Welcome back . I am sure most of you will readily recognize the image above as the Quaker Oats man. Some people have wondered over the years if he was a real person, and how were The Society of Friends connected to Quaker Oats. One would imagine the company was founded by the Quakers. One would be incorrect. The current information from the company is that the Quaker man does not represent any real person, living or dead. He is just an image of a man in Quaker garb selected to represent the values of honesty, integrity, purity and strength projected by the Quaker faith. That being said, information issued by the same company in 1909 identified the Quaker Oats man as being Pennsylvania's own William Penn.
Looking at sketches of William Penn as a youth and as an older man one can see a resemblance.
Looking at sketches of William Penn as a youth and as an older man one can see a resemblance.
Even though in the minds of most Americans the Quaker Oats company company and the heart healthy oat meal is indelibly linked to the Society of Friends, Quaker Oats is in no way affiliated with the Society of Friends. The Quaker Oats company was born of a merger of four oat mills in Ohio, and Iowa. In 1877 Quaker Oats registered as the first trademark for a breakfast cereal. The trademark was registered with the U.S. Patent Office as "a figure of a man in 'Quaker garb.'" Both former owners, Henry Seymour and William Heston, claimed to have selected the Quaker name as a symbol of good quality and honest value.
While this link was good for business it did not sit well with the religious Society of Friends who have on several occasions expressed frustration at being confused with the Quaker Oats representation. In recent years, Friends have twice protested the Quaker name being used for advertising campaigns seen as promoting violence. In 1990, some Quakers started a letter-writing campaign after a Quaker Oats advertisement depicted Popeye as a "Quakerman" who used violence against aliens, sharks, and Bluto. Later that decade, more letters were sparked by Power Ranger toy included in Cap'n Crunch cereal.
Over the years Legal troubles have plagued the Quaker Oats company, which have threatened the reputation of the Religious society of friends through the name association. In the 1950s, researchers from Quaker Oats Company, MIT and Harvard University carried out experiments at the Walter E. Fernald State School to determine how the minerals from cereals were metabolized. Parents of mentally challenged children were asked for permission to let their children be members of a Science Club and participate in research. Being a member of the Science Club gave the children special privileges. The parents were told that the children would be fed with a diet high in nutrients. However, they were not told (and the consent form contained no information indicating) that the food their children were fed contained radioactive calcium and iron. The information obtained from the experiments was to be used as part of an advertising campaign.The company was later sued because of the experiments. The lawsuit was settled on 31 December 1997. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Oats_Company).
In today's post we will take a look at the questions; Are the Quakers really just the Amish with a different name? Let's start with a look at the Amish faith. In our last post we saw that the Amish had ties to the Ana-baptist movement which started in Switzerland. The Ana-baptists grew out of the reformation started in Germany by Martin Luther. The Ana-Baptist movement was founded on the principles of the bible as the sole source of authority an should be strictly followed and they preached against infant baptism, practiced throughout the Christian world. As early as 1523, William Reublin began to preach against infant baptism in villages surrounding Zurich, encouraging parents to not baptize their children. Ana-Baptist means re-baptized, though this is not an accurate understanding of the practice. Yet at the time converts had already been baptized in infancy and the movement called for a re-baptism to take place when the person was an adult and was able to make an informed choice. The Ana-baptists did not recognize infant baptism and so for them there was only one, true baptism, made through a conscious choice and with much contemplation. The Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.
In contrast to the Amish , the society of friends recognized the bible as a good book to follow but placed reliance of the inner voice, the Holy Spirit which dwelt within. They placed more emphasis on social justice and did not recognize baptism at all. The Amish and Quakers share a love of simplicity, choosing to wear simple hand made clothing, and following a simple life style, but unlike the Amish there was no restrictions regarding dress placed on the Quakers. William Penn was well known for his elaborate dress and love of fashion. The Quaker was pacifistic, refusing to take up arms, they did not recognize dominion among men, believing g all men, women and children were equal under God, and they did not swear oaths or allegiance to a king or a government. The Amish movement began in Switzerland and Germany, where as the Quaker movement sprung up in England. For more information regarding the Amish or the AnaBaptist movement you can visit the following :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish, http://amishamerica.com/who-are-the-anabaptists/ http://www.anabaptistchurch.org/
While this link was good for business it did not sit well with the religious Society of Friends who have on several occasions expressed frustration at being confused with the Quaker Oats representation. In recent years, Friends have twice protested the Quaker name being used for advertising campaigns seen as promoting violence. In 1990, some Quakers started a letter-writing campaign after a Quaker Oats advertisement depicted Popeye as a "Quakerman" who used violence against aliens, sharks, and Bluto. Later that decade, more letters were sparked by Power Ranger toy included in Cap'n Crunch cereal.
Over the years Legal troubles have plagued the Quaker Oats company, which have threatened the reputation of the Religious society of friends through the name association. In the 1950s, researchers from Quaker Oats Company, MIT and Harvard University carried out experiments at the Walter E. Fernald State School to determine how the minerals from cereals were metabolized. Parents of mentally challenged children were asked for permission to let their children be members of a Science Club and participate in research. Being a member of the Science Club gave the children special privileges. The parents were told that the children would be fed with a diet high in nutrients. However, they were not told (and the consent form contained no information indicating) that the food their children were fed contained radioactive calcium and iron. The information obtained from the experiments was to be used as part of an advertising campaign.The company was later sued because of the experiments. The lawsuit was settled on 31 December 1997. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Oats_Company).
In today's post we will take a look at the questions; Are the Quakers really just the Amish with a different name? Let's start with a look at the Amish faith. In our last post we saw that the Amish had ties to the Ana-baptist movement which started in Switzerland. The Ana-baptists grew out of the reformation started in Germany by Martin Luther. The Ana-Baptist movement was founded on the principles of the bible as the sole source of authority an should be strictly followed and they preached against infant baptism, practiced throughout the Christian world. As early as 1523, William Reublin began to preach against infant baptism in villages surrounding Zurich, encouraging parents to not baptize their children. Ana-Baptist means re-baptized, though this is not an accurate understanding of the practice. Yet at the time converts had already been baptized in infancy and the movement called for a re-baptism to take place when the person was an adult and was able to make an informed choice. The Ana-baptists did not recognize infant baptism and so for them there was only one, true baptism, made through a conscious choice and with much contemplation. The Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.
In contrast to the Amish , the society of friends recognized the bible as a good book to follow but placed reliance of the inner voice, the Holy Spirit which dwelt within. They placed more emphasis on social justice and did not recognize baptism at all. The Amish and Quakers share a love of simplicity, choosing to wear simple hand made clothing, and following a simple life style, but unlike the Amish there was no restrictions regarding dress placed on the Quakers. William Penn was well known for his elaborate dress and love of fashion. The Quaker was pacifistic, refusing to take up arms, they did not recognize dominion among men, believing g all men, women and children were equal under God, and they did not swear oaths or allegiance to a king or a government. The Amish movement began in Switzerland and Germany, where as the Quaker movement sprung up in England. For more information regarding the Amish or the AnaBaptist movement you can visit the following :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish, http://amishamerica.com/who-are-the-anabaptists/ http://www.anabaptistchurch.org/
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