Modern Mythology

Taken from The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader with permission

The Jolly Green Giant

 In the early 1920's, the Minnesota Valley Canning Company introduced a large variety of peas to the American market. They called the peas “green giants,” and - because the law required it to protect their trademark – they put a picture of a green giant on the label. Oddly enough, the original giant (lifted from a volume of Grimm’s Fairy Tales) was white, not green; he looked like a dwarf, not a giant; and he wasn’t jolly – he was scowling. His image eventually softened and he became such a powerful symbol that the company changed its name to the Green Giant Co.

Betty Crocker

The Washburn Company, a Minneapolis flour maker, got so any letters asking for baking consumers. They picked up a character to write back to consumers. They picked “Betty” because it sounded ‘warm and friendly,” and “Crocker” was picked to honor a former company director. To come up with a signature for Betty (so she could sign “her” letters) the company held a contest for its women employees. The winner – still used today – was submitted by a secretary.

The Campbell’s Soup Kids

Grace Gebbie Wiederseim grew up in Philadelphia in the mid – 1800’s. On morning when she was a young girl, she stood in front of her parent’s mirror and drew a picture of herself. She liked it so much that she saved it. In 1904, Grace was a successful illustrator and the wife of Campbell’s Soup advertising executive. One afternoon he asked her to help out her childhood self-portrait…and used it to create Dolly Drake and Bobby Blake – the Campbell’s Soup Kids

Ronald McDonald

 Willard Scott, weatherman on NBC’s “Today Show” was the first McClown. He tells this story:
“The folks at the NBC television station in Washington – WRC-TV – had signed on a national kiddie show (called “Bozo the Clown”), and they tapped me to star in the thing.… I did a lot of personal appearance as Bozo – at shopping malls, local fairs, that sort of thing. After a whole a local McDonald’s asked me to appear at an opening, and before too long my Bozo was a regular fixture at area franchises. When WRC dropped (the show), McDonald’s didn’t like the idea of having to drop a successful promotion. They were hooked on clowns…And so – you guessed it – Ronald McDonald was born…He was almost christened Donald McDonald, but Ronald sounded just a touch more natural, so he we went with that...”

The Quaker Oats Man

In 1891, seven oatmeal millers combined to form the American Cereal Company. One of the seven was Quaker Mill of Ravenna, Ohio, which had trademarked the Quaker man of 14 years earlier. In 1901 the American Cereal Company changed its name to Quaker Oats, and the Quaker man was revived as its symbol. The real Quakers weren’t too happy about this. They tried unsuccessfully to Congress to prohibit manufacturers from using religious names on products