The $10 Million dollar lie

General Mills spent $10 million dollars setting this up and still use it today.
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Hi I am Ann Reardon, How to Cook That is my youtube channel it is filled with crazy sweet creations made just for you. This week we are looking at the fascinating history of Betty Crocker, from the signature to Betty Crocker radio show, Betty Crocker tv show, Betty Crocker food products and the millions of sales of Betty Crocker cookbooks. But is she still alive? New video every Friday.
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[@chaosdandelion]

Make it a great week, (it is automatically awesome because of this video) Have a good day/night everyone!!

[@hypercane2023]

Thanks!

[@michaelkirouac3680]

YES!!!!! 💯

[@ahuman4734]

That a drawfee profile picture?

[@DeterminismisFreedom]

🤙 Determinism is Freedom 🤙

[@chaosdandelion]

AAA I got pinned! Thank you! Let’s get Ann to 5 MIL, she deserves it so much!

[@witchthief9735]

"At least if she's not real she can't die" broke my heart ❤

[@HowToCookThat]

A real reflection of the time, too many funerals.

[@witchthief9735]

@@HowToCookThat exactly 😔

[@dominiknovosel883]

That's surprisingly deep.

[@Matt..S]

Unless the company goes bankrupt. So keep buying!!!

[@bitcoinweasel9274]

@@Matt..S Public domain!

[@OptimusPhillip]

I'd always assumed that Betty Crocker was just a mascot character. I had no idea that people were supposed to believe she was real!

[@BulbasaurLeaves]

Same here. I was more surprised to learn that Chef Boyardee was actually a real person

[@bornach]

Is colonel Sanders still alive?

[@MathewHaswell]

@@bornach Jokes aside, the Colonel died in 1980, about 2 months after his 100th birthday.

[@estherkasprzyk3823]

Me too

[@starspeculation]

Well, Duncan Hines was a real person, however, I thought Duncan and Hines were 2 separate last names, like when 2 lawyers run a law firm together.

[@ghostreyn]

I had never considered if Betty was a real person or not, I always saw the name as a brand. This is fascinating to hear about

[@sarahschreffler5407]

This. I did not think she was a real person either

[@LunarEleven]

We were never exposed to the fabricated Betty so that definitely gave us a different perspective! I always thought the name sounded made up, funny that the last name was from a real person because that is what made it sound fake to me.

[@ellengrace4609]

Same! Just like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.

[@RandomJayne]

I was more surprised about Mavis Beacon.

[@bodymindhealth4u]

Me too! I never thought she was a real person and I find it astonishing so many people did. It’s never seemed dishonest to me as we often have branding that is very in-depth. If anything, I kind of thought of “her” (it) as a amalgamation of all the staff.

[@maureenfitzgerald3498]

Many years ago, I worked with a woman who had once been a "Betty Crocker," writing replies to letters from customers. The way she told the story to me, the original boxed cake mixes required the eggs to be added, but at some point they changed to formula so that you only had to add water, to simplify the process. And people HATED it. They liked breaking the eggs. It made them feel like they were "really baking." So slightly different versions of the same idea, but I'm curious which is closer to reality.

[@christophertstone]

The original "Better Crocker Ginger Cake Mix" was released in 1947, with the instructions "Just add water, mix, and bake". It did not include any egg products in the ingredients (also no preservatives nor unpronounceable chemicals). I'm not sure what year they changed, but in a Jan 1953 advertisement "Better Crocker Cake Mixes bring you that Special Homemade Goodness ...because you add the eggs yourself"

[@edmg7]

Maybe a bit of both?

[@courtney-ray]

Which is closer to reality? This sounds like the *same* story Ann told…

[@simonisenberg4516]

@@courtney-ray Ann's telling of the story: Only add Water -> Also add eggs Commenter's version: Add Water and eggs -> Only add Water -> Also add eggs Doesn't really make all that much of a difference in the end though.

[@poochy2479]

​@@christophertstone there have always been "unpronounceable chemicals" in food my dude, the only difference is that people back then didn't have marketing companies trying to scare them over it. you tell them there's something called "phosphate" in their food and they go and name a drink after it lmao

[@starshine_lue5823]

You have to admit that it is rather sweet. They created a persona people would feel comfortable listening so that they could answer people's questions, and then focused on uplifting and supporting those people. It may have ultimately been to sell flour, but in the process, they probably helped a lot of people feel more confident in their abilities and own self worth.

[@zirconium2014]

"sell flour" 😂 it's sad but definitely the truth. In the meantime they had a very positive agenda

[@lisaroper421]

Yeah, that was how I was feeling too!

[@starshine_lue5823]

@zirconium well, it does feel like they did have some genuinely good motives as well, but none of it would have happened without that original goal

[@garmtpug]

It was all about the money. The Betty Crocker persona, invented by the Washburn-Crosby Company, was bought out by General Mills. General Mills parlayed this fake person into the company it is today - worth 53 billions dollars! Quite successful! They are a business and businesses are always about the bottom line and how much they can get from the buyer. It was a very savvy and sophisticated advertising strategy that worked for decades and made the owners of the company very, very rich. They didn't keep the scam going to make women feel better about themselves, but to make as much money as possible. Sad, but true.

[@zirconium2014]

@@starshine_lue5823 it sorta goes for a lot of things good in the world.

