Campbell Soup Kids

During the early twentieth century, the Joseph Campbell Company, forerunner to the Campbell Soup Company, began to advertise its products nationally. They were advised to market their products to women through “child appeal.” Theodore Wiederseim, an employee of Ketterlineus Lithographic Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia, was asked for suggestions. He recommended the services of his wife, Grace Drayton, a staff artist for the Philadelphia Press and Evening Journal and a freelance illustrator of children’s books. She had been sketching little round-faced, rosy-cheeked children for years, and she adapted them for the company’s purposes, creating what would become known as the Campbell Kids.