Pringles

Well, one thing’s for certain: it was a lot cheaper than hiring some fancy naming consultant, and it seems to have worked.

Casting around for a name for their new “potato snack product” in the late 1960s, the marketing folks at Proctor & Gamble had a thought. Instead of trying to dream up a completely new name, why not take a close look at the names that already exist? So they pulled out the phone book for their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, and started browsing.

Some time later (exactly how much later is not recorded, but Cincinnati is a pretty big town), they hit the jackpot. Tucked away in the suburb of Finneytown, they found a street named “Pringle Avenue.” Pringle… Potato. That’s it! Pringles Potato Snack Product! No, wait, let’s call them “Crisps.” And so perfectly round Pringles Potato Crisps hit America’s streets in 1968, neatly stacked in a distinctive cylindrical metal can.

Pringles are still going strong today, available in a wide range of flavors, including original Pringles, BBQ, Sour Cream -N- Onion, Pizzalicious and Salt & Vinegar. There’s even a Pringles-inspired tortilla chip called Torengos, which are perfectly triangular and come in, what else, a triangular cylindrical can.

March 7, 2008 | Filed Under Food and Drink 

Comments

Got something to say?