It will now be known as Uncle Remus
Nah, just fuckin’ witcha, in homage to Evil Roy Slade’s decision to start his new law-abiding life by changing his name to Evil John Ferguson.
The real new name will be The Pearl Milling Company, and the woman’s picture will be replaced by a picture of an old factory that presumably represents said milling company.
That’s some catchy marketing, right there, obviously appealing to the youngsters, who just love some Industrial Revolution iconography.
But it’s not just for the kids. When I hear the term “Pearl Milling Company,” it just makes my mouth water. That’s the sound of good eatin’!
I can imagine Vito from the Sopranos, on the run for being gay, showing up at a New Hampshire diner and shouting out to the cook, “Hey, gimme a coffee black, some Jimmy Deans, and some pancakes with Pearl Milling Company.”
Jax is no longer made, but there is still a sign visible in NOLA along the rirverfront. I think it’s just there for historical purposes.
My mind immediately went to “Pearl” beer, probably an extinct brand but it was big in the Northwest back in the day, and “Milling” reminded me of “Miller”, a beer that was never big in my gullet. I miss the days when a road trip would be an occasion to sample the brews and bring home to impress friends. Coors, Lone Star, Pearl, Stroh’s, etc. Was “Jax” a beer in New Orleans? Anyway, guess I’ve got a one track mind. Damn, suddenly I’m thirsty.
I’ve only ever heard of Jax beer because Nichols and May did some TV commercials for them back around 1960. (They’re probably on YouTube.)
There was a fast food chain with a similar name ‘Rax’ (Rax Roast Beef) (they were even originally called Jax Roast Beef) that came up with what is regarded as the worst advertising campaign of all time.
From wiki:
A new advertising campaign was formulated with Deutsch Inc. to create a new animated character named Mr. Delicious in order to attract adult customers.[14][15] “Mr. D”, as he was known, was a low-key briefcase-carrying middle-aged man in an unhappy marriage, who in addition to promoting Rax restaurants, discussed his mid-life crisis, his time in therapy (so he could, in his own words, “keep his hostility all locked up”), his odd affection for romance novels, and other off-beat topics. The deadpan campaign backfired.
Rax also used for awhile the slogan “You can eat here.”
That Rax campaign sounds like something out of a sitcom. Specifically, the margarine company in “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”.
PS – Why do you know about Tax? I bet that’s over 40 years ago.
Rax, it’s over 30 years old. If you check for it on Youtube, the video I saw was one of those that was recommended for me.
It seems to be one of those things that many people find by accident. Most of my friends had heard of it before I had and they hadn’t seen (or heard the radio) ads initially either.
The radio ads especially are actually fairly disturbing. Mr D(elicious) is clearly supposed to be mentally unbalanced. They’re all available on youtube.
I remember Rax cos one time I went there with my sister. While we ate (not great; better than Arby’s) we noticed that the wallpaper pattern looked like a bunch of intermingled uteruses. Once we noticed, we couldn’t unsee it. I wonder if they were going for some kind of motherhood-home cooking subliminal message. Probably thought up by the same genius who invented Mr, D.
Anyway, they had comment cards. We filled one out, said the wallpaper looked like the female reproductive system. Next time we went, they had re-papered the walls.
Yep, I meant Rax, Adam. Sometimes I use a tablet with an overactive auto-correct. I have to watch that thing like a hawk. I don’t mind underlining, but changing what I wrote is the beginning of the robot rebellion, IMO.
Dumb name. This is the best they could come up with? Really?
CBC Radio in Canada has a program called Under the Influence hosted by Terry O’Reilly.
The first episode of Season 10 covered this topic:
The Times They Are A-Changin’: Brands Crushed By Zeitgeist
Welcome to Season 10. It’s good to be back. This week, we explore how this new era of racial reckoning is affecting the world of marketing. Several of the leading brands have their roots in racial stereotypes, like Aunt Jemima – which took its imagery from the slave era. Some brands, like Eskimo Pies, have announced they are now re-naming their products and acknowledging their old names were offensive to Indigenous people. We’ll also look at sports teams and their long history of controversy with team names. Hope you’ll join us.
For anybody interested, this is the link on Apple Podcast, it’s also available elsewhere
This is Terry O’Reilly’s bio
Terry began his career as Copy Chief for FM108 Radio in Burlington, Ontario, where he discovered that with meticulous planning and attention to detail, you can still fall flat on your face. With that learning, he went on to become an award-winning copywriter for Toronto advertising agencies Campbell-Ewald, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Chiat/Day. He created campaigns for many of the top brands in the country, including Labatt, Molson, Pepsi USA, Goodyear Tires, Tim Hortons, Volkswagen, Nissan and the Hudson’s Bay Company.
In 1990, Terry co-founded Pirate Radio & Television. A creative audio production company producing scripts, sound and music for radio and television commercials, Pirate grew to a staff of 50 with 8 recording studios in Toronto and New York City.
Terry has won a few hundred national and international awards for his writing and directing, and has worked with such notable actors as Alec Baldwin, Ellen DeGeneres, Kiefer Sutherland, Bob Newhart, Martin Short and Drew Carey. He even managed to create an advertising campaign for a group of nuns. (Good story there).
(Mrs. Butterworth hops a Greyhound across the state line, pays cash to check into a cheap motel under the name “Mrs. Samuelson”.)