Slim Jim (snack food): Difference between revisions
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[[File:SLIM-JIM.JPG|thumb|right|a partially eaten Slim Jim snack]] |
[[File:SLIM-JIM.JPG|thumb|right|a partially eaten Slim Jim snack]] |
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'''Slim Jim''' is a brand of meat snacks or dried sausage manufactured by [[ConAgra Foods, Inc.]] They are popular in the [[United States]], due in part to their unique texture, tangy taste and irreverent marketing. More than 500 million are produced annually in at least 20 varieties. Slim Jims were originally manufactured by [[Goodmark Foods, Inc.]], before the company was acquired by ConAgra Foods in 1998. Adoph Levis is credited as the inventor of Slim Jims in the late 1940s |
'''Slim Jim''' is a brand of meat snacks or dried sausage manufactured by [[ConAgra Foods, Inc.]] They are popular in the [[United States]], due in part to their unique texture, tangy taste and irreverent marketing. More than 500 million are produced annually in at least 20 varieties.The Slim Jim itself has been transformed in the years since Mr. Levis sold the company in 1967 for 20 million dollars. General Mills moved the operations to Raleigh, N.C., and merged them into other meatpacking operations that it renamed Goodmark Foods. It sold Goodmark in 1982 to a group led by Mr. Dogget. ConAgra, the food conglomerate based in Omaha, bought Goodmark in 1998. |
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Slim Jims were originally manufactured by [[Goodmark Foods, Inc.]], before the company was acquired by ConAgra Foods in 1998. Adoph Levis is credited as the inventor of Slim Jims in the late 1940s. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Levis, who was known as Al, dropped out of school at 16 and began selling spices, pickles and condiments during the Depression. Later, he started a business selling pickled pigs' feet, tomatoes and cabbages out of his garage, largely to delicatessens and taverns. |
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In the 1940's, Mr. Levis, observing the popularity of other dried meat products like pepperoni, and working with a partner, Joseph Cherry, hired a local meatpacker to develop a dried beef stick that was smaller and easier to eat than a larger sausage. Hoping to create an elegant image, he used a man in a top hat and cane as his emblem and called him Slim Jim. |
In the 1940's, Mr. Levis, observing the popularity of other dried meat products like pepperoni, and working with a partner, Joseph Cherry, hired a local meatpacker to develop a dried beef stick that was smaller and easier to eat than a larger sausage. Hoping to create an elegant image, he used a man in a top hat and cane as his emblem and called him Slim Jim. |
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Revision as of 15:13, 6 June 2010
Slim Jim is a brand of meat snacks or dried sausage manufactured by ConAgra Foods, Inc. They are popular in the United States, due in part to their unique texture, tangy taste and irreverent marketing. More than 500 million are produced annually in at least 20 varieties.The Slim Jim itself has been transformed in the years since Mr. Levis sold the company in 1967 for 20 million dollars. General Mills moved the operations to Raleigh, N.C., and merged them into other meatpacking operations that it renamed Goodmark Foods. It sold Goodmark in 1982 to a group led by Mr. Dogget. ConAgra, the food conglomerate based in Omaha, bought Goodmark in 1998.
Slim Jims were originally manufactured by Goodmark Foods, Inc., before the company was acquired by ConAgra Foods in 1998. Adoph Levis is credited as the inventor of Slim Jims in the late 1940s. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Levis, who was known as Al, dropped out of school at 16 and began selling spices, pickles and condiments during the Depression. Later, he started a business selling pickled pigs' feet, tomatoes and cabbages out of his garage, largely to delicatessens and taverns.
In the 1940's, Mr. Levis, observing the popularity of other dried meat products like pepperoni, and working with a partner, Joseph Cherry, hired a local meatpacker to develop a dried beef stick that was smaller and easier to eat than a larger sausage. Hoping to create an elegant image, he used a man in a top hat and cane as his emblem and called him Slim Jim.
Like the pigs' feet, the beef sticks were stored in jars of vinegar and sold mainly in bars. By the 1950's, his company, Cherry-Levis Food Products, was wrapping the Slim Jims in cellophane and mainly selling them in bars in Pennsylvania and the Northeast. A tin ashtray from the period reads SLIM JIMS -- 10 cents -- All Beef -- the Ready-to-Eat Spiced Sausage Treat -- Make Your Next Drink Taste Better.
The product Levis created is different than the one known today. Lon Adams developed the current Slim Jim recipe while working for Goodmark.[1] Slim Jim is one of the most well-known examples of a food product which is listed as containing mechanically separated chicken in its ingredients, as required by the USDA.[2]
Production was interrupted after an explosion and fire on June 9, 2009 destroyed the packaging operations of the formerly-sole Garner, North Carolina manufacturing facility, but has since resumed there and in Troy, Ohio.
Advertising campaigns
Until the late 1990s, advertising for the product included commercials that featured wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who served as spokesman. Each commercial would close with Savage bellowing "SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!" Other notable spokesmen have included The Ultimate Warrior, Bam Bam Bigelow, Kevin Nash, Vanilla Ice and Edge.
Slim Jim advertisements were also heavily featured on MTV, ESPN, WWF and Archie Comics. Slim Jims was one of the earliest sponsors of the X Games when it was known as Destination Extreme.
Following the Randy Savage advertising campaign developed by Hal Rosen from North Castle Partners Advertising, ads featured Slim Jim Guy, a man in a giant Slim Jim costume, proclaiming "EAT ME!". These ads personified the irreverent personality of the brand and were conceived by Steve Mark and Steve Garbett (AKA Good Steve/Bad Steve) from North Castle Partners Advertising from Stamford, Connecticut.
In 2005, Slim Jim advertising featured the Fairy Snapmother, described in a ConAgra press release as "a character resembling a tattooed punk rocker with fairy wings - and a familiar MTV-type of humor young males enjoy."[3]
A recent campaign depicted people hunting a fictitious "Snapalope" within convenience stores using urban camouflage. The Snapalope is a deer-like puppet made from Slim Jims.
In 2008, Slim Jim launched a new website, "SpicySide.com", encouraging consumers to get in touch with their "Spicy Side" by creating an avatar and fighting their friends in an online landscape called Spicy Town. Slim Jim also partnered with a well known Machinima artist to develop a World of Warcraft parody.
Slim Jim sponsored Bobby Labonte and David Green when they won the NASCAR Busch Series championship in 1991 and 1994, respectively.
The current spokesperson is WWE superstar Edge, who is featured in their current advertising campaign. The commercials feature Edge waiting for various services, accompanied by his "Spicy Side", a mischievous imp version of Edge, who terrorizes everyone after biting a Slim Jim.
WWE Divas the Bella Twins, Brie and Nikki, also appear in a commercial.
See also
References
- ^ "Slim Jim: Present at the Creation", The New York Times, 1996-7-28
- ^ Label on the product in question.
- ^ "SNAP! Slim Jim's Fairy Snapmother Flies Into Convenience Stores" (Press release). ConAgra Foods=November 15, 2005. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