[@anufoalan]

A couple of things Anne forgot to mention, when Betty Crocker was first introduced in 1921, it was also three years out from the end of WWI which is important as most households that could afford domestic staff (mostly middle class) lost them to the war efforts, which brought into fruition the housewife as we know the role, and because most of those women had very little knowledge on how to cook they would have seen and needed a guiding hand and there were several at the time, Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, the Daily Mail Cookery book, etc. then not too long after the Great Depression, where even before the war there was limited food and even rationing, and one of the biggest stars to exist during that time was Aunt Sammy, who was also fictional but provided similar instruction as Betty Crocker did, so while now we might frown upon this fakery it really came at a time when women were out in incredibly difficult positions and the guidance that even a structured made up character provided. Heck the US Bureau of Home Economics even had a group of women that published information on clothing and budgeting for clothing called The Dress Doctors at this time, because it came from a place of necessity.

[@tatianaes3354]

How does it compare to Uncle Ben?

[@stargirl7646]

Oh wait you’re right! I never thought about that 😮 I wonder when maid and such really did stop being so normal

[@jdsiv3]

@@stargirl7646 Lots of middle class women still had maids up until the early 1970s in the US

[@Drew-Dastardly]

@@tatianaes3354 Uncle Ben was married to Aunt Jemima. These iconic black characters have now been cancelled by the woke mob who see racism everywhere.

[@athriftygoddess6501]

What I love about Aunt Sammy is how she was played by different actors with regional accents from whatever area of the US her program was airing in! Made her seem very familiar and comforting to those listening, I’m sure.

[@xAlbinopiratex]

I might be on my own here, but I like how much they did to make Betty "come to life" it must have been so comforting in such a time.

[@Donteatacowman]

Yes, and the ad showing the actual women who did her work behind the scenes was a very classy response.

[@LunarEleven]

I am sure the housewives who saw her as an inspiration and source of strength felt very comforted when they found out she was nothing but a manipulative ad campaign. 😆 Especially the women who confided in her... Nobody feels good when they realize they were duped by a greedy corporation. I see where you're coming from, but when they were receiving 4000 letters a day (and 10 proposals) it had gone way too far... Edit: I recently read an article from the 80s that said the marriage proposals were ultimately in the hundreds. 🫥

[@LunarEleven]

@@Donteatacowman that's just damage control because they got caught. "Classy" would have been doing that BEFORE they were exposed, out of integrity and respect for their customers. Don't give liars credit for coming clean after they've been busted, that's silly.

[@majuuorthrus3340]

Kinda like a weird corporate-sponsored home economics Santa Claus

[@15acesplz15]

The intent wasn't to comfort, the intent was to sell flour

[@samanthafarmer6811]

i feel like Betty is as real as people needed her to be, she was the house wife's friend, the woman men of the time aspired to marry and sure, she was one big advertisement but that doesn't matter but they spent a fortune creating this realistic woman breathed life into. i grew up on Betty Crocker baked things so it was kinda awesome to hear her origin story

[@milliethedog1070]

Hi Ann! Could you please do more recipes for cakes/ deserts/chocolate? | love debunking but I've been really missing the new recipes lately

[@HowToCookThat]

If your comment gets 1,000 likes I will.

[@stargirl7646]

@@HowToCookThat ack! Bumping this comment with my like then! I mean, I enjoy any of your videos, but still!

[@embee7434]

Doing my part to get it to 1,000!

[@lisaroper421]

Get the likes!

[@ksp-crafter5907]

Liked! 🥰 @MillieTheDog for easier understanding of your comment please edit the false "be" into a "but" because everyone will read it very soon!

[@HeisenbergFam]

Imagine if Ann got her own Netflix show

[@HOTD108_]

The amount of free KZbin content you're getting would probably sharply decrease.

[@HowToCookThat]

😂I am assuming that for netflix show I wouldn't be the camera woman, editor and producer 😂

[@iwantedtobethatanomaly2270]

you're everywhere staph

[@frederickoswaldaruji6911]

Definitely🙂

[@wishingonthemoon1]

PLEASE YES

[@finchjames]

So bizarre! I even went as Betty Crocker for halloween one year as a teenager and essentially just dressed like a 50s housewife because I too totally assumed she was a real person!

[@LunarEleven]

That's an amazing Halloween costume, though.

[@finchjames]

@@LunarEleven ty!! I even baked cookies to hand out all day (though they were gone by second period) 😂

[@ColonelMustache]

I was about to joke "Next you'll tell me Chef Boyardee isn't real, either!" And then I looked it up and realized he actually WAS real!

[@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co]

So was Duncan Hines! He was a travelling salesman who became a restaurant reviewer.

[@zucchinigreen]

I was wondering about Sarah Lee lol

[@JSanime]

Little Debbie is real.

[@reepicheepsfriend]

@@Ea-Nasir_Copper_Co That's crazy, I never even realized, duh, that has to be the name of a person! PS those are better box mixes than betty crocker (don't tell her)

[@itsema91]

The psychology behind "adding the eggs yourself" is super super interesting and also applicable nowadays to so many things. A lot of R&D focuses on automation of complex processes but often what you find is that people still want to intervene and contribute to the process at certain key points. Otherwise the satisfaction of the task goes away. So the key is to find a balance between automating the parts people find tedious or complicated while leaving a few key functions manual. You also often find that experts in a certain field don't like automation as much as new people because they feel their training and experience is now redundant so if you are making a product you have to very carefully thing of who your end user will be and how much of their knowledge they want to use on a daily basis.

[@amykathleen2]

For a minute there I was about to get really mad at the idea that the machines in my workplace are deliberately making me work hard because of psychology… but then I remembered all those machines are just really, really old and/or cheap. Oops.

[@swedneck]

It's also freshness and ability to customize, my favourite example of this is pizza kits. Just a piece of dough and a jar of tomato sauce, then you supply everything else yourself and that's the ideal balance of preparation and flexibility. If you want more preparation you're going to want a whole frozen pizza anyways.

