Jars of Skippy peanut butter

Skippy peanut butter is a commercial brand of peanut butter made in the United States. 90 million jars of Skippy are sold annually. It was first sold on February 1, 1933.

History

"Skippy" was first used as a trademark for peanut butter by the Rosefield Packing Co., Ltd., of Alameda, California, in 1933. Percy Crosby, creator of the "Skippy" comic strip, had the trademark invalidated in 1934, but Rosefield persisted after Crosby was committed to an insane asylum, and its successor companies, most recently Unilever, have been granted rights to the trademark over the objection of Crosby's heirs. There has been much litigation on this point over the decades, some of which remains in progress.¹

In the last decade^when?, Skippy has extended its brand by introducing Skippy Squeez’ It peanut butter tubes and Skippy Snack Bars.

All Skippy peanut butter is now produced in Little Rock, Arkansas. ²

Unilever stated that Skippy was not affected by the February 2007 salmonella outbreak that affected competing brands Peter Pan and Great Value. [1]

With the ongoing discussion about trans-fats and hydrogenated oils, Skippy released Skippy Natural which is advertised as being "100% Natural", containing "NO Trans Fat per serving" and "NO Hydrogenated Oil", although it still contains salt/sugar and some saturated fat (palm oil) to avoid separation. People who work for Skippy call these ingredients "natural" additives even though they do not occur naturally in peanut butter. Skippy Natural was introduced presumably because of consumer concerns over its regular peanut butter product. The label on this product declares "No trans fat!" even though it in fact does. The ingredients state that it contains "hydrogenated vegetable oil." This inconsistency is permitted under a loophole in U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations which allow companies to advertise "no trans fat" if the total amount "per serving" is under a certain amount. ³

Skippy comes in many different size containers, including a large 4 lb jar, known as the "Family Jar". In late 2008, Skippy reduced their standard jar size from 18 oz to 16.3 oz by creating a large hemispherical "dimple" in the bottom of the jar while retaining the same height and diameter of the jar.⁴

Skippy Natural

Skippy advertising

Skippy has used several cartoon and celebrity spokespeople in its advertising, including Dennis the Menace, Annette Funicello and speed skater Bonnie Blair.

References

See also

• Joseph L. Rosefield
• Unilever
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• Jif peanut butter Another popular brand of peanut butter

External links

• Company website
• Old ad for Skippy in with several others (Skippy's is the last one on the reel)