"Morton Salt" news and stories

It's tea season in our house and I noticed something missing from Celestial Seasons' Sleepytime tea package: the Sleepytime Bear's family.

You know the Bear: dozing in front of the fire, cat in his lap. Used to be you saw Mrs. Bear and the kids on the side panel, headed off to be while dad dozed. Now the whole family has gone mysteriously missing and Mr. Bear has acquired a big blue radio -- a touch that just screams midlife crisis.

This change in personnel got me to thinking about other iconic food mascots and the makeovers they've received. Today we'll start with the women, with pride of place going to that fictional earth mother, the dark goddess of America's ready-made food unconscious, Aunt Jemima.

I've always had an appreciation for the history of logos. One is created and recognized, then societal pressures or eager marketers come in and attempt to modernize things, sometimes succeeding, and sometimes failing. Considering my recent post on Tropicana, I thought I'd share a new post up at Neatorama -- they've gone through and shared how different logos have morphed over the years.

Above, you can check out the Morton Salt girl. I picked her for this post because it confused me the most. Here you have a little tyke in 1914, with an umbrella so large that it pretty much dwarfs her as she stands there in her to-the-knee frock. But then, she gets older and skinnier, with her hemline rising until it's so flipping high that if you saw the 1968 girl from a different angle, you'd know what her underwear would look like. Does someone say: "Hey, that dress is too long!"?

But Morton aside, you can check out everything from the morphing Aunt Jemima, to a company's notions on what a modern Betty Crocker would look like. Heck, you can even see what the Gerber baby grew into!

[via Serious Eats]