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Pringles

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Pringles
Pringles Logo
Product typePotato snack
OwnerProcter & Gamble
Country United States
MarketsWorldwide
Websitehttp://www.pringles.com/
Pringles crisps

Pringles is a brand of potato snack produced by Procter & Gamble. Pringles are sold in over 30 countries and have yearly sales of over $1 billion.[1]

Beginnings

Procter & Gamble chose the "Pringles" name from a Cincinnati telephone book, having been inspired by the street name of Pringle Drive in Finneytown, Ohio, simply due to its pleasing sound.[2] The original Pringles television commercials were written, produced and directed by Thomas Scott Cadden (composer of the original Mr. Clean jingle) in 1968, while working at Tatham-Laird and Kudner Advertising Agency in Chicago.

Even though the Pringles brand of potato crisps was first sold in the United States in October 1968, this product was not rolled out across America until the mid-1970s.[3] They were originally known as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips", but other snack manufacturers objected, saying that Pringles failed to meet the definition of a potato "chip". The US Food and Drug Administration weighed in on the matter, and in 1975 ruled that Pringles could only use the word chip in their product name within the following phrase: "potato chips made from dried potatoes"[4]. Faced with such an unpalatable appellation, Pringles eventually opted to rename their product "potato crisps" instead of chips. However, this later led to other issues in the UK, where the term "potato crisp" refers to the product that Americans call "potato chips" (See Legal section below).

Recipe

According to the patent, Pringles were invented by Alexander Liepa of Montgomery, Ohio.[5] Science-fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe developed the machine that cooks them.[6]

Pringles have less than fifty-percent potato content.[7]

Marketing

Pringles is advertised in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland with the slogan "Once you pop, you can't stop" [8] and elsewhere with the slogan "Everything pops with Pringles".

Pringles, as a product brand, is especially known for its packaging, a tubular can with a foil-lined interior and a resealable plastic lid, which was invented by Fredric J. Baur. Baur was an organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. He died on March 4, 2008. Baur's children honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave.[9][10]

The Pringles logo is a stylized cartoon caricature of the head of a male figure (commonly known as "Julius Pringles"), with a large mustache and parted bangs (until 2001, the character had eyebrows and his bow tie framed the product name). The crisps are made to a uniform size and with a hyperbolic paraboloid saddle shape, so that they can be stacked very neatly within the container, rather than being packaged loosely in a bag. The cans come in 230g, 181g, 163g, 100g, 160g, 155g, 145g, 80g,[11] 50g, and 23g sizes.

Flavors

Pringles come in several flavors, and occasionally Procter & Gamble produces limited edition runs. Standard flavors include Original, Salt & Vinegar, Sour Cream & Onion, Cheddar Cheese, and Barbecue. Some flavors may be distributed only to limited market areas, for example Curry Flavour available in United Kingdom. Seasonal flavors, past and present, include ketchup, chili cheese dog, "Pizzalicious", paprika, Texas BBQ Sauce and Cajun. At one point, in the early '90s, "Corn Pringles" were available. The canister was black and had cartoon images of corn as well as the normal packaging standards. The crisps were made of corn and resembled a corn chip in flavor and texture.

In a London courtroom during July 2008, Procter & Gamble lawyers successfully argued against Keiron Williams that Pringles are not crisps, as their actual potato content is only 42 percent. This exempts Pringles from the 15 percent Value Added Tax for potato chips and potato-derived snacks.[12] However the Court of Appeal has reinstated the tribunal's decision. A spokesperson for Procter & Gamble stated that they have been paying the Value Added Tax proactively and therefore will not owe back taxes.[13][14]

Pringles container uses

Because of the metallic interior and long, tubular shape, the cans have been used to make Wi-Fi network antennas, known as cantennas.[15]

Cans can also be used to make "cannons," or "poppers," by putting a round hole in the bottom end of the can and blowing hard. A loud popping sound will be made as the lid flies off. When filled with little bits of paper, the paper shoots out like confetti when the lid flies off.

The popular newspaper comic Dilbert references a use for the Pringles can. Dilbert rolls up his clothing in a Pringles tube so he can change clothes at work without having to drive home.

Pringles containers can also be used to hold up to three tennis balls. This similarity of shape was the subject of a joke by Mitch Hedberg, who speculated that tennis balls were what Pringles had originally intended to make. In 2009, Procter & Gamble commented, perhaps unintentionally, on the joke by creating two cans with the slogan "These are not tennis balls!", published in Great Britain.

References

  1. ^ "ACNielsen Study Finds 43 Brands Have Billion Dollar Global Presence". ACNielsen.
  2. ^ "Pringles". Procter & Gamble Everyday Solutions Canada. 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
  3. ^ "Pringles". Procter & Gamble UK. 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
  4. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947586,00.html
  5. ^ Pringles patent
  6. ^ Lawrence Person (Fall/Winter 1998). "Suns new, long, and short: an interview with Gene Wolfe". Nova Express. 5 (1). Retrieved 2008-12-17. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Pringles 'are not potato chips'". BBC. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  8. ^ "Pringles". Procter & Gamble. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  9. ^ "Ashes of Pringles can designer buried in his work". Associated Press. 2008-06-02. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  10. ^ "The Marketing Doctor Says: Take Your Brand Seriously! Frederic J. Bauer Did." Marketing Doctor Blog. June 4, 2008.
  11. ^ "80g Original Pringles". Barcodepedia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
  12. ^ "Pringles 'are not potato chips'". BBC. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  13. ^ "Pringles lose Appeal Court case". BBC. May 20 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "British court rules yes, Pringles are in fact chips". MSNBC. May 20 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Pringles cantenna

See also

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