In 1911, William Procter and James Gamble, makers of soap and candles, introduced a revolutionary new product. They called their product Crisco.
Crisco’s main ingredient was—and still is—cottonseed oil,* but cottonseed oil subjected to a special process to make it hard at room temperature. Developed by Procter and Gamble with the help of German chemist E. C. Kayser, the process of partial hydrogenation rearranges the hydrogen atoms in fat molecules. The resulting fat—now bleached, emulsified and deodorized—resembled lard.
P&G initially used this new industrially hardened fat to replace expensive lard and tallow in their candles and soap. But electricity had arrived, the market for candles fell precipitously, and the company needed new markets. Since the new product resembled lard, why not sell it as a food?
Marketing began in 1912. An ad appearing in the February 1912 Home Directory stressed the product’s “vegetable” origin: “Great interest centers in the effort to establish the correct proportion of vegetable and animal products in the daily diet. Every important test made lately has confirmed the popular idea that all other things being equal, a vegetable product is more desirable than an animal one, and there can be no question of the desirability of replacing a greasy animal fat with a flaky vegetable product.” The copy urged housewives to use Crisco for frying, as shortening, and for “general cooking” and praised its clean, fresh odor. “Better than Butter for Cooking,” it promised. Readers learned that “Crisco is being placed in the grocery stores as rapidly as possible.”
Procter & Gamble’s next step was pure marketing genius—they published and gave away a cookbook touting the joys of cooking with their new magic fat. The Story of Crisco featured two hundred fifty recipes, everything from lobster bisque to pound cake, all made with Crisco.
The Story of Crisco’s long introduction mixes pseudoscience with subtle persuasion. Considered a classic in marketing strategy, its language appealed to housewives of the emerging middle class, eager for modernization.1 The cookbook presents Crisco as healthier, more digestible, cleaner, more economical, more enlightened and more modern than lard; it portrays women who use Crisco as good wives and mothers, their houses are free of strong cooking odors and—every mother’s dream—their children grow up with good character.* “Domestic scientists,” employed by Procter & Gamble, taught the use of Crisco at cooking schools and at free demonstrations held in theaters and public facilities. One specific target: high school girls enrolled in home economics classes.