I think the heart of the joke is that characters who are meant to give personality to foods would, if actually possessed of those personalities, act in ways that have nothing to do with selling food to kids. Those with military ranks would probably be very serious and maybe at war with each other, the more sociable ones would have friendships and parties, e.g..
But a few problems – why would Dr Pepper have refreshments? Why is Dr Pepper even included, since he/she is just a name? Ditto for General Tso, who is neither a character nor a trademark, just a (fictional?) general that a chicken dish is named after. And why, if it is a military theme to the tension between him and Colonel Sanders, is Captain Crunch not also involved? He’s presumably seen some action if he’s a captain.
” if it is a military theme to the tension between him and Colonel Sanders, is Captain Crunch not also involved? ”
Chicken rivalry. But the military aspect of Captain Crunch is distracting.
I’m okay with Dr. Pepper and while we’re at it General Tso is just a name and not an icon either.
Oops… you made the same observation for General Tso as well….
Cap’n Crunch is getting Mrs. Butterworth out of the crossfire between Col. Sanders and Gen. Tso.
Why not use Mr. Peanut instead of Dr. Pepper, since he’s actually a character (and I don’t see Dr. Pepper – am I missing it?) Or the Kool-Aid mascot?
Since the name of the chicken isn’t always the same, my sister-in-law calls it “General So-and-so’s Chicken.”
Technically, Dr Pepper has created a mascot named “Dr. Pepper” (a time-traveling inventor cliché) for their latest ad campaign. Said ad campaign is neither good nor memorable enough to make it into a syndicated comic strip, but it is a thing.
It didn’t occur to y’all that Sanders and Tso might be having a trade dispute over chicken tariffs?
Isn’t Mrs. Butterworth African American? Here she is clearly not depicted as such.
I mean the bottle design always had that borderline “mammy” caricature feel to it but perhaps I am conflating her with Aunt Jemimah (or exposing my own subconscious prejudices.)
Given Zou Zongtang’s embrace of “total war” when necessary, I bet they’re negotiating to create a joint franchise called “General Sherman’s Atlanta-Style Grilled Chicken.”
“Isn’t Mrs. Butterworth African American? Here she is clearly not depicted as such.”
It’s hard to say…
I never realized that Mrs. Butterworth was created as recently as 1961
“Tso” was the answer to General ___’s chicken in this Mondays NYT crossword puzzle. I could only come up with “Gao”, an answer that wasn’t going to work. One housemate said “Tso” and the other pulled a “General Tso’s Chicken” Smart Ones frozen meal box out of the recycling bin.
“Mrs. Butterworth is neither black nor white; she is in fact an anthropomorphised syrup bottle. . . The earliest animated advertisements, however, depict Mrs. Butterworth as an elderly white woman. Furthermore, Mary Kay Bergman, a white voice actress, was Mrs. Butterworth’s voice for a considerable period of time. She too portrayed the character of Mrs. Butterworth as a white grandmother.”
Hearing that Mary Kay (AKA Shannen Cassidy) was one of the voice actors made me sad again for her death by suicide.
I didn’t want to say I always pictured Mrs. Butterworth as white, but I always did. She ties her hair up in a bun very reminiscent of midwestern grandmothers. But I can see it both ways when pointed out.
My grandmother used to keep shaped glass bottles on her windowsills so I’m very familiar with the Mrs. Butterworth.
Wikiality is certainly not authoritative.
I was around when Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup first made its appearance. Back then you could buy pure maple syrup which was somewhat expensive but not as expensive as now. Or you could buy Karo or other corn syrup which was cheap but had no maple flavor. Or you could compromise on price and flavor and buy Vermont Maid or Log Cabin, each of which was 15% maple syrup. That’s what my parents bought. Mrs. Butterworth’s selling point was that it contained 2% butter giving it a buttery flavor. The fact that it contained only 2% maple syrup was not trumpeted so loudly, but it was aggressively marketed and sold well from the beginning, and the ads never mentioned “maple” or had anything associated with maple such as trees or Vermont or snow. It wasn’t long before my dad complained that Vermont Maid didn’t taste as good as it used to. He took a close look at the label and saw that it was down to a low percentage of maple syrup. Now the tree brands use no maple syrup at all. I buy pure maple syrup from a sugar house in New Hampshire.
