June 8, 2022 – Gerber Baby

Last Friday, June 3rd, the original Gerber Baby, Ann Turner Cook, passed away at the age of 95. In 1928, Gerber held a contest to find a baby who would best represent their new brand of baby food. The Turner family’s neighbor, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, submitted a charcoal sketch she had done of Ann. She told the judges that if the drawing was chosen, she would finish it professionally. But the judges loved the simplicity of the illustration, and wanted no changes. Smith won $300 (which is around $5,000 today) and sold the rights of the drawing to Gerber. The drawing was trademarked in 1931.
Gerber was founded in 1927 by Daniel Gerber, who owned a canning company. At the suggestion of their pediatrician, his wife began hand-making baby food for their daughter. The straining process was very time consuming and physically demanding, so she looked to her husband for help. They saw a potential business opportunity and started devoting resources at their canning company to producing baby food. By 1928, they had 5 products: beef vegetable soup and strained peas, prunes, carrots, and spinach.
The Gerber Baby symbol was introduced in 1928 in Good Housekeeping magazine. It soon had national recognition and was being distributed internationally. It’s been used on virtually all of Gerber’s baby food packaging for over 90 years. Ann Turner Cook’s identity was a secret until 1978. There were a lot of urban legends surrounding the Gerber Baby’s identity, with many people thinking it was someone famous, like Elizabeth Taylor or Humphrey Bogart. She grew up to be an English teacher and mystery novelist.
Although Cook’s image is still used by Gerber, the company started hosting a yearly Baby Photo Search in 2010. Learn more here.