Betty Crocker is a Fake

Did you know that Betty Crocker wasn’t a real person? You didn’t!

I’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.

After an innocent tweet yesterday from @ooph admitting that she herself thought Betty Crocker was a real person, I was all “Say what?! Betty Crocker wasn’t a real person?!”

I had to do a little investigating.

Sure enough, it was true.

Betty Crocker was actually a made up woman by the good ole folks at General Mills to answer all of the baking questions they were receiving in the 1910’s and 1920’s. The managers thought it would be more intimate to sign the responses personally. They took the last name of a retired company executive, William Crocker, and chose the first name, Betty. It was thought the name Betty would sound warm and friendly.

That signature on the box? That came from a secretary who won a contest among the female employees. The signature still appears on the Betty Crocker boxes.

The good people at General Mills didn’t stop there. In 1936, they decided to give Betty a face to go with the name. Artist Neysa McMein blended the features of the women in the company’s Home Service Department into an official likeness. Betty has gone through many face lifts {seven to be exact} through the years to reflect the times. She became younger in 1955, became a professional in 1980, and acquired a more multicultural look in 1996.

Consider this your daily “The more you know” moment!