Betty Crocker

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Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 as a way to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, General Mills 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 ad asked consumers to complete a jigsaw puzzle and mail it to the then Washburn-Crosby Company, later to become General Mills, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In return, they would receive a pincushion in the shape of 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 fashions and hairstyles.

Described as an American cultural icon, 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 a number of cultural references in film, literature, music and comics. Provided by Wikipedia