Now THAT'S a religious war - Jif vs. Skippy

When we use the term "religious war," naturally we know that there are TRUE religious wars out there.

And there are also things that we call religious wars - Android vs. iPhone, Republican vs. Democratic (or Labour vs. Conservative), etc.

But what about the true religious war of our time - the peanut butter religious war? Jim at Phoood described this war as follows:

One of the most hotly debated issues in America has been which peanut butter is better - Jif or Skippy. Families have been torn apart, friendships have been ended, and states have got to battle against other states.

However, he then said:

OK, I'm exaggerating just a bit.

Dang. A wild food fight would have been good for the blog.

For the record, Jim preferred Jif. But others have looked at the issue. Izatryt preferred Skippy. Thomas J. McCabe couldn't decide.

Opinions are obviously all over the board on this one. So who can we turn to as an authoritative source on this controversy? Perhaps a Mouseketeer can help here.



A paper on the Northwestern University website analyzes this period:

Skippy’s national market share ranged between 20 and 22% from 1970 until 1990. During this time, Skippy was positioned as the healthy brand supported by the claim that Skippy had less sugar. In the mid-1980s, Skippy used Annette Funicello as the spokesperson for the brand. She had grown up with that generation of mothers who were familiar with Annette from her appearances on the Mickey Mouse Club. Annette was seen as a good spokesperson because she was perceived as wholesome and had children herself.

This carries a frightening thought - someday, Courtney Love may become a peanut butter spokesperson.

As for my personal preference...I'm with Annette.

Fire your salvos in the comments.