Actually,Uncle Ben was a Black rice grower from the Gulf Coast.The image is of Frank Brown,a hotel matre’d in Chicago prior to WWII where the execs of the rice company frequented.
Aunt Jemima was based on Nancy Green.She was born slave in 1834,and became a renowned story teller in the 1890’s. She was killed in a car crash in 1923 Chicag in 1923. So,unlike Santa Claus,Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima were real people!
Here is the column and original information. The background of these characters has been a source of discussion for a long time.
What’s your source, Red_Green?
Betty Crocker, who was the Gerber Baby before she grew up, and is the granddaughter of the Quaker Oats man.
Betty Crocker’s mother had an umbrella.
Note that Aunt Jemima was a legendary pancake mix long before they expanded the brand to include syrup in—the 60s, I think.
Why, the internet, of course! :eek:
There are two different questions here: was there a “real” Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima who might have originated the foods that have their names (the answer is no) and are the logos based on real people (yes).
Nancy Green was the first person to portray Aunt Jemima in ads. That’s different from being the basis for the character: the brand name existed before she was hired. It sounds like the name Aunt Jemima itself came from a minstrel show performance, which is appropriate given the racist nature of the brand names and the ads from the early years. It took a long time for this to dawn on me, but they’re called Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima because the brand names date back to the days when a lot people would not call a black person Mister or Miss.
I find that highly amusing, the racists wouldn’t dare call a black person “mister” or “miss”, so instead they use terms indicating familial relation.
How many commercial products are called “Mr. ” or “Mrs. ” with respect to a human figure, real or fictional, who stands in relationship to the product as a sort of patron? I can’t think of even one. There are a few (Mr. Pibb, Mrs. Butterworth) where such a name refers to the product itself, but none that I can recall where the name refers to a person intended to be perceived as the creator or owner.
Well, one right off the top of my head:
I think if you get away from the huge brands and look at the smaller ones you see it more often. I just googled “Mrs Smith’s” and desserts popped up.
Doing the same thing for “Mr Johnson’s” game me rabbit food.
While, off the top of my head, I couldn’t give you examples, it seems like if you wander down the ‘natural’ isle of your local super market you’ll find some more things like this.
No, Mr. Clean is and always has been a personification of the product, not a real or fictional creator/maker/inspiration of the product.
Mr Brain and Mr Kipling are the only ones that immediately spring to mind, but they’re British.
I’ve seen misses and missuses, loads of doctors, and even the occasional professor, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a tradition of employing the masculine honorific in American product names. Perhaps we just take it for granted.
Mrs. Dash - salt-free flavor enhancer
Mr Gatti’s Pizza place
Mrs. Fields cookies
Mrs. Baird’s bread
How many commercial products are named after a real or fictional creator figure without using Mr. or Mrs.? Does it count if the company name is the creator’s last name? Why or why not?
Bob’s Big Boy
Carl’s Junior
Ruth’s Chris Steak House
That one’s dodgy. I think it would have to be classed with Mr. Clean.
And Mrs. Stewart’s bluing. You might be morbidly corpulent from all the pizza, cookies, bread, pancakes, faggots, and pies, but at least your shirts look good.
14,432,599. That’s just a rough estimate.
Although, in the south, “Aunt” and “Uncle” aren’t uncommon forms of address for people older than you, black or white.
I am unaware of any product named, “Mr Duncan”, “Mr Hines”, or “Mr Duncan Hines”