Behind the 100-year-old history of Betty Crocker
MINNEAPOLIS — This holiday season, you might pull out a Betty Crocker cookbook to find a tried and true recipe.
It's one of the nation's most recognizable brands. But who is Betty Crocker?
According to General Mills Archivist Natasha Bruns, Crocker isn't a real person. The "first lady of food" was born from a puzzle and a pincushion.
"In 1921, the predecessor to General Mills ran an advertisement on the back of the Saturday evening post. And it was a puzzle that consumers were able to cut out, put together and as a prize they would receive one of these miniature flour sack pincushions," Bruns explained.
The promotion garnered 30,000 responses, so they launched a persona to respond. They chose the name "Betty" because it sounded friendly. "Crocker" was the name of a recently retired director.
A contest was held among employees to choose her iconic signature. Then in 1924, Betty Crocker found her voice on a WCCO radio show.
"In the 1920's, 1930's, America was going through some pretty rough times. And Betty Crocker really was an ear that was listening to people and helping them through these tough times like how to stretch a ration or get by on a tight budget," Bruns said.
She also appeared on TV. In the height of her popularity, she was getting more than 5,000 letters a day. All the letters were answered by women working in the home service department.
The cookbooks and test kitchen tours also sold like hot cakes.
"I was lucky enough to interview quite a few women who worked for the Betty Crocker kitchens," said Susan Marks, who wrote "Finding Betty Crocker." Many of the women went to the University of Minnesota-St. Paul, where they studied home economics.
"On the surface it looks like Betty Crocker represents a very traditional female role," Marks said. "But if you look a little further into her radio shows, she was really promoting and empowering women and always interviewing women who were doing things outside of the home."
The brand has evolved some with the times. Her 75th birthday portrait was made from a computerized composite of real women.
"They invited consumers to nominate women in their life who represented the values of Betty Crocker," said Bruns.
The original 1950 cookbook is now in its 13th edition. 75 million copies have sold since it's first release.
