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Pretzels
Pretzels, a kind of baked product in the shape of a twisted knot, appears frequently in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as a symbol for the setting of West Covina. In the pilot episode, the first musical number of the show, “West Covina,” features the pretzel prominently. After Rebecca moves to West Covina from New York for her ex-boyfriend Josh, she explores the town hoping to run into Josh. Rebecca so desperately wants to start a new and happy life that she clearly becomes very illusional and sees everything in this small and slightly dated town as signs that she is destined to be here with Josh, even including a stripper named Destiny. In an interview with Marketplace, co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna said that they chose West Covina because it “depicts what a perfect American suburb is like.” When the creators visited the town, they found out there are three pretzel stores in one mall and decided to use pretzels in the show as a symbol. In the first musical number, Rebecca becomes amazed by a pretzel kiosk that sells large pretzels and imagines that she is sitting in a giant pretzel which is lifted into the sky while she finishes the song.

Pretzels make two other significant appearances in the series. One is in the Season Four episode "I'm Making Up For Lost Time," where Rebecca finally realizes that being a lawyer is not what she wants to do and quits to start something new. Just like her impulse decision to move to West Covina, Rebecca again rushes into the first thing she sees, which in this case is a Pretzel Central for sell in the lobby of her former law firm. The other appearance is in the Season Four Episode, "I'm On My Own Path," where pretzels become performers in a musical number called “Our Twisted Fate,” which is a parody of Simon & Garfunkel’s famous song “The Sounds of Silence.” The pretzels blatantly point out that Rebecca sees them as not just snacks in the lyrics, “This woman's obsession with us/ Is frankly quite bizarre,” “Now, we are a symbol” and “We are hurtin' from the burden/ Of being someone's life motif.” CW even has a series of online interviews with the cast named “Soft Pretzels.”

Butter Ad
A series of promotions for a fictional product called Truly Happy Truly Butter appeare repeatedly in the pilot as well as subtly throughout the seasons, symbolizing Rebecca’s pursuit for true happiness. Most of the ads ask the same question, "When was the last time you were truly happy?" Despite being very successful at her law firm, Rebecca is miserable and gets moved when she sees the ad. As she leaves her office to take prescription drugs on the street, she sees a huge banner of the same ad on the side of a building, which points at a pedestrian who happens to be her ex-boyfriend, Josh. This leads to Rebecca’s infatuation with Josh as she believes he will be the solution to all of her problems. Throughout the series, references to the butter commercial continuously appear in the background and dialogues. For example, Rebecca describes herself as “happy like the butter lady.” The creators of the show also change the slogan on the butter ad to make comments on the plot. For example, one billboard reads “So glad you're finally with Josh!” to foreshadow Rebecca’s ensuing disillusion that a romantic relationship is not the key to happiness. Ironically, Truly Butter's marketing manager Gary, claims that the slogan is inspired by his dark thoughts during a period of horrible decisions in his private life.

Slumbered
Slumbered is an old animated film made up by the creators of the show, which is supposedly similar to the story of Sleeping Beauty, to symbolize the unrealistic expectation of fairy-tale love. Slumbered is Rebecca’s favourite film and she has been obsessed with it since she was little, as mentioned in the Season One episode "Paula Needs to Get Over Josh!". Subsequently, Rebecca believes that she also needs a magical moment before committing to a relationship, just like the movie theme song "One Indescribable Instant" describes. In Season One finale, after a series of complications, Rebecca wants to commit to Greg at a wedding but ends up being with Josh because she shares a magical moment with Josh when the theme song plays at said wedding, which leads her to believe that Josh is who she is destined to be with. Rebecca eventually becomes disillusioned and grows out of her fantasy about fairy tales after mental health treatments and self-reflections. In Season Four, when Nathanial uses the speech in Slumbered to try to win Rebecca back, she does not immediately fall in love and quickly figures out that it is his attempt to manipulate her after reading her diary, which shows significant character development.