[@myladycasagrande863]

​@@swedneck that pizza kit is a good idea because it supplies the items that people might find tedious or intimidating to make for themselves, allowing users to skip to the fun/creative part.

[@zatoth13]

We had the “add eggs” as an example in a public relations class I took

[@Dekubud]

That is true! But sometimes, there are actual issues with the automation system. For example, I'm a translator and I think google translate is great for interpersonal use or for very small businesses. Otherwise, automatic translation *can* be useful to assist a human into translating faster. However, living in a 50% French area of Canada, I can't tell you the number of cheap businesses who don't even bother to get a professional to review the French text they use...

[@chocolate-pyrus8916]

The bit about Betty uplifting women and supporting homemakers kind of reminds me of modern day Barbie. She's an iconic woman in American culture and is dearly beloved, but unlike Betty she was always known as a fictional character. Barbie has a cgi vlog on youtube and she acts like a real youtuber but is obviously animated and fake, but she also uplifts women and is supportive to young girls. Giving advice and telling stories, as well as influencer stuff. 💖

[@LunarEleven]

Which proves to me that they could have been truly innovative by representing her honestly as an invention- the embodiment of the spirit of the devoted, underappreciated moms and housewives. Women just wanted acknowledgement. Instead of deceiving them, they could have run the ad showing the panel of women behind "Betty Crocker" from the start. Women would have seen all these successful, smart ladies who they could identify with and they would have felt recognized!

[@courtney-ray]

Barbie has a vlog!?

[@jennw6809]

So Betty became a confessional? It weirdly touches me that she did. And also that GM owned up to it and took out the big spread highlighting their home ec writers, that gives me the feels too!

[@LunarEleven]

It's so bizarre how many people think it's touching that GM "owned up to it" as a direct response to being *caught.* 😆 That's called "damage control" and it wasn't a noble, wholesome effort to give their writers credit. They did what benefited the COMPANY most once they were busted and going to be exposed anyway.

[@jennw6809]

@@LunarEleven Well, they could have just denied it and they certainly didn't need to highlight each writer. I agree it was damage control but considering that the did a decent job.

[@mhmmhm5995]

I guess it was nice of them to uplift their writers and the women that wrote to them. But I have to admit that I shed a few tears when people wrote about their problems to her and even wanted to marry her and then cried when they were told she wasn't real 😕

[@MidnightXRanma]

I like how the style of the picture of her changed over the years but she never actually aged in them yet people were still googling weather or not she was alive 😂

[@marthahawkinson-michau9611]

To be fair, if she had ever been a real person, she would have aged instead of magically never aging yet changing her style every 15 years.

[@MidnightXRanma]

@@marthahawkinson-michau9611 Thats literally what I said? All you did was rephrase…

[@Sailor_alan]

Whether or not she was a real person it is still fascinating that they were able to fool so many people. The original adverts were something else.

[@adde9506]

Have never seen a picture until today and didn't know Betty Crocker dated quite that far back. I don't think googling if Betty Crocker is still alive is dumb, since most people nowadays don't know her as anything but a name on a box, a book, and a tub of fake butter.

[@MidnightXRanma]

@@Sailor_alan I agree

[@infin1ty850]

This made me feel like I'm living in an alternate reality. I never even looked up the history of Betty Crocker, I've basically just always associated the name with the brand, but I did assume she was a real person at some point.

[@pkmntrainerlilly5]

Yeah, I thought it was a Little Debbie situation. She wasn't real, but evoked the idea of a housewife that could make all these things.

[@LMvonLebkuchen]

​@@pkmntrainerlilly5 Little Debbie is more like Wendy (Debra McKee-Fowler is 62 and the current executive VP of the company)

[@darondax]

My mom has an old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 70's that's falling apart. We call it our "kitchen bible" because we refer to it for recipes more than any other cookbook in the kitchen. It also has a wonderful spice chart in the front and back covers listing various spiced and what types of dishes they're good to cook with. One of my favorite recipes is the chili recipe, with which various members of my immediate family have won chili cook-offs with.

[@EmeraldMara85]

You should digitize it, so that even when the book is seriously in taters, you could always refer back to it.

[@darondax]

@@EmeraldMara85 We’re currently putting the pages into sheet protectors and putting those in a binder. Scanning everything will be an endeavor since it’s over 300 pages 😅

[@LunarEleven]

My Grandma had it too!

[@filozofwielki1121]

I bet you can find scans somewhere in Internet!

[@rufusdrumknottvgc]

I just love the part where they were advised to let customers add their own eggs to the cake mix. As a psychologist, it’s a phenomenon I’m very familiar with. Like people prefer picking their own lottery tickets over being handed a random one because they tend to think that’ll help them get lucky somehow. Great video, Ann! I know people feel the same about Mavis from Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. People are devastated to find out she’s not real, they’ll call multiple times just to confirm it, etc. Fascinating phenomenon.

[@resourcedragon]

Now I didn't know that in relation to the lottery. Many years ago I heard a discussion of a mathematical paper that said that, paradoxically, the lottery supported the idea that people are psychic because they win *_less_* often than they should if random chance were the only thing involved. The best thing you could do for your chances of winning was to have a random selection of numbers rather than picking numbers more deliberately. So I got the bank to give me 50 one cent pieces (they were still a thing in Australia back then) in exchange for a 50 cent piece and I painted the numbers 1 to 45 on them (that's the number of numbers that was on our lotto tickets back then) and I drew them randomly and worked out my entries that way. When they introduced "quick pick" which is a random selection of numbers, that made putting in lottery entries a lot easier and faster.

