Mrs. Butterworth's
 | |
| Product type | Syrup and baking mixes |
|---|---|
| Owner | Pinnacle Foods |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1961 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners | Unilever |
| Website |
www |
Mrs. Butterworth's is an American brand of syrups and pancake mixes owned by Pinnacle Foods. The syrups come in distinctive bottles shaped in the form of a matronly female, Mrs. Butterworth. The bottles, originally glass, are now mostly plastic. The syrup was introduced in 1961.[1]
Advertising
In the television commercials, the bottle comes to life and talks (originally via stop-motion animation; CGI is used today). One of the main voices for it was Mary Kay Bergman.[2] Kim Fields appeared in ads alongside it in the late 1970s.
In a 1987 television ad, it was revealed that Mrs. Butterworth's first name is "Joy". She was reluctant to let her first name be used because her childhood friends referred to her, jokingly, as "Joy Buzzerworth", punning on the popular novelty item the joy buzzer.
The first TV ads for Mrs. Butterworth's featured Cliff Arquette as "Charley Weaver". He dressed as the brand's "old lady" icon, affected an obviously falsetto voice, and continued to sport his mustache.
In spite of the name and commercials, which boasted of "the original buttered syrup," the syrup actually contained only a minuscule amount of butter with negligible effect on its flavor. Originally two percent, the amount was later halved to one percent -- or less than an eighth of a one-ounce pat in an entire 12-ounce bottle. The reduction parallels the history of the same company's Log Cabin Syrup. Originally containing two percent of real maple syrup, the amount was halved to one percent, again less than an eighth of an ounce per 12-ounce bottle. Advertising at the time of the reduction trumpeted "The same Log Cabin your parents knew and loved -- and now it tastes better than ever!" (The missing eighth of an ounce of maple syrup could have been replaced with more imitation maple flavoring, though that would have been unnecessary since even the full two percent was almost impossible to detect.)
In 2007, Mrs. Butterworth was used in a series of ads for GEICO, in which she helped an actual customer with her testimonial.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ "Our History". Pinnacle Foods. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
- ↑ CNN obituary for Mary Kay Bergman
- ↑
