Do You Remember Jif Peanut Butter's Original Name Before 1958? Here's Why It Changed

Long before Jif became the best-selling peanut butter brand in the world, it had a different name, a different owner, and a very different look. Back in 1946, William T. Young, just out of the U.S. Army following his service in World War II, moved to Lexington, Kentucky, and founded W.T. Young Foods, Inc. He began making a brand of peanut butter called Big Top, which featured a smiling clown as its mascot.

Big Top went from being a regional brand to having a national footprint by the early 1950s. One of Young's sales tactics involved selling his product in glassware, such as crystal goblets or glass tumblers, that consumers could reuse once they'd finished the peanut butter inside. In 1955, Procter & Gamble bought Young's company and continued to manufacture Big Top peanut butter in Kentucky. Procter & Gamble sold Big Top peanut butter until 1958, when it was rebranded as Jif, complete with a new kangaroo mascot named Jifaroo. The company changed the name to be easy to say and recall, and changed the recipe to make the product more competitive in the marketplace.

Back when Jif was still called Big Top, it faced stiff competition from brands that had been in the marketplace for years. Jif isn't the oldest American peanut butter brand still around, for example. That would be Krema, which started making the spread in 1908. Peter Pan had also been around since 1928, and Skippy first hit shelves in 1932. Skippy's inventor, Joseph Rosefield, was also the first to come out with crunchy peanut butter, in 1934. Still, Jif managed to claw its way to the top, and Big Top's creator helped along the way.

By the 1950s, peanut butter was gaining popularity. After selling his company to Procter & Gamble, William T. Young ran the Jif division for a few years before going out on his own. After starting various businesses, he became the chairman of the soft drink manufacturer Royal Crown. Later, Young was a well known horseracing breeder and owner while his brand of peanut butter, under a different name, grew to become the biggest seller in the world by 1999. In 2002, J.M. Smuckers bought the company (along with Crisco) from Procter & Gamble for $1 billion.