[@rufusdrumknottvgc]

@@resourcedragon absolutely, because people are way less random than we tend to think we are. People often use dates and other numbers important to them for the lottery, sometimes even without realising it. The simplest example of the human misunderstanding of randomness is that if you give someone a sheet of paper and tell them to ‘randomly’ place 100 circles on it, they’ll scatter them around the whole paper, whereas a truly random machine will have clusters. So the way to stretch your chances of winning the lottery is to use a method that will give you truly random numbers. Also gives you better winnings than winning on numbers that align with an important date for a bunch of people 😄

[@McJusti]

I always lived under the impression that lotteries like that are fake (I think it did appear in TV once that they read the numbers before the actual "random" ball got selected, 2 of them switched places), so people in my surroundings were saying that if the number is randomly generated, then it "gets to the database" and will not be picked as a winning combination, so you had more chance if you selected them yourself.

[@tinnagigja3723]

Snopes gives this a false rating, but it's a good story. An even better (presumably even falser) version is the one I first heard, which is that the psychologist (Ernest Dichter, who was a Freud acolyte) reasoned that the eggs would be subconsciously symbolic to women, as it was basically like making a cake with your own eggs, like you were feeding your own child-making material to your husband. I can't believe I just typed that sentence, I swear I wasn't the one who made this up.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@rufusdrumknottvgc Games using rng occassionally have to deal with this as well, XCOM for example will intentionally give you a hit occasionally if your shots have been misses for a long time so you don't feel cheated. Even though a 50% chance to hit doesn't mean that you'll always hit half your shots. Some difficulty settings do turn this off and people get really frustrated with it. I think XCOM and other titles will also sometimes fudge the numbers to make the chances look closer to how you feel them, so it'll only display 90% when your chances are much better because people interpret 90% as being surefire.

[@lemonfan2570]

That reason for cake mixes requiring eggs was the most fascinating part of the video

[@pedroazevedoyamin9136]

Yes! I'm still in awe

[@lawdeedaw0803]

Right? I love that!

[@KhanaHatake]

I don't believe that the "just add water" mixes tasted anywhere near as good as a mix with fresh eggs and oil. I don't think it had anything to do with psychology, the cakes just weren't very good until they stopped adding powdered eggs.

[@Kat-tr2ig]

As a kid growing up in the 80s, I remember going through my grandma's Betty Crocker cookbook, or my mom preparing a Betty Crocker box cake. I never even stopped to question if she was a real person or not. I had recently found out that she never existed, but I guess that doesn't really change anything- "she" was a part of my childhood.

[@ShellyS2060]

Child of the 80's here too. We had the same cook book in my house. I remember looking through it and thinking "Hey I'd really like to make this but we don't have the name brand ingredients it calls for" yep, I was kinda dumb like that

[@MrThisucks]

This feels so innocent now compared to how many mascots and personalities we have now that are so ubiquitous but completely made up

[@bornach]

And yet people are worried about AI generated influencers and chatbots with which fans will have parasocial relationships like this is a new thing, when people have been writing letters that confide in corporate constructs for decades

[@missveronica8393]

Yeah, it's actually kind of wholesome that the company took into account the frustrations of the housewives writing to them and tried to make content that was encouraging, even though they were still trying to sell their product, there was a lot of humanity in it, and I love that.

[@miloradvlaovic]

@@missveronica8393 It's called niche branding and there's nothing wholesome about it. Marketing is probably the most vile abuse of applied human psychology we can think of. While it doesn't have to be smart, or creative it still abuses psychological research to legally sell fog/snake oil whatever have you. When they seem to "support a good cause" it's purely because it sells, or will launch their product to a niche audience. If pedophilia sold enough, corporations wouldn't have an issue of putting it on every baby formula.

[@Lilboozibert]

@bornach Ikr. As if people weren't doing this stuff on Photoshop, when it was standalone. Afterall, it takes a human mind and actor to feed the prompt. Nothing new under the sun.

[@ravendevino6419]

*cough* aunt Jemima *cough*

[@ronnicox]

I'm physically holding myself back from making a Homestuck joke.

[@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096]

But you can't fight the homestuck

[@jennygorr2805]

I just received your cookbook for Mother’s Day and was introduced to your channel. I’m already binging your videos. I’m a happy mom today.

[@HowToCookThat]

oh that's lovely. Happy mothers day :)

[@0Jenna7]

I'm not sure if I should applaud Millers for their genuis or not. It was brilliantly done on their part, I can't imagine how much money this fictional person made them.

[@krankarvolund7771]

Yeah, a 167 millions dollars ad campaign is not really far-fecthed when you think about it and it probably succeeded better than most modern adverts who cost a lot more ^^

[@DeterminismisFreedom]

Why not? They didn't hurt anyone

[@zatoth13]

She is no more a fraud than a talking tiger or three elves pushing cereals.

[@miunya]

I mean plenty of fictional characters make people money now with books and movies like Harry Potter for example. Except we all know he's not real... but I'm sure there's better examples.

[@DeterminismisFreedom]

@@miunya Victoria's secret

[@suzannestrickland1586]

It is incredible the fictional characters that are so believable that we are surprised when we learn they aren't real

[@omenomegaofficial8018]

How is this from 4 hours ago?

[@HOTD108_]

@@omenomegaofficial8018 Patreon subscribers get early access. This video was really uploaded much earlier than it appears on your screen, and Patreon subscribers have been able to watch it that whole time. It only displays as being uploaded at a more recent time to you because that's just the date for the public release.

[@omenomegaofficial8018]

Ahhh ok thanks for clearing it up guys :) ❤️

[@hopegold883]

I never thought it was a real person, just a brand.

