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.
Background and history
was founded in early 1905 by brothers-in-law Monroe Dunaway Anderson and William L. Clayton. Originally based in Oklahoma City, the firm moved its headquarters to Houston, Texas, in 1916. There, it grew to be the world's largest cotton-trading enterprise. In 1952, the company had created a food division to research and find uses for hydrogenatedcottonseed oil. The development of Chiffon margarine was one result. The Chiffon name and product line has changed hands several times since; the first being in 1985, when Chiffon was sold to Kraft foods. The Kraft U.S. and Canada tablespreads division subsequently became part of Nabisco in 1995; who then sold the brand to ConAgra Foods in 1998. Con-Agra discontinued domestic U.S. and Canadian distribution of Chiffon margarine in 2002. Chiffon margarine can still be purchased in the Caribbean region, however, where it is marketed by Seprod Ltd. under license from Kraft International.
Marketing
The classic Chiffon ads from the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowlesadvertising agency ran during the 1970s and into the 1980s, featuring character actressDena Dietrich as the iconic character Mother Nature. She likes Chiffon and identifies it as “... my delicious butter!” The narrator then tells her: “That’s Chiffon margarine, not butter … Chiffon’s so delicious it fooled even you, Mother Nature.” Vexed at the trickery, Mother Nature responds by uttering, in increasingly scornful tones, her signature line “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature," quickly followed by a flash of lightning, a peal of thunder, and occasionally an additional threat. The advertisements were typically closed by a jingle containing the lyrics, "If you think it's butter, but it's not: it's Chiffon."
