Coon cheese renamed Cheer Cheese after six-month search for new name
January 13, 2021
The makers of Coon Cheese have unveiled a new name for the well-known dairy product after a six-month process to give the 85-year-old brand a new identity.
Cheer Cheese will appear in supermarkets around the country from July, according to a statement from Canadian-owned parent company Saputo Dairy Australia, released on Wednesday morning.
Saputo has owned the Coon brand since 2015. In July 2020, the company announced it would “retire” the Coon Cheese name in response to increasing calls for brands to move away from product names that have racist connotations.
Coon Cheese Rebrands as Cheer Following Pressure by Activist
The makers of Coon cheese have announced that Cheer will be the rebranded name for its famous Australian product following pressure from an Aboriginal activist who said the original name was racist.
Saputo Dairy Australia on Jan. 13 said the name change to Cheer was to honour its consumers by aligning with “current attitudes and perspectives.”
The move comes after Aboriginal activist Stephen Hagan reignited his campaign first attempted in 1999 after seeing Nestle rebrand Allen’s Red Skins and Chicos lollies to Red Rippers and Cheekies in 2020.
Amid the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement’s resurgence which was founded by Marxist organisers in July 2020 Hagan was successful in convincing Saputo to change the name.
Saputo Dairy Australia unveils Cheer to replace Coon
January 13, 2021 10:21
Saputo Dairy Australia has revealed Cheer as the new brand of its household staple cheese range.
The decision to rebrand from the name Coon cheese was announced July 2020 amidst the global Black Lives Matter Movement and local controversy involving Sunrise host Samantha Armytage and media personality Prue MacSween. Coon, along with a number of brands around the world have been forced by consumers to confront racial connotations of their names, logos and images.
Coon is an offensive slur used towards Indigenous Australians.
Cheer has been revealed as the new brand for Coon.
Coon Cheese changes name to Cheer Cheese, pledging to build a culture of acceptance
Posted
WedWednesday 13
updated
WedWednesday 13
JanJanuary 2021 at 12:53am
The recipe will remain the same, but the new packaging will be on supermarket shelves in July.
(
Share
Print text only
Cancel
Coon Cheese has been renamed Cheer Cheese after a long campaign by activists who said it had racist connotations.
Key points:
Saputo Dairy Australia said the name change would reinforce values of acceptance and respect
The company s website previously said the cheese was named after Edward Coon, who holds a patent for a cheese-making process
But Dr Hagan said his research showed Mr Coon was an uneducated factory worker added to the patent 10 years after the cheese was sold