The Dao of Debbie
When it comes to the smiling faces on snack packages and fast food wrappers, it’s hard to know what to believe. Colonel Sanders, Aunt Jemima, Wendy the Redheaded Burger Girl - did these people ever exist or were they simply the products of genius marketing?
Sometimes, as with Betty Crocker, the line between fact and fiction is frustratingly blurry. Though rarely seen in person, Betty spoke on radio programs and published newspaper columns. She wrote the quintessential entertainment guide, personally responded to letters asking for baking advice, and in 1945 was even named America’s 2nd most popular woman by Fortune magazine (Eleanor Roosevelt, that minx, snagged first place).
Yet, despite her friendly demeanor and media savvy, Betty was bogus. When it came down to it, she was nothing more than a pleasant phantom invented by General Mills and made real by the hundreds of secretaries who mastered her curvy signature.
I have to admit, when I first discovered this truth, it shook me to my very core. “Betty Crocker was a crock!” I found myself wailing in the bakery aisle, much to the confusion of my fellow shoppers. If you can’t trust an American institution like her, who can you trust?
Weak with doubt and hunger, I began questioning another of my favorite pastry spokeswomen: Little Debbie. Sure, she seemed innocent enough, nestled amongst boxes of cookies and sweets. But was Little Debbie also a ruse?
Well, as it turns out, not every snack icon is an advertising fantasy. According to the Little Debbie website, that rosy cheeked girl in the cowboy hat is none other than Debra McKee, granddaughter of snack food entrepreneur O.D. McKee. While searching for a wholesome face for his new line of boxed cakes, O.D. pulled out a photo of his 4-year-old grandchild Debbie. The look fit, the name fit, and after he’d slapped Debbie’s cheery face onto his oatmeal cakes, people finally started buying them.
That was in 1960. Roughly 50 years later, McKee Foods is still using Debbie’s image to sell their snacks. Can you imagine being Debra McKee and seeing a 4-year-old you every time you walk though a grocery store? Trippy.
(And just in case you were wondering, Wikipedia - that ever reliable bastion of truth - says that Debra McKee-Fowler is alive and well in Collegedale, Tennessee. Viva la Snack Food Heiress!)
6 Comments
jimmer on October 2nd, 2008
Little Debbie offers a ton (both literally and quite figuratively) of snack products. However, in my opinion, their Nutty Bars happen to be their best. It’s everything good a quick pick-me-up needs to be; crispy, chocolately, peanut buttery…yum….dreamy. Wholesome image yes, good for the old waistline, unfortunately no.
I wonder if 50 years or so from now, when people stop by the grocery store and pick up some gourmet popcorn, they’ll stop to ponder if the picture of Paul Newman staring back at them from the box was ever real person?
Jim on October 4th, 2008
Fifty years from now they’ll still be showing Paul Newman’s films, so
I believe people will know him, at least “classic” film buffs will. Unless
I’m mistaken, Debra McKee-Fowler never made a feature-length film, nor
did she win an Academy Award.
Candy Addict » Snackerrific Roundup: Giveaways, Recalls, Bargains, and… Breast Milk? on October 10th, 2008
[...] The Dao of Debbie [...]
Deb on October 14th, 2008
Seeing as my name is Debby, I’ve been called “Little Debbie” since I was very small. Interesting to know she’s a real person. I even have a Little Debbie Barbie doll.
ehva on April 13th, 2009
Little Debbie (Debra Mckee-Fowler)currently resides in Collegedale TN. The picture you see came from an artists rendering from a black and white photo. Debra was later kicked by a horse in a mishap and her public image was shrowded. Debra has worked in the Mckee bakery plant for many years.
Jim on October 2nd, 2008
I enjoyed this for its large amounts of wholesomeness.
But what about Duncan Hines? I heard he started out as a
traveling salesman and was the archetype for the “traveling salesman”
line of dirty jokes.