[@Coffeegirl739]

Santa Claus is real 👀

[@jb6712]

My mother told me the truth 62 years ago when she and Dad were teaching me to cook when I was 8 y.o. I had asked if either of them had ever met Betty Crocker, and they dispelled that myth immediately. I'm pretty sure none of the girls I went to school with back then ever thought she was real by the time they were 8, 9, 10 years old---our parents were rather straightforward with us regarding such things, including the lies about "santa," "easter," and all the rest.

[@DonaldR]

I was visiting my mom and I started flipping through the Betty Crocker's Cookbook and I was amazed at how many of the comfort foods that I grew up with were actually from that cookbook. She may have been made up but there are so many great recipes in that cookbook; not the healthiest stuff though. :D

[@Aiko2-26-9]

I got married in the 70's and learned to cook from a Betty Crocker cookbook. My mother had a well-used one as well. Neither of us thought she was a real person but the cookbooks were well written calling for easily available ingredients.

[@bun04y]

My mom & grandma both had Betty Crocker cookbooks. My Mother-in-law had Better Homes & Gardens and gave one to my husband before we married. So I've been using the BH&G cookbook for 30 years and I now have her old copy as well. I'm sure that one day I'll inherit mom's Betty Crocker and that will be fun because she added her own notes in the margins. 😁

[@AngelaRichter65]

My first cookbook, that I bought as a girl, was the Betty Crocker Cookbook. My parents were horrible in the kitchen and my sister and I learned to cook as a survival mechanism. I learned so much from that one cookbook. Best chocolate chip cookie recipe in the world was in the 70s editions.

[@reepicheepsfriend]

Indeed. The cookbook may have been an advertisement for a flour company, but the recipes were legit.

[@SandyHuntress]

Yes, yes! I have my mom's early 70's Betty Crocker cookbook. That choc chip cookie recipe is the BEST. 🙂

[@breakingbadheisenberg9703]

I have the 1960s version.

[@leevons_home_vids]

I've learned many recipes from the Betty Crocker cook books. They're very well laid out

[@jolenethiessen357]

I have a 90s version and it's been my go-to book for 20+ years. I basically learned to cook from it, and it covers all the basics one needs. I loved the teaching sections where you could trouble shoot what went wrong! 😂 Even now, as a very experienced and adventurous home cook, I reference of almost daily for info and recipes and many recipes I can make from memory and/ or I've penciled in the variations over the years.

[@surajashadow]

As a kid my mom would watch Martha Stewart a lot along with some other baking shows, but I was really too young to understand. Up until now when I watched this video, I thought Betty Crocker was a real person. Not because I saw any of the ads depicting her as a person and such, but I think my 4-6 year old mind saw Martha Stewart and the cake mixes and such and just created my own Betty Crocker lmao XD I knew Martha Stewart was her own person but that Betty Crocker was a different person that looked similar (blond hair, blue eyes etc.) and when I was older I assumed she just retired from her own cooking show and lived off of residuals from the cake mixes and cook books. I was floored to find out not only is she not a real person but I as a child assumed I was watching her cook on TV at times so to me she was living and breathing XD

[@thatskyxiang]

I shouldn't find this as wholesome as I do, but the fact that people found comfort in her is really sweet to me. "She can't die, she'll always be there for us." It's honestly bittersweet.

[@byronchandler5000]

Ann, you never disappoint with your wonderful work. If you made a children's storybook, it'd be a million seller like your cookbook.

[@HowToCookThat]

Thanks Byron, I keep telling Dave he should write kids books.

[@milliethedog1070]

Yes it definitely would

[@freedomcat]

​@@HowToCookThatmaybe you and Dave can make a children storybook with recipes for the children.

[@antoninajucovscaia8439]

@@HowToCookThat this is an awesome idea!

[@FallenAngelHiroko]

@@freedomcat Absolutely. Recipes that kids can safely do on their own and ones they can do together as a family. Storytelling style.

[@Vickie-Bligh]

I love these wonderful history lessons. I only have a couple of cookbooks, one is the Betty Crocker cookbook. The other is by this gal named Ann Something...um...oh yeah, Reardon! Thanks again, Ann.

[@ClanImprobable]

Me too Vickie! Long may “Ann something” live!

[@werelemur1138]

Plot twist: Betty Crocker is actually a Time Lord called the Baker.

[@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096]

Actually she's called the batter witch

[@Antiling_the_Squidkid]

​@@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096 FINALLY THIS TOOK TO LONG

[@danyvaladez36]

I also had never really considered Betty Crocker as a real person but how you told the story behind her creation was so fascinating!! What an amazing video, I usually don't comment but doing so to show my appreciation and to help for the algorithm!

[@alixjones7460]

Honestly, I never really thought about it -- I always just thought Betty Crocker was JUST a brand LOL This was super interesting, thank you so much for making this video!

[@adde9506]

I figured she had been real once. Just some lady who made cakes in the way back. And then a company grew as companies do.

[@RedKittieKat]

I'm nearly 60 and my Grandmother and Mother swore by Betty Crocker recipes. We all knew she was a company and not a person. We didn't care. It was a trusted brand in our household. Companies used to get away with all sorts of shenanigans back in "the good old days" 😁

[@soneil7745]

I have to give General Mills credit. Their recipes WORK. I've never had one that failed.

[@tahirisaid2693]

*_I just turned 60, was planning to Retire Soon? BooM the Economy Crashes into Recession and High Inflation ! I guess I will keep working another yr or 2?...._*

[@tahirisaid2693]

Thanks for the advice. I found her page already. and left her a msg. It won't be a bad Idea to be investing while working. So that economy crashing doesn't affect our retirement

[@cairasharma79]

As much as I love Ann's other videos, I would give anything to see her bake her iconic, detailed cakes, giant chocolates, etc once again ❤

[@BootsThe_Cat]

I had already known about the secret that Betty Crocker was not real but I never knew how expansive it was! This was a very cool video I love the ones about the 200 year old desserts and cooking history!

