Coffee Time Blog 03 | Remembering Mrs. Olson and Pop Culture’s Grip on Our Cups

Good morning! It’s 6:42 AM on Tuesday, October 14th, and it’s coffee time. This morning’s brew is

brought to you by Folgers Black Silk, with a shot of Café Bustelo espresso – a truly personal combination!

Today, I’m taking a trip down memory lane to talk about Mrs. Olson, the iconic spokesperson for Folgers coffee. Back when I was a kid, Mrs. Olson was a familiar face, known for her distinctive accent and her knack for showing up in just about any household scenario, always with a fresh pot of coffee. 

Mrs. Olson was brilliantly portrayed by actress Virginia Christine. Her acting career was quite extensive, appearing in cult classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, horror films such as The Mummy’s Curse and The Killers, and even Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and The Insiders. From what I remember, she seemed to pop up everywhere – your mom’s kitchen, the garage, the laundry room, even the backyard, always ready to share a cup of Folgers…and put hubby, or a visiting neighbor in the know.

Before the age of memes, we used to joke about how Mrs. Olson seemed to consistently appear to support the “nuclear family” and traditional gender roles. She’d be there on Christmas morning with some random family, or in the laundry room with a random housewife. I grew up in a household with a stay-at-home mom, so these portrayals were quite familiar. Mrs. Olson was so ubiquitous, we half-expected her to show up on a golf course on a rainy day, offering coffee and advice!

Virginia Christine was the face of Folgers from 1965 to 1986, essentially spanning my entire conscious childhood. As a “Generation Jones” person, it’s hard for me to drink Folgers without thinking of Mrs. Olson. Similarly, millennials often associate Folgers with The Big Lebowski, where John Goodman famously used a Folgers container as an urn for Donnie’s ashes, leading to a rather explosive (and hilarious) scattering to the wind. Poor Donnie.

Comedians like Carol Burnett and Johnny Carson also took good-natured jabs at Mrs. Olson, but by all accounts, Virginia Christine was a genuinely sweet lady. The ads worked because they were memorable, a testament to that “golden age” of advertising in the late 1960s, much like what we see depicted in Mad Men.

I’m a firm believer that effective advertising sticks with you. From my high school days in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), I learned the power of memorable campaigns. For my generation, there’s the “Where’s the beef?” lady from Wendy’s, Juan Valdez with his burro in the Colombian coffee fields, and of course, Mrs. Olson. Another one that comes to mind is the Alka-Seltzer ad from the 70s, where a guy on the side of his bed moans, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” with someone in the background replying, “You ate it, Ralph!” That was a huge hit when I was in elementary school!

It’s truly fascinating how we latch onto these characters and how they shape our perceptions and feelings. So there you have it, this morning’s coffee talk brought to you by Folgers Black Silk, a shot of Café Bustelo made in a moka pot, and the enduring legacy of Mrs. Olson, who sadly passed away from heart complications in 1996 at the age of 76.

Y’all be good to each other out there, stay safe, and we’ll see you tomorrow for coffee time.

Love,

Mark