JIF
HOW JIF BECAME
A HOUSEHOLD NAME
Jif Peanut Butter was created in 1946 by William T. Young in Lexington, Kentucky. The product was originally known as Big Top Peanut Butter and was sold in small glass jars with colorful circus animals on the label. In 1955, Procter & Gamble purchased the Big Top peanut butter brand and its manufacturing facility to compete with leading peanut butter brands Skippy and Peter Pan. Procter and Gamble immediately began improving the Big Top recipe to include hydrogenated vegetable oils, sugar, and molasses, making the product smoother in texture and sweeter in flavor.
P&G’s Jif advertisements mainly featured their new blue kangaroo named Jiffaroo. Jiffaroo could be seen on the new packaging, store displays, and on the Jif delivery trucks that regularly distributed samples. Later in 1966, Jif debuted its “Choosy Mothers Choose Jif” campaign, which helped Jif become the leading peanut butter brand, which it still is today. In 1986, Jif switched its glass jar packaging to plastic jars and eventually released the single-use Jif To-Go. They also released extra crunchy peanut butter that quickly surpassed the original crunchy, reduced fat Jif, and simply Jif. Jif was acquired by J.M. Smucker Company in 2001 for $810 million. Jif is still owned and produced by the J.M. Smucker Company and remains the world's best-selling peanut butter brand.
CHOOSY MOM’S CHOOSE JIF