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Butterfinger is the name of a candy bar made by Nestlé. It has a flaky, orange-colored center somewhat similar in texture and taste to peanut brittle, that is coated in compound chocolate.
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History
Butterfinger was invented by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, Illinois, in 1928. The company held a public contest to choose the name of the candy dress. The name is a slang term used to describe a clumsy person, often in sporting events to describe an athlete who can't hold onto the ball. As an early publicity stunt and marketing ploy, the company dropped Butterfinger and Baby Ruth candy bars from airplanes in cities across the United States which helped increase its popularity. The Butterfinger candy bar was later sold to Nabisco, and, in 1990, Nestlé bought Baby Ruth and Butterfinger from Nabisco.
Two of the slogans currently used to advertise the candy bar are "Follow the Finger" and "Break out of the ordinary!" Prior to these, Bart Simpson and other characters from Fox's The Simpsons appeared in numerous advertisements for the product from 1990 to 2001, with the slogans "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!", "Bite my Butterfinger!", and "Nothin' like a Butterfinger!" However, when Butterfinger dropped the Simpsons as a spokesperson, a Simpsons episode called "Sweets and Sour Marge" included a scene involving Butterfinger bars being unable to be burned, a character saying "even the fire doesn't want them."[citation needed]
On April 1, 2008, Nestlé launched an April Fools initiative indicating that they had changed the name of the candy bar to "The Finger", citing consumer research that indicated that the original brand was "clumsy" and "awkward", complete with a fake Web site[1] promoting the change and featuring a video press release. When the joke is revealed, the entire website changes into a flash animation redirecting to the Butterfinger Comedy Network.
Butterfinger was withdrawn from the German market due to consumer rejection when it was one of the first products to be labeled as containing genetically modified ingredients from corn.[2][3]
In recent years, Butterfinger bars have appeared in the United States that are printed with both English and Spanish language on the wrappers.
In 2009, a new ad for Butterfinger was made that was a throwback to The Simpsons ads for Butterfinger.
Butterfinger BB's
In the '90s, another form of Butterfinger bars was available called "BB's." Similar to Whoppers, they were roughly the size of marbles and sold in bags.
See also
Similar products
- Crispy Crunch from Cadbury plc
- Hershey's 5th Avenue.
- Clark Bar from Necco.
- Zagnut, a similar product that uses toasted coconut instead of Chocolate.
- Chick-O-Stick, same kind of product as Zagnut, yet rolled.
- KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter (available in the UK, Ireland and Australia).
- Wunderbar from Cadbury plc
References
- ^ "The Finger Bar website". http://www.thefingerbar.com/overview.aspx. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
- ^ Jung, Alexander (December 26, 2005). "What Can a Nation Do? Taming the Globalization Monster". Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,392276-3,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
- ^ "Jugendliche bei Greenpeace" (in German). Greenpeace. May 15, 2003. http://www.greenpeace.de/ueber_uns/mitmachen/jugend_ags/. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
External links
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