‘Negrita’ was a brand that was born more than 60 years ago, locating itself in the preference of our consumers and, therefore, withdrawing it from the market was not an easy decision. However, at Alicorp we embrace change and constantly seek to enrich the experience of our brands. Thus we saw that the way in which societies deal with diversity and racism evolved in all this time. Along these lines, our view of what brands and images that have been present in Latin America for decades symbolize has also changed. We expressed it at the time and we reaffirm it now: “what before could be considered positive, today is inappropriate, because we are all more aware that stereotypes that we seek to overcome are consolidated.”
Since we made that decision until today, we have traveled an enriching path. We began by forming a multidisciplinary team that accompanied us, then we went through the open call process, the evaluation of the proposals, the selection of a winner and the development of the new logo on packaging. Each step was taken seeking to listen and work collaboratively with different groups in society . It is thanks to Luis Martín Rázuri, winner of the contest, that today we present ‘ Umsha ‘, a name inspired by the humisha , a version of the well-known yunza, a festival that is celebrated by carnivals throughout the Peruvian territory and that reflects our diversity, joy and Union.
The essence of ‘Negrita’ will not be lost; On the contrary, with this new name we want to promote various initiatives aligned with our purpose of celebrating diversity, promoting respect, tolerance and unity among all Peruvians. For example, one of the first actions we have led is the creation of a photo bank that seeks to promote diversity in Peruvian advertising, which we will launch in the coming weeks with the help of Shutterstock.
We are convinced that the birth of ‘Umsha’ will give rise to many other initiatives that can be added to our purpose.
For more information, we invite you to visit www.umsha.pe
