stores?

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The world is a poorer place without them.

Making the stuff easier to find is racist? That is utter madness. The politically correct folk should be trussed up and straight jackets and removed to a safe isolated place.

ruveyn

It may be "racist", but that doesn't make it bad.

Putting the feminine hygiene stuff together could be construed as "sexist." But, that also doesn't make it bad.

I'm guessing that Olive Oil's friend is just pulling her leg.

She should actually get a job where she gets paid to be offended on behalf of others because that is really all she does.

A friend of mine thinks it's racist to have black hair care products all grouped together in the health and beauty dept of stores. She also thinks it's racist they way our independently owned grocery stores have all the Mexican food products together and a lot of the food products that black people buy grouped together. I do not agree, I think it's simply an easy way of finding what you are looking for.

Whats ya'lls opinion on this and do your grocery stores do this?

And then there's the people that have an issue with Aunt Jemima Pancakes and syrup claiming that it's racist.

Does your friend think that Toys R Us discriminates against older people,

or that Victoria's Secret discriminates against men?

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I don't consider myself an intellectual so I guess I'm off the hook.

Actually, those who call the Aunt Jemima image racist seem to be making a racist assumption themselves. None of them ever stopped to consider that she may be cooking pancakes for her own family and that's just how she wears her hair when she's cooking. Just because she has a rag on her head like Mammy in GWTW does not make her a caricature of a slave or a housekeeper. Even if those who thought up the ad had that in mind, in this day and age she could be a doctor cooking on the weekend for her family.

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Here’s why Aunt Jemima thinks you should buy her syrup: "Give your pancakes what they deserve and top them with the classic taste of Aunt Jemima® Original Syrup. Our rich and thick syrup is the perfect way to top your family’s favorite pancakes and waffles."

Classic taste. Rich and thick. Original – sounds like maple syrup, doesn’t it?

What you need to know: Here is the ingredient list of the “original syrup” (you’ll have to look hard to find maple):

CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WATER, CELLULOSE GUM, CARAMEL COLOR, SALT, SODIUM BENZOATE AND SORBIC ACID (PRESERVATIVES), ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE.

Nope, No maple syrup here. Instead, 10 different chemicals combined to reach the same flavor and texture of the truly original pancake syrup. You can bet that they are much cheaper to procure and mix than maple syrup is. Here are a few highlights:

HFCS – jury is out on whether this is what’s causing obesity rates to skyrocket or not. But whether high fructose corn syrup is the culprit or not, one thing is for sure. Its presence is usually the sign of a highly processed product that does not offer any nutritional benefits, and may actually cause harm.

(By the way, Aunt Jemima is owned by Quaker Oats, which is owned by PepsiCo. They probably get a great price on the high fructose corn syrup.)

Sodium benzoate – a preservative to stop molding, but it has its share of problems. Even Coca Cola stopped using it a few years ago.

Sodium hexametaphosphate – a water softener.

Artificial and Natural flavors - do their best to make the syrup taste original.

^^ You have no idea what any given person, doctor or not, would be feeding their family.

Plus, it's your opinion that they are low quality.

Many doctors here in the Deep South eat the regular, unhealthy things that the rest of us do.

You don't know everything you know. Really.

The product was originally named “Self-Rising Pancake Flour” and sold in bags. In the fall of 1889, Rutt was inspired to rename the mix after attending a minstrel show, during which a popular song titled “Old Aunt Jemima” was performed by men in blackface, one of whom was depicting a slave mammy of the plantation South. The song, which was written by the African-American singer, dancer and acrobat Billy Kersands in 1875, was a staple of the minstrel circuit and was based on a song sung by field slaves.

My overarching point, here, is that marketing can be – and often is – used to manipulate the facts. It’s used as a tool to convince you to give me your money and not the other guy. And that’s fine – but as conscious consumers, we like to have all the facts. I can’t say that I’d support Aunt Jemima anyway because (a) I’m pretty sure that syrup isn’t much more than high fructose corn syrup and caramel color anymore, (b) my pancakes taste way better and (c) I’m not interested in paying triple the cost for a poor quality product. However, I couldn’t even tacitly support a company like this.

Just consider this a lesson in “epic whitewashing,” and a polite reminder that marketing is almost always hiding something.