Activist cheesed off by Coon rebranding delay

An Aboriginal activist who convinced Canadian conglomerate Saputo to rename Coon cheese has questioned why it is taking so long to dump the brand.

Indigenous activist Stephen Hagan. Picture Lenn Campbell

An Aboriginal activist who convinced Canadian conglomerate Saputo to rename Coon cheese has questioned why it is taking so long to dump the brand and why it is still on supermarket shelves.

In July, Saputo bosses announced the company had decided to “retire the Coon brand” after activist Stephan Hagan had complained that the name of the cheese was racist.

Dr Hagan has lobbied for more than 20 years for a change to the Coon cheese brand, which its Australian manufacturers had argued was named after American Edward William Coon, who in 1926 patented the “ripening process” for the original product.

After Dr Hagan appealed ­directly to the Montreal-based company, chief executive Lino Saputo Jr said he had decided to rename the cheese as part of the company’s commitment “to eliminate racism in all its forms’’.

Nestle’s this week announced its Allen’s Redskins and Chicos lollies will be renamed Red Ripper and Cheekies after similar complaints of racism this year.

Dr Hagan said he was bewildered that Saputo had yet to rename the brand or remove the cheese from shelves. “They told me that rebranding Coon cheese was an important step in eliminating racism,’’ he said. “But if they accept the term is offensive, why is the cheese still sitting on the shelves carrying that name.

“I call on all decent-minded Australians to boycott the Coon cheese brand because if the company won’t remove it, then slow sales might bring about the ­desired outcome.’’

A spokeswoman for Saputo in Australia said the company was still committed to rebranding the cheese but could not offer any ­details of the timing for the announcement of the name change.

“After thorough consideration, Saputo announced that we would be retiring our Coon cheese brand name,’’ the spokeswoman said in a statement.

“We are currently working on the new brand development and look forward to revealing it to our customers and consumers once completed.’’

Coon cheese was among a list of products and sporting teams that faced calls this year for their names to be changed in the wake of the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement.

The protests led to global calls for the dumping of product brand names with racial overtones.