Parkay is a margarine made by ConAgra Foods and introduced in 1937. It is available in spreadable, sprayable, and squeezable forms.
Parkay was made and sold under the Kraft brand name by National Dairy Products Corporation from 1937 to 1969, then Kraftco Corporation from 1969 to 1976, Kraft, Inc. from 1976 to 1990, Kraft General Foods, Inc. from 1990 to 1995, Nabisco Brands, Inc. from 1995 to 1999, and ConAgra Foods, Inc. since 1999.
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(June 2023) |
In the 1940s and 1950s, Parkay was the long-time sponsor of the radio program The Great Gildersleeve .
Starting in 1973, a long-running advertising campaign was introduced for Parkay featuring a mechanically animated "talking tub" of the product. A typical ad depicted a sort of humorous verbal sparring match between a container of Parkay repeatedly saying "Butter" and a human actor insisting that it is actually Parkay. When the spokesperson tastes the product, they conclude that its creamy texture and buttery taste mean it really is butter, to which the container replies, "Parkay." [1] The tagline: [announcer] "Parkay Margarine from Kraft--the flavor says..." [package] "...butter." Along with the TV ad, there was a series of "PARKAY" radio jingles, :30 seconds, written by David Grober and with a variety of performers; the most famous of these performers was Thurl Ravenscroft, who was also the voice of Tony the Tiger.
The 1973 commercial featured a voice over claiming Parkay tastes like butter. An argumentative housewife looks at a square box of Parkay in her kitchen and says "Parkay". The box of Parkay responds "butter", and they go back and forth until she tries a taste of it and she says "butter". At that point, the margarine says "Parkay!" This was possibly the first Parkay Margarine commercial that featured the phrase "the flavor says butter".
The 1975 commercial featured a laughing Latino man argues with a square box of margarine because when he opens up the Parkay lid, it says to him "mantequilla" (butter) and he did know it is or was margarine. But when he finally tastes it, he then or momentarily says "butter" or "mantequilla" right before the box says "Parkay" in Spanish.
The 1976 commercial featured Todd Bridges, best known for Diff'rent Strokes, along with an as yet unidentified child actor, and followed a similar storyline to the earlier Parkay ads. Similar commercials feature actors Vic Tayback or Mel Stewart.
This ad campaign was also spoofed in a skit from the PBS series The Electric Company (with cast member Skip Hinnant providing the foodstuff's voice).
The brand slogan is memorialized in GangStarr's 1993 hip-hop single, "DWYCK".
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment, and used as a fat in baking, sauce-making, pan frying, and other cooking procedures.
Nabisco is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
KD in Canada, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Mac and Cheese in the United Kingdom and internationally, is a nonperishable, packaged macaroni and cheese product. It is made by Kraft Foods Group and traditionally cardboard-boxed with dried macaroni pasta and a packet of processed cheese powder. It was introduced under the Kraft Dinner name simultaneously in both Canada and the U.S. in 1937. The brand is particularly popular with Canadians, who consume 55% more boxes per capita than Americans.
Diacetyl ( dy-yuh-SEE-tuhl; IUPAC systematic name: butanedione or butane-2,3-dione) is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH3CO)2. It is a yellow liquid with an intensely buttery flavor. It is a vicinal diketone (two C=O groups, side-by-side). Diacetyl occurs naturally in alcoholic beverages and is added as a flavoring to some foods to impart its buttery flavor.
Conagra Brands, Inc. is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, and food service establishments. Based on its 2021 revenue, the company ranked 331st on the 2022 Fortune 500.
Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928.
The Kool-Aid Man is the official mascot for Kool-Aid, a brand of flavored drink mix. The character has appeared on television and in print advertising as a fun-loving, gigantic, and joyful anthropomorphic pitcher filled with "The Original Flavor" Cherry Kool-Aid. He is typically featured answering the call of children by smashing through walls or furnishings and then holding a pitcher filled with Kool-Aid while saying his catchphrase, "Oh, yeah!" He had a comic series produced by Marvel Entertainment where he fought villains known as "Thirsties" and even fought a man engulfed in fire named Scorch. He can also come in many different colors such as red, blue, green, and purple.
Slim Jim is an American meat snack brand sold globally and manufactured by Conagra Brands. They are widely available and popular in the United States, generating $575 million in revenue in 2015. About 1 billion Slim Jims snacks are produced annually in at least 21 varieties.
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! is a brand of margarine, produced by Upfield and marketed as a substitute for butter.
Jiffy Pop is a popcorn brand of ConAgra Foods. The product consists of popcorn kernels, oil, and flavoring agents contained within a foil-covered, disposable aluminum pan. Once the paper outer covering is removed, the pan is held by an attached handle over a heat source such as a stove burner or campfire and gently agitated, causing the kernels to pop and push outward against the foil. The pan is then removed from the heat, the foil is torn open, and the popcorn is served.
The Lincoln Snacks Company was a manufacturer of caramelized popcorn and popcorn/nut mixes. Lincoln Snacks’ products are produced in Lincoln, Nebraska and sold nationally under the Poppycock, Fiddle Faddle and Screaming Yellow Zonkers (discontinued) brand names. Lincoln Snacks became a subsidiary of ConAgra Foods, Inc. on September 7, 2007.
Danny Dark was an American voice-over artist. For nearly four decades, he narrated memorable lines in advertisements for Budweiser, Raid Ant & Roach Killer, StarKist tuna and Parkay. The trade paper Radio & Records said, "Dark's distinctive voice has been heard in more award-winning commercials than any announcer in broadcast history."
Country Crock is a food brand owned by Upfield. It originally sold spreads such as margarine, but later extended to side dishes, particularly mashed potatoes and pasta, made by Hormel under license.
Kraft Mayonnaise or Kraft Mayo is a brand of mayonnaise made by Kraft Foods. It is made in many forms and flavors. A new line of the brand's flavored mayonnaises are launched with a celebrity-based ad campaign by HGTV's Design Star judges Candice Olson, Genevieve Gorder and Vern Yip.
Velveeta Shells & Cheese is a shell pasta and cheese sauce food product that debuted in the United States in 1984, as part of the Velveeta brand products. Its ingredients, texture, and flavor are very similar to macaroni and cheese. The product is a shelf-stable food.
Chiffon margarine was first manufactured in 1954 by Anderson, Clayton and Company, a cotton products firm of Houston, Texas. Chiffon was one of the first soft, tub-style margarine products. It was originally available in "regular", "sweet", and "unsalted" forms.
Artificial butter flavoring is a flavoring used to give a food the taste and smell of butter. It may contain diacetyl, acetylpropionyl, or acetoin, three natural compounds in butter that contribute to its characteristic taste and smell. Manufacturers of margarines or similar oil-based products typically add it to make the final product butter-flavored, because it would otherwise be relatively tasteless.
Magnolia Inc. is one of the largest dairy companies in the Philippines. It is a subsidiary of San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. The company comprises over 90% of the non-refrigerated margarine market and over 80% of refrigerated margarine market in the Philippines.
La Choy is a brand name of canned and prepackaged American Chinese food ingredients. The brand was purchased in 1990 from Beatrice Foods by ConAgra Foods during the LBO firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' dismantling of the company and is still currently a property of ConAgra.
