Meet Mabel

At a subway station in Istanbul one night, I spotted some rectangular squares in the gum section at the newsstand. On the front of the package was a black woman with bright-red lipstick, earring and a kerchief to match. Her name was Mabel, also the face of an entire line of products for a Turkish chocolatier. (There's a story that the owner of the company had thing for and with Mabel.)

Miss Mabel immediately reminded me of three mascots for American food companies: Uncle Ben of the rice maker, Ratsus of Cream of Wheat and, of course, Aunt Jemima of the breakfast-food boxes. I showed my new acquisitions from Turkey to a few buddies in an online forum and asked how they felt about Miss Mabel; all seemed offended, particularly by her kerchief, yet two of Mabel's three American counterparts were developed in the 19th century and all are still used today. Aunt Jemima, however, did lose her kerchief around 1990 and traded her servant's clothes for pearls and a proper collar.

How about you? Are you offended by the use of African-Americans as "mascots" for food companies? If so, how about the Quaker Oats man?