The corporate icon for Collegedale’s McKee Bakery Co. got a new look last night when comedian Will Ferrell appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon dressed as Little Debbie, claiming to be America’s sweetheart.
Ferrell, wearing a straw hat and carrying a basket of Little Debbie snacks, spent more than seven minutes on the NBC comedy acting as the Little Debbie figure that appears on millions of snack cakes made by McKee Baking, the largest privately owned snack cake maker in the world with annual sales of more than $1 billion.
Mike Gloekler, public relations manager for McKee Foods, said today the company was unaware in advance of the appearance of Ferrell as Little Debbie on NBC. But he said the company was delighted by all the attention.
“We appreciate both the humor of the segment and the exposure of our Little Debbie brand to Jimmy Fallon’s huge national TV audience,” he said. “In our opinion, Will Ferrell did justice to the cowgirl hat and the blue and white dress that are hallmarks of Little Debbie. We appreciate his enthusiasm in playing the part. We also enjoyed seeing the studio audience so eager to get their hands on our delicious snack cakes.”
Ferrell didn’t match Oprah’s famous distribution of free goods to the studio audience last night. But he did encourage others to buy the product.
“Tonight everyone in the audience has a chance to go out and buy a Little Debbie snack cake,” Ferrell quipped.