[@lisaroper421]

Me too! The history element is so darn fun!

[@collectingonthecheap56353]

Being from Minnesota, I learned the legend of Betty Crocker at an early age. I found out when looking at my Grandmother's cookbooks I noticed that Betty Crocker changed her looks over the years. I asked about it, and was told straight up that she was just their mascot, like the cereal had the leprechaun, and they knew that many people believed that she was real, so they updated her look several times to keep her relatable, as a mascot. Of course, when I learned that, she was having her 65th anniversary celebration, and some products mentioned that Betty was with General Mills for 65 years.

[@ImaRatMan]

I'm surprised you didn't come across the fictional Homestuck history for her! 😂. Either way, awesome video Ann!

[@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096]

You can't fight the homestuck ❤

[@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096]

I scrolled just to see if anyone else made that connection or said something about the batter witch.

[@lacyandspacey]

I was in the comments just to see if anyone else mentioned Homestuck lmao

[@atopodentatus]

I’m from a country without Betty Crocker, sp Homestuck was my first exposure to it😭

[@atriyakoller136]

@@atopodentatus same haha I had never heard about her until Homestuck

[@AM-zing]

I loved the story time. My first Betty Crocker purchase was a pancake mix some 30 years ago. I was an avid reader of Archies and being a teen in india had no idea how a pancake was made. Until I found a mix at a fancy new department store that just launched and kept stuff only from America. I still have a pack or 2 of ready cake mixes in my pantry for those weeks I feel too tired to actually bake from scratch.

[@AgFalcon84]

This is only tangentially related, but there was a web-comic years ago that kind of featured Betty Crocker. One of the main characters was her great-grandson. The comic referred to her as "the batter witch." That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this video. This is where my mind goes!

[@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096]

I still call her batter witch. I didn't know if anyone else would talk about homestuck

[@AgFalcon84]

@@yiffinylongstockinglalonde7096 Some things just stick in your brain! Especially my brain.

[@SharkDeschain]

Yeah the fact that in the comic Betty Crocker was actually an alien who used all of the marketing stuff as mind control was pretty hilarious.

[@glubtier]

Homestuck spotted, stay right where you are, the Homestuck police are en route to your location.

[@swanslistener6130]

yessss i was looking for somebody to talk about this sldfjksdk

[@planetdidi]

I love that they showed the faces behind her that made Betty happen

[@Kian_Nichol]

Since I was only born in the nineties and I found this channel few years ago, I gotta say that you Mrs. Ann Reardon is my family's Betty Crocker. I learned a lot about cooking and safety through this channel. Hope you and your beautiful family is blessed for sharing lots of great information and for the hardwork you guys put to debunk stuff online. My fam loves you guys. n_n

[@SalmaWAtwi]

I love how she always seems to teach us something in a fun, entertaining way

[@vanclemmons]

I’m not American, never wondered whether Betty was real or not but I’m still fascinated by the story because of how Ann somehow made it interesting.

[@zorik6053]

Amazing video! Loved the pacing, the topic, the editing. The mark of a good documentary is to get you interested in something you knew nothing about and this certainly did that! Have a great week everyone!

[@HowToCookThat]

thanks so much :)

[@JokeswithMitochondria]

Been a fan of hers for years

[@tomhappening]

@@JokeswithMitochondria I was curious about ur username so clicked on ur profiIe. Can't say I am disappointed lmao

[@pink-pixie9603]

I agree so good this wekk!

[@CharleneCTX]

I already knew the story of Betty Crocker, but I still watched the whole episode.

[@Jaydit7]

The first cookbook I ever saw was the "Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook" back in the mid 1950s, and the women in my neighborhood knew that Betty Crocker wasn't a real person. That "Picture Cookbook" was how I learned to cook from recipes...and I own a reprint of it, to this day. I love this video, by the way.

[@dogofchaos]

Obviously, I never knew this brand as it never got to Europe, but I'm so stunned at how progressing they were. Showcasing the ladies who worked on the recipes, encouraging housewives over the radio when they first got letters... No wonder they got so big, they laid down the foundations very well!

[@MadameCirce]

Ann's wearing a red shirt in her profile picture, perhaps she has been our real flesh and blood Betty Crocker all along! Definitely an iconic baking queen regardless ❤

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

Wow Ann, this was a deep dive! As an American who grew up making things out of my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook, I always assumed she was a person 😅 thanks for this journalistic vid! Great watching as always ❤

[@DeterminismisFreedom]

🤙 Determinism is Freedom 🤙

[@makingahomemaker]

I just pulled a Betty Crocker cake out of the oven! And while I was making it I was wishing Ann would explain why the directions say to mix on medium speed for 2 whole minutes, when all the from scratch recipes I've read say to mix just until it's combined. 😂 Pretty crazy that when I went to KZbin right after, there was Ann talking about Betty Crocker! As far as Betty though, to me, it sounds like Betty Crocker helped a lot of women, and that is awesome! She just has more than one body. The letter in which the writer poured her heart out to her served its purpose whether it was read by Betty or Jane or Jill. The same goes for all the baking advice she gave. If it wasn't good advice she wouldn't have been so popular. I don't see anything wrong with General Mills hiring people to help their customers, but I guess I can understand why modern people are so shocked about this. Love your videos, Ann! ♥

[@AlexaFaie]

Its likely because they're trying to make it as simple as possible to follow. If you've never baked before you might not know what "combined" looks or feels like, but you can certainly set a timer. And it also sort of keeps you reliant on buying preweighed flour and flavouring in a box (that's all it is since you add everything else, its a massive waste of money) because you've not really been taught what you're doing or why. Just shove it in a mixer for 2 minutes.

