CHEER replaces COON cheese in Australians supermarkets in major rebranding

You feta brie-lieve it! CHEER cheese hits supermarket shelves across Australia after COON brand was dropped for being racist

  • COON cheese had its name changed due to racist connotations 
  • Saputo Dairy Australia said the rebranded product will rolled out nation wide
  • CHEER cheese will be available on Australian supermarket shelves from June 25 
  • Saputo Dairy Australia decided the product needed a rebrand in July 2020

The iconic COON cheese is finally being removed from supermarket shelves a year after the name was scrapped after complaints it was racist.

Saputo Dairy Australia decided in July 2020 that the name was no longer socially acceptable. 

The new name CHEER was chosen in January 2021 after a review found the product needed to be rebranded.

Formerly COON, the cheese will be rolled on to supermarkets across Australia on Friday after a major rebrand

Saputo said it ‘performed a careful and diligent review of a sensitive situation involving one of our brands’ and that ‘Saputo has decided to retire the COON brand name’. 

On Friday, the company announced the rebranded cheese will finally be available in supermarkets.

CHEER cheese (pictured) will replace the old product after it was found to have racist connotations

CHEER cheese (pictured) will replace the old product after it was found to have racist connotations

‘We are excited to confirm that shoppers can now purchase CHEER Cheese from the dairy aisle of their local supermarket or independent grocery store nationwide,’ Saputo Dairy Australia’s commercial director Cam Bruce said.

‘CHEER is the same great cheese that millions of Australians have grown up with and enjoyed for generations, and we look forward to bringing that little bit of happiness to everyone’s day, whether it’s a sliced snack, part of the family dinner or a melty, midnight toastie.’