“But the military aspect of Captain Crunch is distracting.”
He’s a ship captain, and it’s not a warship.
DIET Doctor Pepper has a mascot, too.
I think my mind conflated Aunt Jemima (the pancakes) with Mrs. Butterworth’s (the syrup) since I was probably only a little over 5 when I started to think about them in the 60s. At one point in time, I started wondering why the syrup bottle stopped looking (to me) like Aunt Jemima (or just stopped looking like a black woman).
Cap’n Crunch wears a Revolution-era naval uniform. He’s a naval captain.
“Cap’n Crunch wears a Revolution-era naval uniform. He’s a naval captain.”
He doesn’t command a Revolution-era naval vessel. He might have been a naval captain in the Revolution, but he’s mustered out now.
Mrs. Butterworth’s Pancake Mix and Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup are made by Conagra Brands. Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix and Aunt Jemima Syrup are made by the Quaker Oats Company. I doubt that there’s a dime’s difference between them.
I can accept Cap’n Crunch being a captain — but I’m not sure exactly what Dr Pepper, with the conspicuous lack of a period after the “Dr”, might actually be.
TV shows from director / producer / writer Dan Goor sometimes have a logo screen at the end (like the one shown, from Brooklyn 99) reading “Dr. Goor Productions”. A voice-over says “Not a doctor” in a hurried-disclaimer cadence.
I can accept Cap’n Crunch being a captain — but I’m not sure exactly what Dr Pepper, with the conspicuous lack of a period after the “Dr”, might actually be.
British.
Kevin A, are you from New England? I remember first being introduced to “General Gau’s” chicken there and being surprised that the rest of the country called it “Tso’s.” Similar for Peking ravioli — aka potstickers.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think the heart of the joke is that characters who are meant to give personality to foods would, if actually possessed of those personalities, act in ways that have nothing to do with selling food to kids. Those with military ranks would probably be very serious and maybe at war with each other, the more sociable ones would have friendships and parties, e.g..
But a few problems – why would Dr Pepper have refreshments? Why is Dr Pepper even included, since he/she is just a name? Ditto for General Tso, who is neither a character nor a trademark, just a (fictional?) general that a chicken dish is named after. And why, if it is a military theme to the tension between him and Colonel Sanders, is Captain Crunch not also involved? He’s presumably seen some action if he’s a captain.
” if it is a military theme to the tension between him and Colonel Sanders, is Captain Crunch not also involved? ”
Chicken rivalry. But the military aspect of Captain Crunch is distracting.
I’m okay with Dr. Pepper and while we’re at it General Tso is just a name and not an icon either.
Oops… you made the same observation for General Tso as well….
Cap’n Crunch is getting Mrs. Butterworth out of the crossfire between Col. Sanders and Gen. Tso.
Why not use Mr. Peanut instead of Dr. Pepper, since he’s actually a character (and I don’t see Dr. Pepper – am I missing it?) Or the Kool-Aid mascot?
Since the name of the chicken isn’t always the same, my sister-in-law calls it “General So-and-so’s Chicken.”
Technically, Dr Pepper has created a mascot named “Dr. Pepper” (a time-traveling inventor cliché) for their latest ad campaign. Said ad campaign is neither good nor memorable enough to make it into a syndicated comic strip, but it is a thing.
It didn’t occur to y’all that Sanders and Tso might be having a trade dispute over chicken tariffs?
BTW, General Tso is not a trademark, but he’s not fictional, either: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuo_Zongtang . (He didn’t invent the chicken dish, though.)
Isn’t Mrs. Butterworth African American? Here she is clearly not depicted as such.
I mean the bottle design always had that borderline “mammy” caricature feel to it but perhaps I am conflating her with Aunt Jemimah (or exposing my own subconscious prejudices.)
Given Zou Zongtang’s embrace of “total war” when necessary, I bet they’re negotiating to create a joint franchise called “General Sherman’s Atlanta-Style Grilled Chicken.”
“Isn’t Mrs. Butterworth African American? Here she is clearly not depicted as such.”
