Some brands can be sneaky. We’ve been fooled many times by real food brand names with fictional food mascots. Believe it or not, Mrs. Butterworth isn’t who you think she is. Neither is Chef Boyardee. Some foods were built on their true brand origin stories while other are pure marketing myths. Over the years some companies have changed their names or tactics while others continue with their charades. But do you know which is which? Half of the names listed below are based on real people. Can you spot the real ones from the fake ones?
FAKE
Betty Crocker is known for her various cake mixes and cookbooks, but she has always been fictional. Her character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company (now known as General Mills) in 1921. Betty “signed” letters sent to women who asked her for cooking advice. In 1945, she was named as the “Second Most Popular Woman in America by Fortune. However, it was also Fortune who did an expose on Crocker calling the icon a “fake.”
REAL
In 1935, traveling salesman Duncan Hines put together a list of “best” restaurants for his friends. He and his wife later compiled these listings and wrote the book Adventures in Good Eating. This led to a newspaper food column. He later licensed his name to a cake mix company.
FAKE
Made available in 1961, Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle was in the shape of her body! But this lady never existed. “Joy”, as she was named after a contest in 2009, is said to represent a “matronly” white woman, despite what some have claimed. Conagra Brands has stated that she was never designed to look like a “mammy” stereotype nor was she inspired by black actress Butterfly McQueen who played a maid in Gone with the Wind. And for what it’s “worth”, her voice in the TV commercials were also voiced by white actresses.
REAL
In 1951, Orville Redenbacher and partner Charles F. Bowman bought the George F. Chester and Son seed corn plant in Boone Grove, Indiana. After renaming the company Chester Hybrids, they tried lots of different hybrid strains before they settled on one that would serve as their signature popcorn. They called it “RedBow”. Redenbacher appeared in almost all of the company’s advertising from 1970 until his death in 1995.
REAL
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were once known as Penny Cups in 1928 because they sold for one cent. They were created by H.B. Reese in 1928. He had worked for Hershey’s as a dairy farmer but was let go when the chocolate company shut down the barn where he worked. However, he continued to use Hershey’s chocolate in his creations and today, his company is owned by Hershey.
FAKE
Werther’s Original caramel company was founded in 1903. However, it is not named after any person. It’s actually a tribute to the town of Werther (located in Westphalia, Germany) where the company was founded.
MAYBE REAL
Julius Pringle became the brand’s mascot in 1967, only he wasn’t named until 2006. (Two college students made up the name and included it on the Pringles Wikipedia page.) But was Pringles named after a real person? There was a Mark Pringle who filed a patent for Proctor & Gamble in 1937. Pringles’ own website states that Gene Wolfe is credited for inventing the machine that makes the chips and he “bears a striking resemblance to Julius Pringles.”
REAL
In 1938, Herman Lay purchased the potato manufacturer Barret Food Company and renamed it H.W. Lay Lingo & Company. He began his chip-selling business by selling bags of the snacks from the trunk of his car. In 1961, Charles E. Doolin, founder of the Frito Company merged with Lay’s creating Frito-Lay, Inc.
FAKE
Dr. Pepper was invented by Charles Alderson, a pharmacist. The soda was first used commercially in 1885, a year before Coca-Cola. Alderson gave the formula to his boss, Wade Morrison who named the drink. Some have suggested that it was named after Dr. Charles T. Pepper who gave Morrison his first job or that he gave Alderson permission to marry his daughter. But there is no evidence that Morrison ever worked for the doctor and his daughter was just eight years old at the time. More than likely, “Dr.” was used in its name to show that it was “healthful”.
REAL
Barq’s Root Beer was created by Edward Barq. There is some debate whether he introduced the beverage in 1898 or 1900. In any case, it originally went by the long name of Barq’s Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer until 2012. It was unique in that it is sarsaparilla-based, had less sugar, higher carbonation and did not foam up as much as other brands.
REAL
Despite what you heard, the first Keebler cookies were made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Godfrey Keebler, not in a tree by elves. His first bakery opened in 1853. The elf, Ernest J. Keebler, didn’t come about until 1968.
FAKE
The shortbread cookie known as Lorna Doone should have been named Emily Malloy. Emily and her husband first baked the cookies at their Chicago bakery in 1912. It is possible though that they were named after the main character in R.D. Blackmore’s novel with the same name.
REAL
In 1960, O.D. and Ruth McKee, owners of McKee Foods, decided to name a product after their four-year-old granddaughter, Debbie. The logo was inspired by an old black-and-white photo of the girl. Today, Debbie McKee-Fowler serves as Executive Vice President!
REAL
Marie and Cal Callender first began selling pies in the 1930s. In 1948, they sold their car using the money to buy a wholesale bakery with their son, Don. The first location opened in 1964. In 1994, the company licensed its name to ConAgra Foods for a successful line of frozen food items, including pies.
FAKE
Although he may have seemed authentic in his TV commercials, Juan Valdez has been a fictional representative for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia since 1958. Today, “Juan” has his own brand of coffee and runs over 500 Juan Valdez cafes. Not bad for someone who isn’t real.
REAL
After learning the ropes from his father in the Netherlands, Alfred Peet opened his first Peet’s Coffee, Tea and Spices in Berkeley, California in 1966. Today, there are 286 locations.
MAYBE REAL
Created in 1943, Uncle Ben’s rice mix used to feature an image of an older African American man, but no more. According to a webpage archived from Mars, Incorporated, the founders of Converted Brand Rice (later Mars, Incorporated) had been discussing a “legendary” rice farmer from Texas known as “Uncle Ben.” And it was a head waiter at a fancy Chicago restaurant who agreed to pose for “Ben’s” portrait. However, in 2020, Mars told Ad Age, “We don’t know if a real ‘Ben’ ever existed.” That same year, Ben’s image was removed from packages and the product name was changed to Ben’s Original after criticism of racial stereotyping.
REAL
Ettore Boiardi owned the restaurant, Il Giardino d’Italia in Cleveland, Ohio. His customers loved his spaghetti sauce and soon, he was bottling it up in milk bottles. In 1928, he began to can some of his products. It was his decision to spell out his name phonetically to “Boy-Ar-Dee” so people would know how to pronounce it.
REAL
The J.M. Smucker Company, aka Smuckers, is headquartered in Orrville, Ohio. It was founded in 1897 by Jerrome Monroe Smucker. His first product was apple butter that he said was made with apples that were planted by Johnny Appleseed.
FAKE
Aunt Jemima has been known as an example of a “Mammy” stereotype since 1893 when a former slave from Montgomery County, Kentucky portrayed the fictional character at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago to promote their pancake’s mix’s new name. Remarkably, Quaker Oats continued to use versions of Aunt Jemima on the boxes through 2020. Today, that same mix goes by the name of Pearl Milling Company – its’ original name.
All Images: Wikimedia
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