Mrs. Butterworth's is a brand of pre-packaged syrups and pancake mixes owned by Pinnacle Foods. The syrups come in distinctive bottles shaped in the form of a matronly female, Mrs. Butterworth. The packages, originally glass, are now mostly plastic.
In 1997, longtime owner Unilever sold Mrs. Butterworth's to Aurora Foods.
Aurora Foods was acquired by Pinnacle Foods in 2003.
In the television commercials, the bottle comes to life and talks (originally in stop-motion animation; CGI is used today). One of the main voices for it was Mary Kay Bergman.[1] Kim Fields appeared in ads alongside it in the late 1970s.
In a 1987 television ad, it was revealed that Mrs. Butterworth's first name is "Joy". She was reluctant to let her first name be used because her childhood friends referred to her, jokingly, as "Joy Buzzerworth", punning on the popular novelty item the Joy Buzzer.
The first TV ads for Mrs. Butterworth featured Cliff Arquette as "Charley Weaver". He dressed as the brand's "old lady" icon, affected an obviously falsetto voice ("Hello! Mrs. Butterworth here!") and continued to sport his mustache.
In 2007 Mrs. Butterworth was used in a series of ads for GEICO, in which she helped an actual customer with her testimonial[1].