Planters Peanut Butter Ad – May 2, 1962

Planters is arguably the most well-known name in peanuts. So it's only natural that the company would introduce its own peanut butter.

And so it did, sixty years ago. Above is a national ad that ran in the Journal back on May 2, 1962.

I like how the monocled Mr. Peanut is shown, about to take a bite out of a piece of bread slathered with (shudder!) his own kind.

Here are a few vintage containers and lids of the stuff, poached from eBay. They don't quite match the illustration in the ad.

Surprisingly, the product is still around, although I've never seen it in stores.

Mr. Peanut has been through a lot of abuse over the years. His design has been tweaked a few times, and he was needlessly given a celebrity voice (Robert Downey Jr.) around 2010. The classic ad mascot was even killed in a 2020 Super Bowl commercial and 'reborn' as a baby version of his former self.

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So what's your favorite peanut butter?

My mother – like all choosey mothers – always chose Jif. 

Peanut butter was the staff of life in our house. I probably brought a peanut butter sandwich for lunch every day through all four years of high school. I still bring it to work every day now. 

However, I drifted away from the Jif brand as an adult. I've tried all of the peanut butters, and I finally settled on Peter Pan Honey Roast Creamy Peanut Butter as my favorite. It's one of the few times I don't care about the mascot or the packaging – I just like the taste.

And speaking of Jif, I'm annoyed that its advertising team has resorted to the popular trend of using a profanity-based phrase, in its That Jif'ing Good campaign. 

Ugh.

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One last reminisce. Remember Koogle (not Google) Peanut Butter in the early 1970s?

Courtesy Reddit

We tried it and liked it in our house. It came in a variety of yummy flavors, including chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla (my favorite). But it was gone within a few years.

Read all about it here on the Gone But Not Forgotten Groceries website, where you can also see a vintage commercial and peruse some great reminisces by people who loved the product.