[@lozenger8]

I somehow always knew Betty Crocker wasn't a real person, but I still learned so much from this video!

[@somecallmecrispy]

I was baking a cheesecake and reading the instructions out loud in your accent just now when it suddenly hit me that it is Friday already and you probably uploaded a video by now aaaaand here you are 💫🐢

[@RaccoonHenry]

I assume the accent meant the cheesecake turned out amazing!!

[@lawdeedaw0803]

OMG. I am TOTALLY going to read all baking recipes in Ann's voice from now on. Thanks for the fabulous tip!

[@Coffeegirl739]

I had no idea! As a person from Europe born in the 90's I had vague image of Betty only based on modern cooking shows that barely mentioned 'her' recipes. I thought she was some kind of cooking legend that I missed on 🤔 Thank You for the informative video, loved it 😊

[@rowanrobbins]

Betty Crocker has always been part of my life. My mother had that big, red and white binder cookbook. I still have it. I go to their website all the time. I thought everyone knew she wasn't real. I don't think it matters anymore, though. Great show!

[@Christoph52]

To this day, my mom stills cooks recipes out of her Betty Crocker cookbook collection she got from her mom, and honestly I'm not mad. There's some great stuff in there

[@christinelandreville1042]

Odd, I never considered that Betty Crocker was anything other than a marketing persona to people. I equate Betty with Victoria, who has secrets or Flo who sells insurance, or even Tony the Tiger.

[@thhseeking]

But the meerkats are real, aren't they? Aren't they??? 🥺🥺🥺😰😥😥

[@donnabures2169]

Funny- I have never thought that Betty Crocker was a real person. Like Little Debbie, Uncle Bens and Captain Crunch, I just saw it as a fictional brand. But at 54, it was a thing to name brands as a person and create a fictional narrative to market it. I still love that Marketing theme as it makes the product more fun! I loved the video though and it had no idea that people ever thought she was a real person.

[@doggyspeak]

my inner homestuck trying to be normal about the batterwitch biography

[@amarug]

In Switzerland we have our own fake Betty, called Betty Bossi. They sell "her" products everywhere, everyone uses at least some of them, or eats some of the instant meals or uses some of "her" recipes. But I think they never made a secret that its not a real person, everyone seem to see (and always has) it as a brand rather. But indeed it was inspired by Betty Crocker!

[@lanasinapayen3354]

I had no idea people thought it was a real person. As a non American/Australian, I just assumed it was a brand, like I don't expect Bonne Maman to be a real grandma or uncle ben a real uncle 😂

[@smileygirl6457]

I think your an icon Ann. If only Betty was real she would be rich😂

[@HowToCookThat]

Sadly if Betty was real general mills would not have paid her much at all.

[@resolecca]

She would only be rich if it was her company

[@catpuzzles]

I heard about Betty Crocker through Bailey Sarian but I like hearing other people's versions of it. Great work Ann!!

[@sarahcoletti6946]

I always love when you discuss the history of cooking stuff. I only learned the story of Betty Crocker a few months ago and it certainly is wild! Also, just a thought... ANN, PLEASE CREATE YOUR OWN BOXED CAKE MIXES THAT ONLY REQUIRE THE ADDITION OF WATER!!! I know I'd rather eat "Ann Reardon" cake mix than "Betty Crocker" cake mix!

[@andrewharald88]

Hi 👋

[@andrewharald88]

How are you doing Sarah

[@sarahcoletti6946]

@@andrewharald88 Could be better. How about yourself?

[@inavahbulhgnis5113]

Ann you're a great teacher and story teller. Really love your videos💖

[@HowToCookThat]

thanks so much Inavahbul

[@tirsden]

Fascinating. For me, Betty Crocker has always just been a name brand, with no inkling of "this could have actually been a person?" I'm 45, so I'm guessing I might be too young for the age where the illusion could have stuck. I kept a Betty Crocker cookbook for many years and only recently put it on my apartment building's sharing shelf with a bunch of other books (moving soon and it was part of the purge). My food allergies are so severe that it's a useless, oversized paperweight to me now. It disappeared by morning so hopefully it's in a new kitchen helping a random person make yummy food.

[@TrevorIwaszuk]

All your videos are great, but this one is just next level in content and editing. This is better than anything I’d see on a broadcast TV program covering Betty Crocker. Great job!!

[@sagemarie.]

What a great mini documentary! I know you've done deep dives before, but I'd love to watch more like this. ❤

[@fawnjenkins7266]

I had no clue! Thanks for the history lesson and truth bombshell, Ann! My husband was gifted a Betty Crocker cookbook (either when he moved out of his childhood home or when he and his first wife got married)! It is fabulous and we use many recipes from it. We also have "The Joy of Cooking", a Pillsbury cookbook, and a Better Homes New Cook Book! With all that, I still look recipes up online. 😂

[@kalleemony9930]

This was honestly a beautiful story

[@maxiebraxton97]

Ann Reardon at this point has become my comfort after a long day. Her videos are the only ones in my downloads when there's no internet.

[@jesthered7966]

I learned the basics of cooking from the 1969 version of the Betty Crocker cook book (it had a wonderful illustrated chart inside the front of the book cover with which herbs taste good with which meats and veg! Mom would have us pick out a recipe based on what we had in the house and try to do it ourselves. And there were whole pages describing what the different cooking terms meant. It was my Mom's (I believe it had been a wedding present) and she still has it to teach my niece and nephews out of today. It was really really good at breaking down every step of the recipe. It doesn't matter to me if Betty was real or not :). Some of the recipes are a little boring for modern tastes, but not bad to learn the basics from. Very cool to hear the story!

