What's Next? Renaming the Will Rogers Airport?

Category:  News/Rant

Minnie Pearl has been bumped off.

The iconic comedian, who is so well-known that the punk rock band the Dead Milkmen evoked her name in their song "Punk Rock Girl," has apparently lost her luster, at least according to the "powers that be" at the former Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation in Nashville.  It is now called PearlPoint.  They are dropping Minnie's name and signature hat with the dangling $1.98 price tag from its name, logo, and everything else.

Here is the "Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation" history:

In 1987, Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr., and Dr. Steven Stroup formed The Cancer Education and Research Council. After Sarah Cannon, also known as comedienne “Minnie Pearl”, was successfully treated for breast cancer, she became a passionate supporter in the fight against cancer and in 1992 offered her stage name to the Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Funded through corporate and private donations as well as events supported by Minnie Pearl’s friends and fans, The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation is an active organization whose guiding principles honor Minnie Pearl’s generosity and caring spirit.

And here is what "PearlPoint" has to say now, about dropping the name:

The changes are intended to help the organization expand its reach, said Chief Executive Officer Susan Earl Hosbach. She worked with the New York-based firm Straightline on the rebranding. The firm determined that people outside the South, including younger generations, do not recognize Minnie Pearl. But that’s not the reason for the name change.

“For us, the bigger issue was that there was no connection between Minnie Pearl and cancer,” Hosbach said. “It wasn’t that people didn’t know who Minnie Pearl was. ... The research showed us there was truly no connection between Minnie Pearl and cancer because Minnie never had cancer. Sarah Cannon did.”

So some New York focus group thinks that a 20-something with cancer would rather die with it than go to the "Minnie Pearl Cancer Center" because he/she doesn't know who Minnie Pearl was?  Gee, what's next?  Is Oklahoma City going to rename the Will Rogers Airport because younger people don't know who he is?  Rogers died in 1935, when my dad was five years old, so it's a safe bet that the same people who don't have a clue who Minnie Pearl was also don't know diddly poo about Will Rogers.  

Of course, if Minnie Pearl had been a politician, it wouldn't matter who did or did not know her name, there would be no name change.

By the way, there is an organization that does research for pulmonary-related diseases based in California.  It is called the Will Rogers Institute.  I don't see them changing their name because Rogers' influence and generation goes back eight decades.  Maybe "PearlPoint" should learn from that.