{"id":20581,"date":"2017-11-06T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T00:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/?p=20581"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T23:18:05","slug":"who-is-little-debbie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/who-is-little-debbie\/20581\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Little Debbie?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Heather Taylor<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pop down the baked goods aisle at any grocery store and you\u2019ll see her grinning face on packages of Swiss Cake Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, and Zebra Cakes. We\u2019re talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.littledebbie.com\/\">Little Debbie<\/a> of course, the snack brand that is part of McKee Foods Corporation. However, few may realize that this famous face was actually based on a real-life little girl. Grab an oatmeal cream pie and settle in as we share her story!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Little Debbie Snack Cake Commercial HD\" width=\"1240\" height=\"930\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iyQA9LtHV90?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the Great Depression, an entrepreneur named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.littledebbie.com\/6\/Who-We-Are\">O.D. McKee<\/a> began selling snack cakes for five cents apiece from the backseat of his Whippet car. The cakes allowed him to support his wife Ruth and their three children, but also tapped into his interest in baking. O.D. and Ruth would later buy a small bakery to begin baking small cakes and selling sweets, founding the McKee Foods Corporation in 1934.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Early years in business were filled with struggles for the pair, so much so that they even put up a sheet near the back of the bakery where the family\u2019s living quarters were located. However, hard work and the dedication to their brand\u2019s vision allowed them to find success as the years went on. In 1960, the McKees came up with a new family pack of snack cakes and tried to think of a catchy name for them. Nothing felt right until they came across a photo of their four-year-old granddaughter Debbie wearing a cowgirl hat \u2014 and just like that, \u201cLittle Debbie\u201d was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Little Debbie Commercial\" width=\"1240\" height=\"930\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O29dsuYczdY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pearl Mann, an Atlanta-based artist designed the original artwork for the four-color carton based off of the black and white photo. Mann was instructed to make Debbie appear a bit older, around 8 or 9, instead of using her actual age. A few subtle updates were given to the logo throughout the late 1980s and once more in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Little Debbie made her debut later that year and was an instant hit with consumers as a snack staple in America\u2019s households. The brand turned 50 in 2010 and in 2015, Debbie McKee-Fowler was honored in the 30th Annual Chattanooga Women of Distinction Awards luncheon as their <a href=\"https:\/\/alamid.ejoinme.org\/MyEvents\/WomenofDistinction2015\/tabid\/552485\/Default.aspx\">2015 Tennessee Woman of Distinction<\/a>. Today, she serves as the Executive Vice President at McKee Foods \u2014 bringing her journey with the brand full circle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Heather Taylor Pop down the baked goods aisle at any grocery store and you\u2019ll see her grinning face on packages of Swiss Cake Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, and Zebra Cakes. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":20582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15],"topics":[2],"class_list":["post-20581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-popicon","topics-editorial"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.5 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Who is Little Debbie? | AW360<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/who-is-little-debbie\/20581\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who is Little Debbie?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Heather Taylor Pop down the baked goods aisle at any grocery store and you\u2019ll see her grinning face on packages of Swiss Cake Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, and Zebra Cakes. 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