Anne Turner Cook’s face was what “sealed” Gerber’s ad.
The woman who “sealed” the advertisement of the baby food company Gerber with her face passed away at the age of 96.
The company announced her death in an Instagram post. “Many years before she became an excellent mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts around the world and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies.”
Anne Turner Cook was 5 months old when a neighbor, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, made a charcoal sketch of her that was later submitted to a competition conducted by Gerber as part of her national campaign to promote a new line of baby food.
Cook’s face fascinated executives and in 1931 became the company’s trademark and has since been used in all of its product packaging and advertising.
For decades, however, the baby’s identity was kept secret, sparking rumors of who it might have been. Others claimed that it was Humphrey Bogard and others that it was Elizabeth Taylor.
In the late 1970s, it was revealed that it was Cook, who had grown up, was an English teacher in Tampa, Florida, and later the author of mystery books.
She told the Associated Press in 1998 that her mother had told her when she was little that the baby was in the package. He said, “If you were to become a symbol for something, what could be more enjoyable than a symbol for baby food?”
As for the image itself, he said: “All babies are attractive. The reason why the design was so popular is that the artist immortalized the charm that all babies have “.
