•  
  •  
 

Document Type

Article

Abstract

[First paragraph]

In the late twentieth-century, General Mills, one of the largest producers of baking products in the U.S., changed the image of one of its marketing icons; that icon was Betty Crocker. For almost a century, the company had used the image to promote their baking products and cookbooks. The image, from its inception had been of a white woman, sometimes older, sometimes younger, but always WASPy white. In 1995 this image changed, and General Mills proposed a new Betty, a multi-cultural Betty, to appeal to an increasingly multi-cultural U.S. market (“General Mills Inc. to Create” E3; “General Mills Creating” 22; Zeigler B6). Women from around the country were encouraged to send their photographs to General Mills, along with an essay and favorite Betty Crocker recipe. While many U.S. Americans were enthusiastic about the change, sending in their own photos or photos of loved ones to become part of the new composite Betty, some were angry. A majority of those who voiced anger at the proposed change were men–white men. Their strong negative reaction to the proposed new Betty raises questions of the relationship of white men to Betty Crocker, and, perhaps more important, the power of advertizing icons to shape and challenge social structures in U.S. society.

Download

Share

COinS