News that country trio The Dixie Chicks have recently changed their name hasn’t made headline branding news. They’ve dropped “Dixie”, a reference to the widely used confederate term for the Southern US states, and are now called “The Chicks”.
Is it any better? Will they still be referred to by most people as “The Chicks, formerly The Dixie Chicks”? Will people forget? Were they wrong in the first place? Does it matter?
It got me thinking about how businesses and brands address a difficult past to tell a new story. Uncle Ben’s and others are reviewing their brand and image, but I’m sure they won’t just drop “Uncle” from the name and become “Ben’s”, even if they change the brand image. The association and heritage built up over the years will still be there.
So, what would you do?
