Aunt Jemima Heirs Sue Pepsico for $2B
Various media sources, including Fortune, reported on Tuesday that the great-grandchildren of the woman who once served as Aunt Jemima filed a class action suit seeking royalty back payments.
The article states that the great-grandchildren of Anna Short Harrington, the woman whose likeness was used for the “Aunt Jemima” logo, are seeking what they say are their just desserts, along with at least $2 billion, in a class action lawsuit brought recently against a group of companies, led by PepsiCo and its subsidiary The Quaker Oats Company, in federal court in Illinois.
Aunt Jemima Mills Company was the first major acquisition for Quaker Oats in 1926, and is today one of the leading manufacturers of pancake mixes and syrup. Harrington is the last in a long line of women who's likeness was used for Aunt Jemima, including Nancy Green, Anna Robinson, Chicago blues singer and actress Edith Wilson (who was the first Aunt Jemima to appear in television commercials), Ethel Ernestine Harper, Rosie Hall (an advertising employee at Quaker Oats) and Aylene Lewis.
The lawsuit, which also names as defendants Pinnacle Foods and its former suitor Hillshire Brands, accuses the companies of failing to pay Harrington and her heirs an “equitable fair share of royalties” from the pancake mix and syrup brand that uses her likeness and recipes. According to the lawsuit, Quaker Oats took control of “64 of [Harrington's] recipes and 22 complete menus” and marketed them to the public.
Filed last week by Harrington’s great-grandson, D.W. Hunter, who is representing himself, the lawsuit alleges that Chicago-based Quaker Oats hired Harrington to take over the pre-existing Aunt Jemima role in 1935 — a role she continued to serve when the company first registered the brand’s trademark two years later — and that the company also reproduced Harrington’s own pancake recipe on a mass scale. The suit claims that Harrington had entered into a “written contractual agreement to play the actress role of Aunt Jemima” that entitled her to royalties, including a percentage of the proceeds, accumulated by the brand over the years.
A Quaker Oats spokeswoman declined to discuss details of pending litigation with Fortune, but added that the company feels the lawsuit is without merit.
Click here to read the Fortune article for more details.
The article states that the great-grandchildren of Anna Short Harrington, the woman whose likeness was used for the “Aunt Jemima” logo, are seeking what they say are their just desserts, along with at least $2 billion, in a class action lawsuit brought recently against a group of companies, led by PepsiCo and its subsidiary The Quaker Oats Company, in federal court in Illinois.
Aunt Jemima Mills Company was the first major acquisition for Quaker Oats in 1926, and is today one of the leading manufacturers of pancake mixes and syrup. Harrington is the last in a long line of women who's likeness was used for Aunt Jemima, including Nancy Green, Anna Robinson, Chicago blues singer and actress Edith Wilson (who was the first Aunt Jemima to appear in television commercials), Ethel Ernestine Harper, Rosie Hall (an advertising employee at Quaker Oats) and Aylene Lewis.
The lawsuit, which also names as defendants Pinnacle Foods and its former suitor Hillshire Brands, accuses the companies of failing to pay Harrington and her heirs an “equitable fair share of royalties” from the pancake mix and syrup brand that uses her likeness and recipes. According to the lawsuit, Quaker Oats took control of “64 of [Harrington's] recipes and 22 complete menus” and marketed them to the public.
Filed last week by Harrington’s great-grandson, D.W. Hunter, who is representing himself, the lawsuit alleges that Chicago-based Quaker Oats hired Harrington to take over the pre-existing Aunt Jemima role in 1935 — a role she continued to serve when the company first registered the brand’s trademark two years later — and that the company also reproduced Harrington’s own pancake recipe on a mass scale. The suit claims that Harrington had entered into a “written contractual agreement to play the actress role of Aunt Jemima” that entitled her to royalties, including a percentage of the proceeds, accumulated by the brand over the years.
A Quaker Oats spokeswoman declined to discuss details of pending litigation with Fortune, but added that the company feels the lawsuit is without merit.
Click here to read the Fortune article for more details.