Eskimo by ice cream needs to be renamed to achieve ‘ethnic equality’ says Peters | Business

An Australian ice cream company will use the name Eskimo Pie, one of its signature brands, to help achieve “ethnic equality”.

Introduced in Australia in 1923, Peters announced that ice cream would be renamed Polar Pie, citing the colonial and disgusting meanings of the word Eskimo.

In a statement, Peters said, “We are committed to being a part of the solution to racial equality and we recognize that now is the time for change.”

It comes after the American company Tray’s Grand Ice Cream announced that it would change the name of its equivalent product after previously admitting the term was “disgraceful”.

“We have been reviewing our Eskimo pie business for some time and will change the brand name and marketing,” the US company said in a statement in June. In response, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “Bullshit never ends.”

The word Eskimo is a colonial word used to refer to the Inuit and Ubic peoples in Alaska. Lawrence Kaplan of the Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Has written The term “is now considered unacceptable by many or most Alaskan natives, mostly because it is a colonial name imposed by non-indigenous peoples”.

Norma Dunning, an Inuit writer and educator from Edmonton, Canada Told the Guardian in June The word Eskimo had the effect of turning his ethnic group into a caricature. “We need to think about how these interpretations of the tribal people create a subconscious sense in the public imagination,” he said.

Peters ’decision to rename ice cream follows a series of companies’ top decisions to remove racist or insensitive brand names.

In July, dairy company Sabuto announced it would change the name of its cheese brand Coon More than 20 years since I was first compelled to do so. Following confectionery company Nestl’s announcement that it plans to rename its Allen’s Lollipops-branded Red Skins and Chicos products due to “overlays”

Peters, which sold it to a European food company in 2014, said it chose the word polar pie because it “retains a strong connection to the original brand and product idea – the frozen treat you eat like a pie – hence the polar pie with your hands”. .