Racial Reckoning, Prosopopeia, and Consumer-Brand Disidentification: Rebranding and the Reimaging of Georgia's Stone Mountain Park

Abstract

Abstract: In August 2021, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association in Georgia announced the launch of a new logo, removing graphic representation of the mountain's massive monument carving of Confederate leaders. Prior to this change, and for much of the Association's existence since the mid 1920s, representation of the granite carving had been an integral component of the Association's letterheads and logos. This change aimed to separate Stone Mountain Park from its ties to the Ku Klux Klan and from its celebration of the Confederacy. This research reflects on 100 years of visual representation of Stone Mountain Park and examines the 2021 Stone Mountain reimaging campaign in the context of other recent rebranding exercises, including those of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's, Land O'Lakes, the Cleveland (formerly) Indians, and the Washington Commanders (formerly Redskins). The analysis considers the implication of rebranding to update a corporate image in response to changing attitudes to stereotypes and racially offensive representation. Through consideration of racial prosopopeia in advertising, this research considers the symbolic power of such branding in consumer-brand identification. The research also examines approaches to brand disidentification, and implications to the broader field of advertising practice, when corporations seek to reposition themselves as no longer representative of a past associated with racial inequity and racism.