Getting Frosted

It’s easy, this stuff – really easy. Goof-proof, the ad says. Well, if you want to be a gift-giving goof, here’s the proof.

But first, here’s a little hint, if you’re planning on making a bunch of stuff out of processed frosting powder and calling it candy – don’t put it in that Betty Crocker Frosting Mix box, OK? It’s kind of a giveaway!

I realize that fudge is essentially solidified frosting, but this just seems a little bit too blatant. And the Day Glo colors! Check out the lime-green swirly things. And the hot pink ones too. That used to be my favorite color magic marker, back in the 1960s – hot pink.

The ribbon implies that this box is about to get wrapped up as it is. So what does it mean when you give someone that blatantly says: I’m giving you a box of instant frosting.

It means that you want to impress them with your ingenuity with candied fruit, nuts and magic-marker colors – and different shapes! – but that you also want to dilute this with the uneasy thought that perhaps they’re getting something a little…downmarket. Declassé.

So basically it’s a perfect present for the people in your life that you feel – ambivalent about. We all know a few. So does Betty, clearly. I wonder who Betty is giving this one to…

My favorite bit is probably the very last line, in tiny print at the bottom. It takes the metaphorical cake: “Makes great frosting, too!”

Thanks for sharing.

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