General Discussions

[DJC]

I read today that the company that purchased the Coon cheese brand and relabelled it due to social media pressure, are now closing factories and scaling back operations destroying dozens or hundreds of jobs at factories formerly known by the surname of it's founder, Coon is "cancelled"! Americanised and obliterated, jobs in Australia gone because piss-weak political mileage is made on a slang term from the Americias!

Sure we get it, the extreme left is good all other perspectives are bad! :

Just remember when discussing things with your US social media or Insta-twaddle overlords, it is "Exploring U-Ran-Us", not "Exploring Ur-Anus!"

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story:

First of all, "coon" was a common derogatory term commonly applied to Indigenous Australians and other people of colour in Australia from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century.  It made a comeback in the late 20th century and I have witnessed its use to demean and belittle Indigenous friends and colleagues ... and there are no raccoons in Australia.

Edward Coon was not the founder of the company.  He patented a cheese processing technique in 1926 but was bought out by Kraft in 1928.  Kraft first marketed Red Coon cheese in 1931 and registered the COON trademark in 1949.  Red Coon cheese went out of production around 1959, about the time a new product, Coon "Tasty" cheese began production.  There have never been Coon cheese factories since Kraft bought out Edward Coon's business.

On 9 November 2022, Saputo Australia announced that the company will close its Maffra factory and lay off up to 75 workers following issues with milk supply and a A$54.4 million annual loss. The company generated a A$30.6 million net profit in the previous year.  In other words, Saputo made a very healthy profit after announcing that it was dropping Coon and introducing Cheers (not that there's a causal link).  COVID, supply chain issues and perennial problems with the dairy industry combined to knock the stuffing out of Saputo's business and that has nothing to do with the change from Coon to Cheers.

I don't agree with Stephen Hagan's claims about the brand name always having a racist meaning (he's the cove who wanted to ban Lily of Laguna) but Saputo's CEO nailed it with "Treating people with respect and without discrimination is one of our basic principles" when he announced the change ... and they would have done their marketing homework.