The product name, which it shares with a
racial slur, was defended by previous manufacturers Kraft Foods and
Dairy Farmers despite decades-long campaigns to change it,
[28][29] including through challenges to the
Australian Human Rights Commission in 1999 and
Advertising Standards Bureau in 2001 by Hagan.
[9][30][31] In the public debate raised by the campaign to change it, some of those who objected to the change of name claimed that the term was not used as a derogatory term in Australia, rather being an American racist term. However, Hagan and
QNews reporter Destiny Rogers have said that the research in their e-book,
c00n: More Holes than Swiss Cheese, shows the term was used in Australia as a derogatory term for
Indigenous Australians as well as other
people of colour, and was especially common between the 1870s and 1939 before fading from the language during World War II and coming back into use in the 1970s.
[6][
non-primary source needed]
Hagan again challenged the name in 2008, and said that Dairy Farmers had told him that it was named after Edward c00n, "who revolutionised the speeding process of making cheese".
[8] According to Hagan, this story had only first been mentioned by the brand owners in the 1980s.
[6]
In the wake of
the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Australia, on 24 July 2020
Saputo Inc. announced the name would be changed.
[30][32]
On 13 January 2021, Lino A. Saputo, the chair and CEO of Saputo Inc., announced the new name as "Cheer" cheese. He said, "Treating people with respect and without discrimination is one of our basic principles".
[33][34] The new name will be launched in July 2021.
[27][9] A number of other Australian companies also rebranded some of their products which have names with racist connotations in 2020, and others face pressure to do so.
[33]
As of 2021, Hagan is claiming
legal damages of A$2.1 million for what he calls "21 years of corporations undermining his claims that the cheese brand was not named after...William Edward c00n".
[10]
