So just who was Betty Crocker? Today's home page of MSN had this little blurb on it and of course it is a topic that I would click on! I already knew this story, but I didn't know if any of you would know this historical account of a "famous domestic goddess" so I thought I would pass it along in today's post. Surprisingly, it's a story written by men! Hey, I'm not a knuckle dragging housewife -- I don't berate men and automatically think of them as useless beings when it comes to matters of homekeeping. My own husband is a wonder worker when it comes to all things housewife. But then again, he kept his own home for 10 years before we were married! He came well trained. And there are some men who actually read this blog, so men do have some wonderful relevance to the "housewife world".
Anyway, Betty Crocker was not a real woman. She was a fictional character that was created by 'The Washburn Crosby Company'. At the time, this was the parent company of Gold Medal Flour. (Still on the market today!) In 1920 they ran a contest where you had to complete a jigsaw puzzle of a flour mill. The prize was a pincushion resembling a flour sack. I wish I had one of those pincushions! They received thousands upon thousands of responses to the contest. Included with a majority of these responses were questions about baking, too. Realizing they had an opportunity to capture the market, they decided to find someone to act as their baking expert and answer these questions for the company. This was going to be their way of reaching out to housewives everywhere and making their company personal to all of them and at the same time gaining the loyalty to their brand.
The number of questions were too many for just one person to answer, however, so it became more practical to have the responses come from a panel in-house, and create a persona that would be the "signature" to each letter to personalize it. William G. Crocker, the recently retired director of the company, was honored for his service by choosing his surname. The first name of Betty was chosen simply because the company felt that it was a friendly name. And so, Betty Crocker was born in 1921.
From there, the name has expanded to product identity, cookbooks, cooking schools, kitchen accessories, and more. She has become a household name, and synonymous with all things good from the kitchen. She has evolved from a brilliant marketing ploy to the belief that she is an actual woman in history; all because the men of The Washburn Crosby Company listened to housewives everywhere. Now known as General Mills, this company has been listening to us ever since. Their product innovation and branding in combination with the cookbooks and accessories that Betty has introduced us to over the years have made for many fun experiences in the kitchen, numerous successful bake sales, and infinitely happy kids after school with their cookies, brownies, or other treats.
Thanks, guys! Your imaginary women that you dream up are sometimes really worth it!
My whole world has been changed. I can't believe she is not a real person. I remember being a child, watching my mom cook using Betty Crooker books, looking at her picture thinking about how much my own mother resembled her. Wow, at least I can take comfort in knowing that Burt from Burt's Bees products is a real man.
Posted by: Mrs. Maxwell | May 02, 2009 at 10:14 AM