How Aunt Jemima changed U.S. trademark law
Posted by staff / June 18, 2012
In the late 19th century, R.T. Davis purchased a struggling milling company that put out a ready-made pancake mix branded with an older, matronly black woman in an apron and kerchief. Aunt Jemima’s appearance on the package implied long hours in a southern kitchen and an authentic, homey product. The actual pancake mix reportedly did not live up to that image, but Davis bolstered his new brand by bringing Jemima to life: Davis hired Nancy Green, a former slave, to portray Aunt Jemima in ads and at events.
Green made her public debut in character at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where she charmed the crowds and doled out pancakes from a booth. The Jemima brand soon became so popular that Green had a lifetime contract with Davis and the company was renamed the Aunt Jemima Mills Company.
By then, the Aunt Jemima character had gotten so recognizable that a number of companies had co-opted the name and the image to push their own products — everything from flour to cake mix, corn meal and pancake syrup. Finally, Davis had no choice but to take his imitators to court. In 1915, the Aunt Jemima Mills Company filed a suit against Rigney and Company, which manufactured pancake syrup. While the case immediately dealt with breakfast foods, it would have large implications for trademark law in the U.S.
See the rest at mental_floss.
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