[@ealskar]

I wouldn't mind for this video to be an hour long, I'd love to see a longer video essay from you ❤ It's mind blowing to me to invent a woman, therefore being in complete control of her persona and the narrative surrounding her, to sell stuff rather than just giving real women of the time the publicity they would have deserved.

[@Celediev]

"It's mind blowing to me to invent a woman, therefore being in complete control of her persona and the narrative surrounding her, to sell stuff" ... if we slightly generalise this statement you just described every religion ever. So I personally see nothing mind blowing about this strategy. It has been proven to be effective for millenia. For those unable to do the generalising themselves: "to invent a [being], therefore being in complete control of [it's] persona and the narrative surrounding [it], to control people"

[@RarebitFiends]

I hope no one tells this guy the truth about Flo from Progressive...

[@julzmusic8708]

What an awesome segment I absolutely love it when you cover ‘marketing’ crossovers with products especially in deep dives. I actually love the fact that a print puzzle started this off and that the puzzle section in the paper today is still one of my the big drivers of consumption! They were on to something ;-)

[@lorimartin3724]

I was gifted "Betty's" beginner cookbook by my Dad when I moved out at age 18. I still have and use it regularly at age 61. Thank goodness it has a spiral spine.

[@chaosdandelion]

how interesting! I also still have an incredibly old Betty Crocker cookbook, it isn’t as old as that, though!

[@christinebravomom5711]

I recently visited a high school classmate; we're now pushing 70. Like me, she still had her decades old Betty Crocker wedding present cookbook. LOL

[@andreseriliano1761]

The only thing I would complain about this video is, it is short, sigh. It is always a treat when you upload videos.

[@BrentConner]

it would be interesting to see the how the percentage of home bakers who use a packet-mix versus made from scratch has changed over the years, and the influence that social media has had on this.

[@jeanniemarkech351]

The Betty Crocker Cookbook is an absolute must for beginners. The recipes are excellent.

[@ThatFellowOnline]

I love how the company celebrated their staff and their accomplishments in helping so many people when talking about the REAL Betty Crocker. An amazing documentary piece! Thank you.

[@RaijaAlatalo]

I learn so much from your channel! I'm from Poland and I've never heard of Betty Crocker but still it was an interesting watch. I very often tell people about stuff I learn from here 😃 such useful content!

[@tonberrytoby]

Last time I researched the add egg to cake mix story, I came to the conclusion that it is actually fake. With the egg being mostly added because they found out that their egg powder didn't taste good.

[@Lostinblue777]

This is so fascinating! I've heard about a number of examples of parasocial propoganda (essentially brands manufacturing influencers to interact with people and sell a product) on Twitter and Instagram, but it's so interesting to hear about essentially a pre-internet example of this.

[@swisski]

Switzerland has their own Betty Crocker figure in the form of Betti Bossi. She was invented in 1956 by an employee of Unilever and was meant to encourage Swiss housewives to cook more with margarine instead of the traditional butter. She wrote cookbooks, newsletters and a subscription based magazine. With time you could also buy kitchen gadgets and nowadays you can find up to 600 Betti Bossi products in Coop, one of two major supermarkets in Switzerland 🇨🇭

[@Zveebo]

Can’t believe that people would be so silly as to think she’s real 😅 Personally I’m just glad that Mr Kipling is still around making these exceedingly good cakes despite his age 👍

[@Gatorade69]

I don't know. A lot of people behind the names of these brands were real people. Sara Lee, Duncan Hines, Jimmy Dean, Chef Boyardee. I don't fault people for thinking she was a real person, especially way back in the day before the internet.

[@anton_7xg]

Perks of being sick, I get to see your video on time.

[@HowToCookThat]

I hope you get better soon

[@hippocampus6514]

This is some gorgeous editing and informative history. I love the pictures, examples of recipe books, and music from the time period woven in.

[@BaronessOfStrangeness]

These debunking videos were always good, but I’m loving the amount of extra effort you continue to put into them. Easily my favourite series of yours!

[@ariannatorres3799]

I grew up with a Betty Crocker cookbook, I thought a lot about what sort of person she might be, sad to know the truth but glad as well, thank you!

[@Celediev]

As with all fictional characters, betty crocker is whatever we make of her. If to you she is a heroine who taught people how to cook from scratch, that is who she is to you. While fictional characters do not exist in real life, they exist in our minds where they can and often do have a lasting real life impact.

[@ariannatorres3799]

@@Celediev that's honestly very kind of you, thank you

[@riddhishah579]

Notification squad🔔✋!! Always waiting for a new post from you Ann!! ❤️❤️ Can't wait to watch this video :)

[@HowToCookThat]

💕🛎

[@Steph737]

same

[@Mervelius]

I really love your content. The quality of both the content and the video is really astonishing. Especially the well-researched and presented information. And, compared to others, there are no crazy cuts (to remove the little pauses).

[@AMM_23]

Really love the informative video. I really do miss the fantastic recipes and decorating videos and hope they will make a reappearance sometime!

[@ClanImprobable]

Ann, I do so appreciate the sheer variety of topics that are in your (well-researched) wheelhouse. Thank you as ever for all you share!

[@Droplet_Day]

The boosting of confidence, makes so much sense when it comes to the lack of excitement when the cake mixes where a thing. And the egg thing is so true, it's not moist without eggs.

[@malcolmlinwood]

This was one of the greatest videos I've seen in a long time. Perfectly presented and edited. ❤❤

[@Kate2102360]

Listening to this while slowly drifting into sleep...your voice is so soothing making the video sound like a bedtime story❤️content is as good as always and respect for using your own "stock" clips!