Mrs. Butterworth's

{{infobox brand

| name = Mrs. Butterworth's

| logo = Mrs. Butterworth's logo.svg

| image =

| type = Syrup and baking mixes

| currentowner = Conagra Brands

| introduced = {{Start date|1961}}

| origin = United States

| related =

| markets = Worldwide

| previousowners = Mrs. Butterworth's

| website = {{URL|http://www.mrsbutterworths.com/}}

}}

Mrs. Butterworth's is an American brand of table syrups and pancake mixes owned by Conagra Brands. The syrups come in distinctive bottles shaped as the character "Mrs. Butterworth", represented in the form of a "matronly" woman. The syrup was introduced in 1961.{{cite web |title=Our History |url=http://pinnaclefoods.com/who-we-are#our-history |publisher=Pinnacle Foods |access-date=10 July 2015}} In 1999, the original glass bottles began to be replaced with plastic.{{Cite web |url=https://www.packworld.com/design/materials-containers/news/13332082/plastic-pleases-mrs-butterworths |title=Plastic pleases Mrs. Butterworth's |date=1999-08-31 |website=Packaging World |access-date=2019-12-16}} In 2009, the character was given the first name "Joy" following a contest held by the company.

Advertising

One of the main voice actresses for Mrs. Butterworth was Mary Kay Bergman.{{cite web |title=Mary Kay Bergman, voice-over actress, dead |url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/TV/9911/17/obit.bergman.poss/index.html |last=Lemmerman |first=Kristin |website=CNN |date=1999-11-17 |access-date=2022-02-12}} She was also voiced by Hope Summers during the early to late 1970s.

Kim Fields appeared in a commercial for the product during the late-1970s.

In 2007, Mrs. Butterworth was used in a series of ads for GEICO, in which she helped an actual customer with her testimonial.{{Citation |title=Geico Mrs. Butterworth | date=20 March 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoKXcUduKIs |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/LoKXcUduKIs |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live |access-date=2022-02-12}}{{cbignore}}

In 2019, she appeared along with an actor playing Colonel Sanders in a KFC commercial spoofing a scene from Dirty Dancing, promoting chicken and waffles using Mrs. Butterworth's syrup.{{cite news |title=KFC's Colonel Sanders gets sappy in love song videos co-starring Mrs. Butterworth |url=https://www.marketingdive.com/news/kfcs-colonel-sanders-gets-sappy-in-love-song-videos-co-starring-mrs-butte/541930/ |access-date=23 January 2024 |work=Marketing Dive |date=12 Nov 2018}}{{cite web |title=KFC & Mrs. Butterworth's |url=https://www.scpsunlimited.com/case-studies/2018/11/15/kfc-amp-mrs-butterworths |website=SCPS Unlimited - We Create What Doesn't Exist |access-date=23 January 2024}}

Controversy

File:Mrs. Butterworth's bottles.jpg 100th anniversary]]

In 2020, following protests over systemic racism, Conagra Brands announced that it would review the shape of their bottles, as critics viewed them as an example of the "mammy" stereotype.{{Cite news |last=Durbin |first=Dee-Ann |date=18 June 2020 |title=Cream of Wheat, Mrs. Butterworth confront race in packaging |work=ABC News |agency=Associated Press |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/cream-wheat-mrs-butterworth-confront-race-packaging-71329161 |access-date=2022-02-12}} A competing brand, Aunt Jemima, revamped its brand and advertising following the attention on negative black stereotypes. In ads, Mrs. Butterworth's voice has evoked a grandmotherly white woman, and she has been portrayed by white voice actresses.{{cite news |last1=Morona |first1=Joey |title=Mrs. Butterworth's syrup is considering changing up its branding and famous bottles |url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/06/mrs-butterworths-syrup-is-consdering-changing-its-branding-and-packaging-too.html |access-date=2022-02-12 |work=cleveland.com |date=June 17, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mrsbutterworths.com/ |title=Mrs. Butterworth's® {{!}} Thick, Rich, Deliciously Sweet Syrup |website=www.mrsbutterworths.com |access-date=2022-02-12}} Despite this, some reports had claimed, without citing any sources, that the character was originally modeled on Butterfly McQueen, a black actress who appeared as the maid in Gone with the Wind (1939).{{cite news |last1=Silvey |first1=Janese |title=Mrs. Butterworth award raises ire at MU |work=Columbia Daily Tribune |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/article/20120504/News/305049696 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524103356/https://www.columbiatribune.com/article/20120504/News/305049696 |archive-date=2020-05-24 |date=2012-05-04 |access-date=2022-02-12}}

As of 2025, Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup is still being sold with the familiar bottle shape, despite the “brand review” Conagra announced it would conduct back in 2020.

In popular culture

In 2005, Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco made reference to the brand on Kanye West's "Touch the Sky," with the lyric "bottle-shaped body like Mrs. Butterworth".

In 2009, then-parent company Pinnacle Foods held a "first name contest" for the product's spokesperson; the winning name was "Joy", making the full name Joy Butterworth.{{Cite web |url=https://foodchannel.com/2009/mrs-butterworth-has-a-first-name-its |title=Mrs. Butterworth Has a First Name, It's . . . |date=2009-10-03 |website=Food Channel |access-date=2019-12-16}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-09-fi-butterworth9-story.html |title=Mrs. Butterworth's first name is . . . |date=2009-05-09 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=2019-12-16}} The character appears in the 2012 American film Foodfight!, voiced by Edie McClurg.{{cite web |last=Hawkes |first=Rebecca |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/forget-emoji-movie-discover-foodfight-worst-childrens-animation/ |title=Forget The Emoji Movie: discover Foodfight!, the worst children's animation of all time |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=2017-08-02 |access-date=2020-06-17}}

In 2013, during episode 12 of the ninth season of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Ryan Stiles uses comedian Nyima Funk as a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's to pour onto Colin Mochrie's imaginary waffles during a game of "Living Scenery".

In 2017, she made a cameo appearance in the Family Guy episode "A House Full of Peters".