Arizona Sweet Tea working to change Southern Style logo perceived as racist
Categories: African-American, Business
Written By: Shawn Williams
I’d like to start by thanking the family for keeping me up to speed on what’s going on out there. I received an email today that’s apparently been going around the web regarding Arizona Sweet Tea.
Here are some of the contents of the email I received.
FW: Arizona Sweet Tea is Racist! Black America DO NOT PURCHASE
My name is LaMar McGowan and today was the first day of my life were I felt like less of a Black Man!
When did Slavery become marketable? I’m calling for a nation wide Boycott on a drink company named ” Arizona ” which has a variety of flavors, I myself have bought a number of their drinks, but on 11/30 I bought my last one. Their is someone in the marketing dept. who told someone on the board that “We can degrade Black People and make money at the same time” and the board member agreed!
Every Black person from the south knows how good it felt on those hot southern days to have a tall glass of sweet tea. ” Arizona ” has a flavor known as “Southern Style Sweet Tea” but if you look closely on the front of the can their is a picture of a Plantation ! Yes I said a Plantation , with a white couple on the porch and a Black woman Dress like Aunt Jamama walking away from the house.
When did Slavery become marketable? My Grandfather was 100 years old before he passed in 2004 and that Picture reminds me of his very few but painful story’s not a hot southern day with a cool refreshing glass of sweet tea. So stop buying any drinks from this company! Stand up and let your voice be heard & overload their lines.
1-800-832-3775
So at lunch, I dropped by my local drug store, and bought myself and Arizona Southern Style Sweet Tea. There on the 23 oz. can was the image described above. Myself, I’m generally put off by any mention of plantations -unless its in regards to a plantation tour (see my favorite Louisiana Tours Laura Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation).
I called the number on the email, and after a few menus, I heard a statement the company had on the subject of the label. More on that later. A Google search on the subject yielded the company’s position on the image from earlier this year. This is Arizona’s response after a consumer sent them an email decrying the label.
Thank you for your email regarding Arizona Sweet Tea. We at Arizona are very proud of our award-winning packaging for our products. When we design a label, we must communicate to the consumer in a matter of seconds, what exactly is in the package.
We all know that Sweet Tea originated in the Southern United States . It was with this in mind that our graphic designers set out to design a label that would capture the beauty and majesty of the South. After much discussion, we all agreed that nothing is more recognizable in the South than the beautiful stately homes found throughout the southern states.
As for the individuals pictured on the label, there was no intent on the part of Arizona or its graphic designers to denigrate any race or condone slavery. ( see attached close up original rendering (color pencil/marker) of the label). Our products are enjoyed by people of all walks of life and we do not ever want to alienate any of them. We hope you will continue to support the Arizona brand!
This image presents a problem to me. I don’t think this is the appropriate use for the whole plantation imagery. But it’s not easy to see that the woman in the front lawn is not a slave, its a “southern belle” out of some sort of stroll.
So I’m guessing some time between the time that was posted in late January and now, Arizona got the message. After digging on the Arizona website, I found a statement similar to the one I had heard earlier on the phone. It goes a little something like this.
ARIZONA SWEET TEA CONCERN
We want to thank everyone who took the time to share with us their concerns about the packaging of our Southern Style Sweet Tea. The dialogue helped us to
understand the problem and move forward to correct it. Although it was never our intention for the Sweet Tea label to offend any of our customers, we understand the change in label design was needed. We have commissioned an artist to totally redesign all of the Southern Style labels, and are already in the final stages of implementing the first phase of the changeover. The new artwork will appear first on our can line and next on our glass and plastic bottles.
Southern Style tea has been one of our most popular drinks over the past five years or so. People of all walks of life enjoy this and many of our other products, and we do not ever want to alienate any of them. We hope you like our new design and will continue to support the AriZona brand.
Thank you.
You know how these things go. This email will probably make its way around the net another 2 or 3 million times, but hopefully someone will pass this updated info along too. I commend whoever led the charge to get this changed because if not the logo would have obviously remained the same.
I just wonder why no one ever protests, Plantation Oaks Apartments or the Plantation Golf Course or any of the other hundred other things named for plantations. What bothers me even more are the black folks who live and play golf there.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
You complainers are as full of crap as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and (Farrakhan). He’s so out of touch that I’ve forgotten his name. This politically correct “crap” has got to stop! Slavery in America is as plain a fact on our face as our nose is. As wrong as it was, it’s still a part of our history. Just as the Irish were considered lesser citizens than blacks in the early days of the industrial revolution when they took jobs in the swamps and on the railroad, so too were blacks slaves way back when. It’s simply a fact of history.
