Uncle Ben's Return

The ASFS listserv has been kicking around this "Uncle Ben" thread for a couple of days, and when I finally followed it to the bottom and read the Stuart Elliot NYT article about Uncle Ben's new marketing campaign, I was mindblown. I am fascinated by the thought processes behind decisions like these. My only explanation is that there must have been some very powerful person at the top of the food chain who had this idea, or liked it, and who (whom?) nobody else wanted to offend. Here, read.