By Zulia DeWire
June 4, 2025
Zulia is a Junior Anthropology major at NAU who is focusing on Southwestern Archaeology. She will be graduating in December of 2025 and will be pursuing a career within Cultural Resource Management. Her research on Apex’s cocoa brands was part of her NAU Interns-to-Scholars project; read their poster (Just Add Water: How Early Advertising Shaped Cocoa Powder Diversity at Apex, Arizona) for more information!
For more about Apex or the Apex, Arizona Archaeology Project, visit our website or email Dr. Emily Dale at emily.dale@nau.edu.
The majority of the artifacts at Apex are food and beverage cans. Most products are primarily represented by a single brand; nearly all of the baking powder found at the site was Calumet and most of the malt syrup extract was from Budweiser. This is not the case for the powdered cocoa products, as three different brands of cocoa powder are represented: Hershey’s, Ovaltine, and Walter Baker. My research examines how the advertising of these companies contributed to all three brands successfully finding a market at Apex.
Advertising in the 1920s
The 1920s was a boundary pushing decade and is often considered the “Golden Age” of advertising. Companies began to stray away from mass marketing and began focusing on targeting specific demographics, due to new industrial advances in both packaging and distribution techniques.
Companies were now able to mass produce products while also being able to safely and quickly transport them to a larger area and consumer base. Consequently, this resulted in multiple brands trying to sell similar products to the same consumer bases. Companies needed to distinguish their products from their competitors. Advertising shifted from just simply introducing products to consumers to convincing them that they needed to purchase their product or that theirs was superior to the competitor. Many companies did this by market segmentation, targeting specific demographics as opposed to mass marketing. This was often done by advertising in newspapers and magazines that already targeted the specific demographics.
Many new advertising techniques emerged during this time, most notably the use of color, illustrations, and vivid storytelling. By creating engaging narratives and characters, consumers would have a positive association with the brand and, when faced with multiple choices in the store, would be more likely to choose that product over similar ones. These strategies are still used today and are still effective, with 71% of consumers choosing name brand beverages over generic brands according to a 2023 study by Purdue University.
Cocoa Powder at Apex
A total of 20 cocoa powder cans and can lids were found at Apex.
Half of these (10) were Hershey’s brand, four were Walter Baker brand, and the remaining six were Ovaltine. The majority (15) of the artifacts were found near and around management housing, with the rest being found near laborer housing (3) and the kitchen (2).
Hershey’s, Walter Baker, and Ovaltine mainly advertised their products to different demographics to reduce competition within those specific areas. While I will be talking about the common themes in each company’s advertisement strategies, it is important to note that not all of each individual company’s advertisements are aligned with their norm. I examined as many of the advertisements that I could find for each company that advertised their cocoa powder and was originally published between 1900 and 1936.
Hershey’s Cocoa
Many of Hershey’s cocoa powder advertisements were mainly targeted towards school aged children and parents of younger children. This can be seen by the use of younger children in the advertisements. Hershey’s also tended to advertise multiple products together, often their cocoa powder and bars of chocolate. One of their advertisements was converted into the cover of a cookbook in 1934.
A common theme across all of the companies was advertisements that directly mentioned their competitors. For example, one Hershey’s advertisement mentioned that any cocoa that did not include the words “Breakfast” is inferior to real breakfast cocoa.
Walter Baker Breakfast Cocoa
Walter Baker’s advertisements were geared towards a wealthier population, as seen by the style of clothing, decor, and activities portrayed in the advertisements. Their mascot, La Belle Chocolatiere, or the chocolate girl, was designed to appeal to higher status consumers. La Belle Chocolatiere was originally painted in 1744 by Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard and depicts a maid holding a tray with a cup of hot cocoa and a cup of water. Walter Baker adopted “La Belle Chocolatiere” as their mascot in 1881.
All of the Walter Baker artifacts that were found at Apex have La Belle Chocolatiere embossed on their lid.
Ovaltine
Ovaltine’s advertisements were more diverse than the other two brands. They had two different advertising techniques depending on if they were advertising the product as a hot or cold drink.
When advertised as a hot drink, the potential health benefits were at the forefront. Some of these health benefits include as a sleep aid, multivitamin supplement, and a cure for flatulence. This advertising strategy makes sense as Ovaltine was originally created by Pharmacist Albert Wander in 1904.
When served as a cold drink, Ovaltine was often depicted as the perfect summertime beverage as it is often seen being consumed by late teenagers or young adults in an outdoors setting. The versatility in the way Ovaltine can be prepared sets it apart from its competitors.
Conclusions
The diverse advertising tactics of 1930s powdered cocoa companies explain why all three brands were found at Apex. Hershey’s would have appealed to families with children, Walter Baker to those hoping to exude class, and Ovaltine for consumers looking for medicine or a cooling beverage on a hot day.
Mystery Artifact
June’s Mystery Artifact is a flat, ferrous plate with stepped edges, broken on one end. The top right corner reads “th” with a triangle below it. The edges are decorated with crimping. Let us know if you recognize this!
Sources
Annalect. (2017). The evolution of advertising in the food and beverage industry. Annalect. https://www.annalect.com/the-evolution-of-advertising-in-the-food-and-beverage-industry/
Frederick, C. (1934). Hershey’s index recipe book. Hershey Chocolate Corporation.
Hershey’s. (1929) Hershey’s: Hershey’s “Breakfast” Cocoa [Advertisement] https://isamunangpatalastas.blogspot.com/2024/05/470-5-us-products-available-in-1920s-in.html
Curator’s Choice. (2010). The chocolate girl; or, the maid who became a princess. Curators’ Choice. https://johnjohnson.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/the-chocolate-girl-or-the-maid-who-became-a-princess/
Koppes, S. (2023, October 11). Purdue survey delves into brand-name food and beverage preferences of consumers. Purdue University – College of Agriculture. https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2023/10/purdue-survey-delves-into-brand-name-food-and-beverage-preferences-of-consumers.html
Socolof, V. (2023, October 3). Advertising in 1920s: The influence of agencies, radio, and print in a pivotal decade. BrandVerge. https://www.gobrandverge.com/advertising-in-1920s-the-influence-of-agencies-radio-and-print-in-a-pivotal-decade/