Tag: Christmas

Posted in Back in My Day, Mildly Interesting

Gingerbread boy is oblivious

Posted on by NeverJetHot

U&I Sugar had a mascot, maybe only at Christmas? A gingerbread boy, smiling because he doesn’t know that his fate is sealed. This guy was in the 12-1-65 Everett Herald. You could send a U&I label and some money to get a cookie sheet, cake pan, either came with a “Gingerbread Boy Pattern”. (I thought it would be a cookie cutter?)

Apparently, they were trying to build product loyalty among people who like to bake.

U&I produced beet sugar for decades; ultimately cane sugar did them in. People preferred the taste of cane sugar, and bakers say it caramelizes better than beet sugar.

More about the U&I company here; https://worldhistory.us/american-history/the-history-of-ui-sugar-a-beet-sugar-powerhouse.php

More Mascots here; https://www.neverjethot.com/posts/tag/mascots/

Posted in Back in My Day

QFC King deposed?

Posted on by NeverJetHot

This ad from a Dec. 1963 “Prudence Penny” insert in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
indicates that this is the first Christmas for the little QFC king.

For all I know, it may have been his last. Perhaps his oddly trimmed mustache did not play well among the upper middle-class housewives that shopped there. Along the way, QFC took over smaller chains, then, in turn, they were acquired by Kroger’s. I guess they lost the quirky charm along the way. I think someone in our family still has one of the 98 cent fruitcakes featured in this circular.