Is Betty Crocker A Real Person?
When you head down the baking aisle of your local grocery store, chances are you can find some Betty Crocker-branded products. The company produces baking mixes for brownies, cookies, cakes, and more. It also sells pre-made frostings, sprinkles, and other odds and ends to decorate and finish your sweet treats. Using a pre-made mix is a great way to introduce yourself to baking, or just to throw together a quick treat when you're working with a time crunch.
The company has been around for over a century, according to its website, and the red spoon logo has since become iconic in the baking world. But what about that name? It's not uncommon for companies to be named after their founders or people close to them. After all, Little Debbie was named after the founder's granddaughter and Wendy's is a reference to Dave Thomas' daughter. But was Betty Crocker also inspired by a real person or has she been a fictional mascot this whole time?
How did Betty Crocker become a household name?
The short answer: Betty Crocker was completely made up. Back in 1921, the Washburn-Crosby Company, which made Gold Medal Flour, offered up a contest. Participating customers received an unsolved jigsaw puzzle and if they put it together correctly, they could send it back to the company for a prize, according to Betty Crocker. While some customers were excited at the idea of getting a flour sack-shaped pincushion, the company was also bombarded with hundreds of letters asking for baking advice.
The company decided to respond to every single one of these letters in an attempt to elevate its customer service. Executives thought it would seem more approachable if letters were signed with a person's name, rather than just by the company. They settled on "Betty" for the first name, believing it sounded familiar and friendly. The last name "Crocker" was an homage to a popular company executive.
The company created her persona and never looked back
To keep up with the letters, Atlas Obscura reports that the company had to hire people to help. It reportedly began by seeking out female employees to write replies to all the queries, but the letters kept coming. As per JSTOR Daily, the company received as many as 4,000 letters a day at one point. Eventually, it created an entirely new troubleshooting and testing department, staffed with women who were skilled in the kitchen and were deemed the "Crockettes" (via Atlas Obscura). Of course, all of the responding letters were signed with the pen name "Betty Crocker."
As for the visual image of an approachable yet competent baker, the series of portraits depicting Betty Crocker are likewise constructed. However, according to the company, the 75th-anniversary portrait of her was a composite of 75 real women who embodied the ideals of the fictional mascot. Betty Crocker herself may not be strictly real, but rest assured that the company bearing her name still has a talented team of very genuine professionals.