12 Food Brands That Changed Their Names

The name and iconography of a food or drink brand are just as important as the product itself. Emblematic logos, familiar mascot faces, and comforting packaging designs are always a welcome sight in a supermarket, luring customers to buy the product time and again. However, as years pass, people's tastes and beliefs change, and sometimes a name once beloved and revered becomes a bit touchy, taboo, or downright offensive. When this happens, brands may wish to rework their names and designs to absolve themselves from past perceptions of which they might have been connected. In other cases, brands simply need to freshen up their look and moniker to appeal to newer generations and customers.

Name changes are nothing new in the world of food and drink. Everything from fast food restaurants to products found in grocery stores around the globe have been re-branded in the past few decades. We've collected the stories of 12 iconic products that now live under new names, even if many of us still call them by their old monikers.

American Edward William Coon patented an improvement in a process for ripening cheese in 1926. His work soon caught the attention of Melbourne cheese maker Fred Walker, who partnered with Kraft to form the Kraft Walker Company. It released a red wax-covered cheddar cheese called Red Coon in 1933, with its name honoring the pioneering inventor.

While the cheese was named after a man, the word "coon" was also a well-known offensive term for those of African decent. Ann Weldon, of the Aboriginal Children's Service, questioned the name, telling The Age in 1988, "It comes across as offensive even if it isn't meant to be," adding that she didn't personally buy the product due to its name.

In 2020, current owner Saputo Dairy Australia decided to address the issue. The company reiterated its connection to Edward William Coon, but noted that it was time for a name change. In a press release, it stated, "We believe we all share in the responsibility to eliminate racism in all its forms and we feel this is an important step we must take to uphold this commitment." Six months later, Saputo officially renamed the product Cheer Cheese, which the company says is "a cheese for everyone, and we trust our valued consumers and those who are new to our products will embrace this new name."

Before Russell Stover started selling chocolates under his name, he helped solidify Chris Nelson's idea of dipping ice cream in a chocolate coating in 1921. Originally called the I-Scream Bar, Stover's wife Clara later told The Gazette about how its more well-known name came about: "Though Mr. Stover asked employees for suggestions for names for this confection, he himself suddenly had the inspiration of the name 'Eskimo Pie' and it proved to be a successful choice."

"Eskimo" is an often used derogatory word to describe the Inuits, the indigenous people of regions near the Arctic. The Eskimo Pie not only became a brand name that people used generically for ice cream bars but also further pushed the use of the word "Eskimo" into popular culture. By the late 1930s, a stereotypical caricature image of an "Eskimo" started to accompany advertisements for the treat, and later as a mascot found on the packaging. Even into the '90s, the brand pushed the stereotype, hiring a "genuine Eskimo" from Alaska to star in a string of TV ads, complete with an igloo and polar bears.

In the great name change scramble of June 2020, current owners Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream joined the fray, and eventually renamed the product Edy's Pie. Head of Marketing Elizabell Marquez said in a statement via CNN, "We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, and recognize the term is derogatory."

In the 1980s, Carol Lavin Bernick pushed her father's company Alberto-Culver beyond beauty products and developed Static Guard, Molly McButter, Baker's Joy, and Mrs. Dash. For the latter, introduced in 1983, Bernick saw the necessity for a salt-free seasoning blend that no one was providing.

While the seasoning was almost named Mrs. Pinch, Bernick recalled how and why she became Mrs. Dash in an essay for "Kellogg on Branding," writing: "The word dash had both suggestions of speed and convenience, but also got very positive feedback from women who cooked — they described the recipe as meaning 'a dash of flavor' or a 'dash of salt.'" She added, "The Mrs. in the name (as opposed to using Dr. Dash or just Dash), personalized the brand and gave it a bit of an irreverent, fun tone."

That bit of irreverence and fun all came to an end in 2020 when current brand owners B&G Foods dismissed the "Mrs." and moved forward as just Dash. The company's Marketing Director Julie Gould said in a press release, "The Dash line of salt-free seasonings will continue to allow consumers to elevate their cooking quickly and simply -– in a dash." 

Maurice P. Michaud was a Swiss chocolatier who worked at the Fulton, New York, Nestlé factory and made homemade desserts with Rice Krispies swimming in chocolate. According to his great-niece, Yvonne Mace, "One day, Maurice brought his treat to work and everyone from line workers to plant managers wanted the recipe!" (via "Nestlé in Fulton, New York: How Sweet It Was"). In 1938, Nestlé's American arm turned that treat into one of its most iconic chocolates — the Crunch bar, which later was famously covered in foil, and packaged in a clean red, white, and blue wrapper.

In 2018, Nestlé USA chose to focus on other avenues and sold off candies Crunch, Butterfinger, BabyRuth, and several others to The Ferrero Group. As part of the deal, Nestlé retained the trademark of Crunch, while Ferrero took over the rights to produce the candy. Soon after the acquisitions, Catherine Bertrac, senior vice-president of marketing at Ferrero North America, spoke to Candy & Snack Today, saying, "It was our team's job to refresh these brands and give them the support they needed to reignite that love in fans and reach a new generation." For some older generations, it's still hard to separate the name "Nestlé" from the Crunch bar.

In 1964, packaging expert Howard Dick teamed with flavor specialist Phil Grinnell to create a citrus punch called Sunny Delight. The drink quickly went from being a Floridian refresher to a nationwide hit.

In the early '90s, the orange drink was still called Sunny Delight, but soon was better known by the nickname being pushed by teens in TV ads — "Sunny D."  When Sunny Delight came under fire in 2002 for claiming on its packaging that it was a "real fruit beverage," current owners Procter and Gamble decided to refresh the brand with a new name.  Luckily, a good name was already waiting to be used, and in 2003, it officially adopted the Sunny D nickname for the product. 

A year later, Procter and Gamble washed its hands of Sunny D and today, Harvest Hill is the steward of the beverage. The brand shares space on its roster of other bygone sugary titan labels, such as Juicy Juice, Veryfine, and Little Hug Fruit Barrels.

Not that long ago, Uncle Ben's Rice was so proud of its backstory that it had a page dedicated to it on its website. It spoke of an actual man known as Uncle Ben, who was "an African American rice farmer known to rice millers in and around Houston for consistently producing the highest quality rice," per Uncle Bens via Internet Archive. When original owner Gordon L. Harwell needed a new name for his new rice product, he borrowed Uncle Ben's.

By 1947, boxes of Uncle Ben's were adorned with an illustration of a bow-tied smiling man. The man on the box was a real person, although his name was not Ben, but Frank C. Brown, a well-known Chicago chef and restaurant manager who posed for the artwork.

Uncle Ben's name and image would later come under scrutiny, as many perceived him as a subservient symbol. In the early '70s, his face even disappeared from packaging in the United States before returning in the mid-'80s. After the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the brand received renewed attention, and it decided to meet the moment. In a press release, it said, "We will change our name to Ben's Original as well as remove the image on our packaging to create more equitable iconography. This change signals our ambition to create a more inclusive future while maintaining our commitment to producing the world's best rice."