Uncle Ben’s Logo PNG
Uncle Ben’s logo and brand identity have been often criticized for being racially charged. How has the company dealt with these problems?
Meaning and history
To begin with, let us find out how the name and the image appeared.
According to several sources, there was a Houston rice farmer called Ben who was known for his exceptionally high-quality rice.
One day in the late 1940s, L. Gordon Harwell, a Texas food broker, had dinner with his business partner in Chicago (or Houston, according to other sources). They were discussing their new product and decided to call it Uncle Ben’s® Converted Brand Rice.
The person on the logo, however, is not the legendary rice farmer but Frank Brown, a maitre d’hotel of the restaurant where the legendary dinner took place. When the businessmen saw Brown, they decided he would look great on the packaging, and he agreed to pose for the portrait.
While the logo has always featured Brown’s face, the details of the picture and the typography have been modified more than once during the product’s 70-plus years of history.
1943 – 1963
The very first logo of the Uncle Ben’s Rice brand, designed in 1943, featured a very minimalistic and strict idea: bold black lettering against a transparent background without any graphical additions. The inscription was set in a slightly narrowed bold geometric sans-serif typeface, with the “Rice” part capitalized.
1963 – 1968
The redesign of 1963 introduced the first version of Uncle Ben’s logo with the image of Frank Brown in it. The portrait of the maitre d’hotel was drawn inside a bright orange roundel, placed in the left part of a solid yellow rectangular banner, and accompanied by a narrowed dark-blue lettering in a sharp and fancy typeface.
1968 – 1971
The version of Uncle Ben’s logo, used by the brand at the end of the 1960s, had the same composition, as the previous one, but the color palette was switched to brown and yellow, and the roundel with the portrait was replaced by a solid red medallion with the stylized UB monogram in bold yellow lines and an additional sans-serif lettering around the perimeter, also in yellow.
1971 – 1983
In 1971 the bright orange and blue color palette was brought back to Uncle Ben’s logo, which design was slightly rethought. The medallion was removed from the composition and now it was just the bold blue lettering, written against an orange rectangular, with the stylized apostrophe drawn inside red. The typeface of the inscription was changed to a bolder and smoother one. This badge was used by the company for the whole decade.
1983 – 1998
The emblem with Mr. Brown’s portrait came back to Uncle Ben’s insignia in 1983. It was placed on the bottom of an enlarged orange banner, with the narrowed blue lettering accompanied by a red and blue tagline in smaller characters. The intense red shade of the “converted” inscription was supported by the same shade of the roundel’s background.
1998 – 1999
In 1998 all the additional lettering was gone from Uncle Ben’s visual identity, and the logo returned to the composition, used by the brand in 1973, but with the blue wordmark set in a bold and softened typeface, resembling the one from the previous version.
1999 – 2000
Another redesign was held by the company in 1999, with the medallion with the portrait decorated by a shiny blue ribbon with gradient gold accents on it. The emblem was placed under the bold inscription, rewritten in a warm and deep shade of brown.
2000 – 2003
In 2000 the logo gained gradient and glossy accents, while the composition was slightly changed — the portrait was shifted to the center of the orange banner, and the inscription, written above it, became three-dimensional, bringing back its blue color palette.
2003 – 2009
The redesign of 2003 has moved the emblem again, and this time — to the upper right corner of the orange rectangle. As for the lettering, in the new version, it was written in the same font, yet with flat lines and a calmer shade of blue, creating a stronger and more confident composition.
2006 – 2007
In 2006 the portrait of the legendary maitre d’hotel was gone again. The blue wordmark in a bold softened typeface was the only element, written across a solid orange banner, with an intensified shade. Now the orange got almost red, while the blue inscription looked dark and mysterious.
2009 – 2012
With the redesign of 2009, the emblem came back to Uncle Ben’s visual identity, being drawn at the bottom of an orange banner, accompanied by a glossy blue lettering with delicate light shadows of the characters. This badge stayed active for more than three years.
2012 – 2016
The designers slightly updated the typography without changing its overall style. The most notable modification can be seen in the letter “U,” where the difference in the width of the strokes grew smaller.
Uncle Ben’s head was now tilted in the opposite direction, and there was no banner.
2014 – 2020
The character is holding his head straight, although the recognizable expression on his face has been preserved the same. Both the bow tie and the jacket have disappeared, so no he is wearing only a white shirt.
The color of the letters has grown darker. The light blue highlights have disappeared making the lettering flat.
Technically speaking, the red circle has been gone. And yet, as the Uncle Ben’s logo on the package is typically put on the orange background, the heritage “dark blue vs. orange” contrast is still present.
2020
To begin with, the name of the brand reflects the practice of white Southerners addressing elderly African-Americans as “uncle” and “aunt.” That was because the words “Mr.” and “Mrs.” were considered not suitable. Another popular brand using the same approach was Aunt Jemima.
Another part of the stereotype (which disappeared from the logo in 2014) was the bow tie, which reminded servants and Pullman porters.
Because of these controversial facts, the company did not use this image in ads after the civil rights movement took hold – the Uncle Ben’s logo was silent, it could only be seen on the packages.
2020 – Today
After the large rebranding, the logo of Uncle Ben’s was redesigned again in 2020. The concept is fully based on the previous version — the bold blue lettering on a white background without any graphical additions, however, the name of the brand was changed, and now it is the “Ben’s Original”, written in two levels, with the top one enlarged.
