"Born" in
1921 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to proud corporate
parents, Betty Crocker has grown, over eight decades,
into one of the most successful branding campaigns
the world has ever known. Now, at long last, she
has her own biography. Finding Betty Crocker draws
upon six years of research plus an unprecedented
look into the General Mills archives to reveal
how a fictitious spokesperson was enthusiastically
welcomed into kitchens and shopping carts across
the nation.
The Washburn Crosby Company (one of the forerunner to General Mills)
chose the cheery all-American "Betty" as a first name and paired
it with Crocker, after William Crocker, a well-loved company director.
Betty was to be the newest member of the Home Service Department, where
she would be a "friend" to consumers in search of advice on
baking - and, in an unexpected twist, their personal lives.
Soon Betty Crocker had her own national radio show, which during the
Great Depression and World War II, broadcast money-saving recipes, rationing
tips, and messages of hope. Over 700,000 women joined Betty's wartime
Home Legion program, while more than one million women - and men - registered
for the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air, during its twenty-seven-year
run.
At the height of Betty Crocker's popularity in the 1940s, she received
as many as 4,000 to 5,000 letters daily, care of General Mills. When
her first full-scale cookbook, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, or "Big
Red," as it is affectionately known, was released in 1950, first-year
sales rivaled those of the Bible. Today, over two hundred products bear
her name, along with thousands of recipes booklets and cookbooks, an
interactive website, as well as a newspaper column.
What is it about Betty? In answering the question of why everyone was
buying what she was selling, author Susan Marks offers an entertaining,
charming, and utterly unique look - through words and images - of an
American icon situated between profound symbolism and classic kitchen
kitsch.
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