Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954,

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

introduced the red spoon logo with her signature, placing it on Gold Medal flour, Bisquick, and cake-mix packages. A portrait of Betty Crocker appears on printed advertisements, product packaging, and cookbooks. The character was developed in 1921 following a unique Gold Medal Flour promotion featured in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

''. The ad asked consumers to complete a jigsaw puzzle and mail it to the then Washburn-Crosby Company, later General Mills, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In return, they would receive a pincushion shaped like a bag of flour. Along with 30,000 completed puzzles came several hundred letters with cooking-related questions. Realizing that especially housewives would want advice from a fellow woman, the company’s Advertising Department convinced its board of directors to create a personality that the women answering the letters could all use in their replies. The name Betty was selected because it was viewed as a cheery, all-American name. It was paired with the last name Crocker, in honor of William Crocker, a Washburn Crosby Company director. The portrait of Betty Crocker was first commissioned in 1936. It has been updated seven times since her creation, reflecting changes in fashion and hairstyles. Described as an American

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an cultural artifact, artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen ...

, the image of Betty Crocker has endured several generations, adapting to changing social, political, and economic currents. Apart from advertising campaigns in printed, broadcast and digital media, she received several cultural references in film, literature, music and comics.

Creation

Betty Crocker was created in 1921 by Washburn-Crosby and advertising executive Bruce Barton. Crocker was based on a sous-chef from Franklin College — where Barton attended school — who made the delicious, if somewhat dry, baked goods for the cafeteria. Under

Marjorie Husted Marjorie Husted (née Child; April 2, 1892 – December 23, 1986) was an American home economist and businesswoman who worked for General Mills and was responsible for the success and fame of the brand character Betty Crocker. Husted wrote Betty ...

's supervision, the image of Betty Crocker became an icon for General Mills. In 1928, Washburn Crosby merged with other milling companies to form General Mills. In 1924, Crocker acquired a voice with the debut of "The Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air" on one station in Minneapolis. It was the country's first radio cooking program. Blanche Ingersoll followed by Husted was selected to portray Betty Crocker. The show proved popular and eventually was carried nationally on NBC Radio, with Agnes White Tizard as Betty. Over the next three decades, the women would anonymously portray Betty Crocker on the air and at cooking schools. In 1929, Betty Crocker

coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in ...

s were introduced. Inserted in bags of flour, they could be used to reduce the cost of Oneida Limited flatware. By 1932, this scheme had become so popular that General Mills began to offer an entire set of flatware; the pattern was called "Friendship" (later renamed "Medality"). In 1937, the coupons were printed on the outside of packages, copy on which told purchasers to "save and redeem for huge savings on fine kitchen and home accessories in our catalog". The character made its packaging debut in 1937, appearing on ''Softasilk'' cake flour. The name appeared in various Gold Medal products but its first brand name appearance came in 1941 on soup mixes.

Cookbooks

From 1930, General Mills issued softbound recipe books, including, in 1933, ''Betty Crocker's 101 Delicious Bisquick Creations, as Made and Served by Well-Known Gracious Hostesses, Famous Chefs, Distinguished Epicures and Smart Luminaries of Movieland.'' The ''Betty Crocker Cook Book of All-Purpose Baking'' was published as an aid to wartime considerations in cooking. In 1950, the first hardcover recipe cookbook was published, entitled ''Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook''. It was written by nutritionist Agnes White Tizard. In 2005, the 10th edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook was published, as well as a Spanish/ English bilingual book that collects some of the more common recipes for Spanish-speaking readers looking to cook American-style food. An 11th edition, in ring-binder format, appeared in 2011. At least 17 other Betty Crocker recipe collections were also in print in 2015.

Media

''Betty Crocker'' programs first appeared on radio on local stations in 1924. The first network ''Betty Crocker'' broadcast was on NBC in 1926. The show remained on network radio until 1953; most of the time the program was on NBC or CBS, but it was on ABC from 1947 to 1953. Betty Crocker was portrayed by several actresses, including

on radio for twenty years, and Adelaide Hawley Cumming on television between 1949 and 1964. In 1949, the actress Adelaide Hawley Cumming became Betty Crocker for many years. She appeared for several years on '' The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show'', and even had her TV show, '' Betty Crocker Star Matinee''. She also appeared in the CBS network's first color commercial, in which she baked a "mystery fruit cake". Hawley continued to portray Betty Crocker until 1964. A portrait of Betty Crocker was first commissioned in 1936, a "motherly image" that "blended the features of several Home Service Department members" that was painted by Neysa McMein. It subtly changed over the years, but always accommodated General Mills' cultural perception of the American homemaker — knowledgeable and caring. The 1996 portrait of Betty Crocker, according to General Mills, was partially inspired by a "computerized composite" of "75 women of diverse backgrounds and ages." These portraits were always painted, with no real person ever having posed as a model. In 1945, '' Fortune'' magazine named Betty Crocker the second most popular woman in America;

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

was named first. In the same year, ''Fortune'' "outed" Betty Crocker as a fictitious creation, calling her a "fake" and a "fraud."

Legacy

The

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

suburb of

Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 22,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is mostly residential an ...

, where General Mills is headquartered, has a street named Betty Crocker Drive. There are several Betty Crocker–branded products, including plastic food containers and measuring cups, and a line of small appliances such as popcorn poppers and sandwich makers. In 2006, the Betty Crocker catalog operation went out of business with all of its inventory on sale. Points were redeemable until December 15, 2006. Afterward, unused points were available to be converted into discounts for a small period thereafter on a short-lived website.

Products

* Bac-Os (discontinued in 2016) * Betty Crocker Brownie bar * '' Betty Crocker Cookbook'' * Betty Crocker baking mixes * Fruit Roll-Ups * Betty Crocker canned frosting * Bowl Appetit shelf-stable entrees * Betty Crocker Soda Licious (discontinued) * Cake and dessert decorating products * Dunk-a-roos * Fruit by the Foot * Fruit GushersBetty Crocker product list
, General Mills * Potato Buds instant mashed potatoes * "Shake and make" pancake mix * Warm Delights microwavable desserts

Citations

External links

* * {{Authority control Culture of the United States Baking mixes Cookbooks Crocker, Betty Crocker Crocker Crocker, Betty Crocker, Betty Food product brands General Mills brands Crocker, Betty Crocker, Betty Mass media franchises introduced in 1921 Crocker