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Goldfish (cracker)

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This article is about the brand of snack crackers. For other uses, see Goldfish (disambiguation).
Cheddar Goldfish crackers

Goldfish are snack crackers manufactured by Pepperidge Farm, a division of the Campbell Soup Company. The crackers come in several flavors, and since 1997, the crackers have small imprints of an eye and a smile.[1] The brand's advertising emphasizes this by referring to the crackers with the most recent registered trademark "The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!" and the mascot, named Finn, who wears sunglasses (above his eyes).

Flavors

Goldfish come in many varieties (see below for Flavor Blasted varieties):

  • Original,[2] also known as Saltine.
  • Cheddar (most common & original flavor)
  • Whole Grain Cheddar
  • Garden Cheddar (includes vegetables)
  • Parmesan
  • Pretzel
  • Pizza
  • Ranch
  • Cheese Trio (Cheddar, zesty Cheddar, and Parmesan)
  • Reduced Sodium Cheddar
  • Calcium Enriched
  • Toasted Corn Made With Whole Grain
  • Baby (Miniature crackers)
  • Goldfish Screamin' Salt & Vinegar
  • Grahams (Honey, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Vanilla, S'mores Adventures, Cocoa Adventures, Vanilla Cupcake, Cookies n Cream, Chocolate Chip)
  • Starfish (A mix of starfish- and goldfish-shaped crackers)
  • Smokin' BBQ
  • PhysEdibles (Strawberry, Lemon, and Vanilla)[3][dead link]

Different shapes and colors

These different-shaped Goldfish are all cheddar flavors.

  • Christmas
  • World Treasures
  • Space Adventures (colored)
  • Beachball Shaped
  • Colors (green, purple, red, and original colors)

(There are also different goldfish mixtures; which are two flavors combined.)

Commercials

In the commercials, Finn leaves the goldfish bag on a bedside in a child's bedroom to live under a bed and meets Gilbert from a plastic baggie, Brooke from a snack bowl, and Xtreme from the pantry. And he and his new friends now live under the bed, having fun by playing pretend, racing each other, and sports. They must not be near the vacuum cleaner, and soon, another flavor blasted goldfish named Swimmington Von Stuffington III Esquire who is Xtreme's snobby older brother from the pantry arrives in a fog made from cheddar cheese. A running Gag play on Gilbert's cowardice and being frightened easily.

Later, Gilbert is trapped in the vacuum cleaner after saving Xtreme from it, and meets IQ who wears eyeglasses, is quite fond of collecting things, and loves the "tornadoes" that happen every so often. They then sail down the hall in a paper airplane that Brooke had made and crash land in a houseplant, they keep searching the top floor encountering The Goldfish Under The Couch Cushion. Gilbert then escapes the vacuum cleaner and lands in a Coo-Coo Clock, then is rescued and the goldfish make it back home where Gilbert gets a heroes welcome. And currently a chocolate graham fish named Coral sees them flying and shows up in hamster ball befriending them.

Characters

  • Finn – A cheddar flavored goldfish that wears sunglasses (though not in the commercials).
  • Gilbert – A pretzel goldfish that tends to be a worrier.
  • Brooke – The beautiful and intelligent parmesan flavored goldfish and the only female member of the goldfish club until both Candace and Coral showed up.
  • Xtreme – A flavor-blasted fish who enjoys doing crazy stunts. His real (and embarrassing) name is Fumbleton.
  • Swimmington Von Stuffington III Esquire – Xtreme's snobby older brother.
  • IQ – A honey graham fish who wears eyeglasses lives in the vacuum and befriends Gilbert and helps him escape out of the vacuum.
  • Candace – A pink fish who wears a red bow on her head and has a small blue star on her tail fin. She has a crush on Gilbert. Candace is also the winner of the "Finn's New Friend" contest.
  • Coral – A chocolate graham and fun-spirited fish with a Southern accent who currently befriends the club. She is possibly somewhat of a tomboy.

Recurring characters

  • Walter – Finn's brother from the first commercial.
  • The Goldfish Under The Couch Cushion – A fish with a big nose that lives in a couch cushion in one of the commercials.
  • Eugene – Xtreme's #1 fan from the pantry.
  • The Vacuum – The main antagonist in most of the commercials.
  • Bailey – The dog that helps the club during the search for Gilbert.
  • Fuzzy-Face – A hamster who is Coral's old friend.

History

Originally from Switzerland, Goldfish Crackers were introduced to the United States in 1962 by Pepperidge Farm founder Margaret Rudkin.[4] Though plain is called 'Original', the actual original first flavor produced was Cheddar which is the highest selling flavor of goldfish in the US.[citation needed] Pepperidge farm has historically been notoriously harrassed for including "heroin dust" in their snack mix. The addictive properties of the heroin dust are short term enduring but have been rumored to cause a decrease in cognitivie functioning, addiction, and chronic lymphanitituphinigasisoteoeplastitus.

Spin-offs

Pepperidge Farm has created several spin-off products including Goldfish Sandwich Crackers, Flavor-Blasted Goldfish, Goldfish bread, multi-colored Goldfish (known as Goldfish Colors), and Baby Goldfish (which are smaller than normal). There are also seasonably available color-changing goldfish, colored goldfish (come in a variety pack). There was once a line of Goldfish cookies in vanilla and chocolate; chocolate has reappeared in the "100 calorie" packs.

Goldfish are available in other flavors such as Red Hot! or Whole Grain pretzel and Blazin' Buffalo.

Goldfish noodles also can be found in Campbell's chicken noodle, tomato, and meatball soup. The goldfish shaped noodles in the tomato soup have been discontinued.

Jingles

  • 1993–2000: Gone Goldfishin' (what the original Goldfish theme song ends with)
  • 1996–2000: One Snack That's OK To Get Hooked On
  • 2000–2001: Catch the Goldfish!
  • 2001–present: The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!

"Flavor-Blasted" varieties

There are several common varieties of Flavor-Blasted Goldfish as well as three varieties in selected locations as well as Pepperidge Farm store locations.

  • Xtra Cheddar
  • Xplosive Pizza
  • Nothin' But Nacho
  • Burstin BBQ Cheddar
  • Jalapeño Cheese (No longer available)
  • Blazin' Buffalo Wings (selective)
  • Cheddar Pretzel (Pretzel Goldfish with a dusting of Xtra Cheddar seasoning – Available in certain regions of Canada)
  • Salt and Vinegar (Available in certain regions of Canada)
  • Atomic BBQ (Available in certain regions of Canada)
  • Monstrous Mozzarella Stick
  • Racing Ranch
  • Slammin' Sour Cream & Onion
  • Wild White Cheddar
  • Xtra Chocolatey
  • Vanilla Cupcake
  • Smokin' BB

References

  1. ^ "Our History: 90's: A Decade of Firsts". Pepperidge Farm. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ The Testmarket Evolution
  4. ^ "Our History". Pepperidge Farm. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
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