The History of Gerber Baby Food

In 1927, Dorothy Gerber began straining solid foods for her 7-month-old daughter Sally to eat. Her husband Dan noted that the work could be done much more easily at their canning business, which was located in Fremont, Michigan. When plant workers began requesting samples of the strained food to feed their own babies, the Gerbers decided to launch a line of pre-strained Gerber’s baby food, which included strained bananas and other jarred soft foods. In 1928, they held a contest to find the face that would be featured on the brand’s first advertising campaign. The winning design was a charcoal sketch of a baby submitted by Dorothy Hope Smith. In 1978, it was revealed that Dorothy had based her sketch on her neighbor’s baby, Anne Turner Cook, who grew up to be a mystery novelist and English teacher. Over the years, the brand expanded its offerings to include many different baby food products. Additionally, “spokesbabies” were chosen — typically through a photo contest — to represent the brand in its advertisements. Today, Gerber’s is still one of the best-known baby food brands on the market.