Too many good businesses have gone by the wayside because of this politically correct crap too. Sambo’s Restaurants (eventually bought by Deny’s) had to change their name. Hell, Orson Wells used to eat at Sambo’s in Santa Barbara on Sunday mornings, I used to see him there years ago.
And what about all this crap about holidays glorifying black history? Black history month? Give me a break. I want a “White History Month”! And what’s with all this crap we have to suffer as black folks come up with the most rediculous names for their kids nowadays? Sheneekwa? What’s that?
I could go on and on, but I don’t have the time or desire. But let me make this last pojnt clear… and very clear… blacks CLEARLY do EVERYTHING they can to isolate and separate themselves from the masses. I dare you to recall a period in the 80’s where middle class blacks rebeled against the messages of Jesse Jackson and AL Sharpton for the very reasons I’ve just stated. They made the very same statement to their brethren leaders- their comments and positions served to isolate and alienate from the masses. Too bad that movement has faded. They were right.
I’m Irish, I love potatoes, I drink alcohol to excess accoriding to todays standards, I tell ethnic jokes, I love my kids, I love my woman, I love and cherish family, I mow my lawn once a week, I pay child support, I leer at beautiful women on ocassion, I smoke, I drive an SUV. I’m so politically incorrect sometimes it make even me laugh. What about you?
June 20th, 2008 at 5:39 am
To address a few of the points that Tim so, uh, eloquently raised:
“Slavery in America is as plain a fact on our face as our nose is. As wrong as it was, it’s still a part of our history.”
Likewise, the Holocaust is a part of German history. And yet, I’m guessing that if Arizona decided to produce “German-style sweet tea,” they probably wouldn’t put pictures of the ovens that the Nazis used to incinerate the dead bodies of their Jewish victims on the product label. That might be because of something that you and those in the white nationalist movement refer to as “political correctness,” but that the rest of us refer to as mutual respect.
“And what about all this crap about holidays glorifying black history? Black history month? Give me a break. I want a ‘White History Month’!”
In the average American school, every month is white history month. The reason they set aside a month every year to remind everyone in the country that there is such a thing as black history, is because there are far too many ignorant hayseeds like you who want to pretend that there is no such thing as black history, and that African-Americans just magically popped into existence in the 1960’s and started ruining things for white people. Like the willful ignorance that so many of you demonstrate about the rebel flag, which is “just a celebration of our southern heritage,” or something like that. You seem to conveniently forget that the rebel flag never actually flew over the confederacy, and didn’t become popular until well into the Jim Crow era. Or that it was a prominent symbol of the pro-segregationists during the civil rights movement, which is where most of the nostalgia for that flag actually comes from. You forget, or if you’re younger, you were never taught these things, because we have to set aside a special month in February (the shortest month of the year) to remind people to even think about black history, much less learn about it.
“And what’s with all this crap we have to suffer as black folks come up with the most rediculous names for their kids nowadays? Sheneekwa? What’s that?”
What do Fifi Trixibelle Geldof, Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa, Apple Martin, Tiger Lily Heavenly Hirani Hutchence, and Zowie Bowie all have in common? They’re all white, and so are their parents. Dumbass.
“blacks CLEARLY do EVERYTHING they can to isolate and separate themselves from the masses.”
Yeah, I mean, where do they get off moving into gated communities and joining country clubs? Oh, wait, that’s white people. Sorry, my bad…
June 20th, 2008 at 6:52 am
If the label offends you. Simply Don’t buy the product.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Well said Big Tex, however, I have to cosign with Kim as well. If things like the Obama Curious George shirt are obviously racist then yes those people should be called out. There needs to be a balance among both sides regarding culturally sensitive issues.
And Tim as far as you having to suffer through ethnically challenging names maybe you should re-up on hooked on phonics and deal with it. This is America people can name their kids whatever they wish.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:40 am
I get that the plantation can be a symbol of slavery for blacks and thus offensive, I don’t get the assumption of ill will when a company like Arizona Tea uses the symbol as they have. I’m glad they’re changing it, and I don’t think it was racially motivated. Kudos to them for doing something about it.
So what about Aunt Jemima syrup? Offensive? I have some in my pantry, I grew up with it, it’s my favorite brand, and I’m seriously wanting to know.
June 20th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Please don’t feed the trolls, Tex.
July 7th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
how could a can offend you? but if it does, dont buy it! duh!
July 29th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Who cares whats on the can, we want whats in it. Aunt Jemima, uncle ben’s rice. come on…..
Keep the can the way it is!