It’s hard to say…
I never realized that Mrs. Butterworth was created as recently as 1961
“Tso” was the answer to General ___’s chicken in this Mondays NYT crossword puzzle. I could only come up with “Gao”, an answer that wasn’t going to work. One housemate said “Tso” and the other pulled a “General Tso’s Chicken” Smart Ones frozen meal box out of the recycling bin.
Re Mrs. Butterworth: https://wikiality.fandom.com/wiki/Mrs._Butterworth agrees, AA. I sure always thought so.
I always thought Mrs. Butterworth was AA, but I found this: https://www.reference.com/food/mrs-butterworth-black-white-8ee70d419b0c4f7b
“Mrs. Butterworth is neither black nor white; she is in fact an anthropomorphised syrup bottle. . . The earliest animated advertisements, however, depict Mrs. Butterworth as an elderly white woman. Furthermore, Mary Kay Bergman, a white voice actress, was Mrs. Butterworth’s voice for a considerable period of time. She too portrayed the character of Mrs. Butterworth as a white grandmother.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Tso
Yes, Virginia, General Tso was a real person,
Hearing that Mary Kay (AKA Shannen Cassidy) was one of the voice actors made me sad again for her death by suicide.
I didn’t want to say I always pictured Mrs. Butterworth as white, but I always did. She ties her hair up in a bun very reminiscent of midwestern grandmothers. But I can see it both ways when pointed out.
My grandmother used to keep shaped glass bottles on her windowsills so I’m very familiar with the Mrs. Butterworth.
Wikiality is certainly not authoritative.
I was around when Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup first made its appearance. Back then you could buy pure maple syrup which was somewhat expensive but not as expensive as now. Or you could buy Karo or other corn syrup which was cheap but had no maple flavor. Or you could compromise on price and flavor and buy Vermont Maid or Log Cabin, each of which was 15% maple syrup. That’s what my parents bought. Mrs. Butterworth’s selling point was that it contained 2% butter giving it a buttery flavor. The fact that it contained only 2% maple syrup was not trumpeted so loudly, but it was aggressively marketed and sold well from the beginning, and the ads never mentioned “maple” or had anything associated with maple such as trees or Vermont or snow. It wasn’t long before my dad complained that Vermont Maid didn’t taste as good as it used to. He took a close look at the label and saw that it was down to a low percentage of maple syrup. Now the tree brands use no maple syrup at all. I buy pure maple syrup from a sugar house in New Hampshire.
“But the military aspect of Captain Crunch is distracting.”
He’s a ship captain, and it’s not a warship.
DIET Doctor Pepper has a mascot, too.
I think my mind conflated Aunt Jemima (the pancakes) with Mrs. Butterworth’s (the syrup) since I was probably only a little over 5 when I started to think about them in the 60s. At one point in time, I started wondering why the syrup bottle stopped looking (to me) like Aunt Jemima (or just stopped looking like a black woman).
Cap’n Crunch wears a Revolution-era naval uniform. He’s a naval captain.
“Cap’n Crunch wears a Revolution-era naval uniform. He’s a naval captain.”
He doesn’t command a Revolution-era naval vessel. He might have been a naval captain in the Revolution, but he’s mustered out now.
Mrs. Butterworth’s Pancake Mix and Mrs. Butterworth’s Syrup are made by Conagra Brands. Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix and Aunt Jemima Syrup are made by the Quaker Oats Company. I doubt that there’s a dime’s difference between them.
I can accept Cap’n Crunch being a captain — but I’m not sure exactly what Dr Pepper, with the conspicuous lack of a period after the “Dr”, might actually be.
TV shows from director / producer / writer Dan Goor sometimes have a logo screen at the end (like the one shown, from Brooklyn 99) reading “Dr. Goor Productions”. A voice-over says “Not a doctor” in a hurried-disclaimer cadence.
I figured his middle initial must be R. But no, it seems to be J. Go figure. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0329634/
I can accept Cap’n Crunch being a captain — but I’m not sure exactly what Dr Pepper, with the conspicuous lack of a period after the “Dr”, might actually be.
British.
Kevin A, are you from New England? I remember first being introduced to “General Gau’s” chicken there and being surprised that the rest of the country called it “Tso’s.” Similar for Peking ravioli — aka potstickers.