Excerpt from "Betty Crocker: Marketing the Modern Woman,"

by Susan Marks-Kerst. In the Spring 1999 issue of Hennepin History.


Among the ruins of the old mill district in downtown Minneapolis are the crumbling reminders of a once-booming flour industry that put Minnesota on the map. Lately, a resurgent energy has seized the former milling district. As Minneapolis searches for its roots, plans are underway for extensive renovations. Current plans include the development of Mill Ruins Park, with connecting trails and upscale private housing along the riverbank. Also, the Minnesota Historical Society plans an impressive milling museum inside the fire-damaged Washburn "A" Mill, overlooking St. Anthony Falls. The mill once belonged to the Washburn Crosby Company, forerunner to General Mills Incorporated and the original home of Gold Medal Flour, WCCO, Wheaties, and national phenomenon Betty Crocker.

General Mills' trademark homemaker, Betty Crocker, made her way into homes across the nation, becoming a permanent fixture in America's collective kitchen. Despite her humble beginnings on the shores of the Mississippi River, Betty rose to national fame. The fictitious Betty Crocker and her supporting staff influenced the way America shopped, cooked, ate, and served meals. Through her cooking schools, radio shows, print advertisements, cookbooks, television programs, and commercials, she nurtured and shaped the American homemaker.

Betty Crocker spoke to women in a tone that was encouraging and inspirational. Her message always remained the same to each and every homemaker: "Yes, you can do it, and I can help you." Betty and her staff were innovative, clever, practical, and reassuring. Her longevity is testimony and tribute to her impact on society. The success of Betty is one of the most remarkable and innovative advertising campaigns in American history.

Betty is born, 1921
Behind the creative genius of Betty Crocker were many talented individuals employed by the Washburn Crosby Company. One in particular, Samuel Gale, is credited as the driving force behind Betty. Gale was connected with homemakers because of the early direct contact he had with them at cooking demonstrations. He knew their questions and concerns about cooking and baking, and he empathized with their confusion. He understood from the hundreds of letters the company received each week that the modern age of homemaking had left many ill-prepared for their responsibilities. He took it upon himself and his small staff to reply to each letter personally, but he never felt right about signing his own name. As letters increased each week, his task became increasingly difficult. One occurrence in particular launched an unprecedented turn of events.

One Gold Medal flour ad featured a jigsaw puzzle on the back of a national magazine. The solved puzzle depicted a scenic village with happy little villagers carrying sacks of Gold Medal Flour. The prize for completing the puzzle was a pincushion resembling a miniature sack of Gold Medal Flour. Washburn Crosby was wholly unprepared for the onslaught of 30,000 responses to the puzzle that poured in.

The company also was shocked and panicked by the hundreds of personal letters asking baking questions. It considered the avalanche of mail an emergency, and Gale was appointed to handle the crisis. The directors accepted a suggestion that they invent a friendly woman to act as a figurehead for the Home Service staff. Her name, rather than his, could be used on correspondence.

Betty Crocker's surname was chosen in honor of William Crocker, a recently retired and well-loved director of the Washburn Crosby Company. Betty was chosen because it sounded light, cheery, wholesome, and folksy. For three years she was Betty "in name only" for correspondence and company literature. Betty Crocker represented the Gold Medal Home Service Staff, which became the General Mills Home Service Department when the Washburn Crosby Company consolidated in 1928. According to General Mills historian James Gray:

The function of General Mills' Home Service Department has been to convince the buyer that she was being introduced, through literature, to "tangible ways of using the product more effectively in carrying out her basic job." The modern housewife was susceptible to such suggestions for two reasons:

1) the advanced education many of her kind had received made them all sympathetic to the new approach (planning a meal with reference to proper dietary balance; measuring in calories);

2) as a busy college student, she had not had time to serve the apprenticeship of the stove that had given her mother and grandmother training. 

If you have stories to share about Betty Crocker, please visit the author's web site at http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mark0040/.

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