Rastus, the “grinning” black man on the cover of B&G Food’s Cream of Wheat is a racist image.  Rastus was created in 1893 to represent the black man as a childlike, nonthreatening slave. The purpose was to portray African-Americans as content with a separate but (un)equal existence while making white Southerners of the time feel nostalgic about the slavery era. Though this petition, we the undersigned, are calling for its removal as the caricature still remains on the promotional packaging for Cream of Wheat today, in 2020.

Enough is enough. We should be able to food shop in the 21st Century without seeing racist stereotypes of black men which contribute to the ongoing racism found in the US society of today.

Further, In B&G Food’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics under the section “Integrity and Accountability" you state that as a corporation: “We believe in being a good corporate citizen, and we do the right thing because we care.” Having a racist image from 2 centuries ago as a key part of marketing one of your products is neither being a good corporate citizen nor showing caring, in fact, it is just the opposite.  

We pledge not to buy this product, or any other B&G Food product, until this image is removed AND B&G Food actively addresses the harm the Cream of Wheat Rastus image has caused.