Zagnut

Zagnut
Product type Confectionery
Owner The Hershey Company
Country United States
Introduced 1930
Previous owners
Website Official Zagnut website

Zagnut is a candy bar produced and sold in the United States. It was launched in 1930 by the D. L. Clark Company, which sold it to Leaf later on and acquired by The Hershey Company in 1996. Its main ingredients are peanut brittle with cocoa and toasted coconut, and it weighs 1.75 ounces (50 g).

History

Unlike many candy bars, it contains no chocolate, though it does have a small amount of cocoa. Since Zagnuts have no chocolate to melt, they have seen a resurgence in popularity among US troops in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Stateside, candy and convenience stores stock Zagnut unevenly, since it has only a niche market.

The origin of the name "Zagnut" is uncertain; the "nut" part presumably comes from either the coconut coating or the peanut center, while the "zag" could be a reference to zigzag, a slang phrase popular when the bar was created in the 1930s.

In the 1960s, Zagnut made fun of its unlikely name with a TV commercial created by Stan Freberg. In the spot, a candy-company exec (played by Frank Nelson) is horrified to discover a computer has given the name "Zagnut" to its newest product, and says, "That is without a doubt the lousiest name for a candy bar I've ever heard!" In the end, he is forced to keep the name since millions of Zagnut wrappers have already been printed. Freberg himself gives the tagline: "A Zagnut by any other name...would be a good thing."[1]

In the Film "Seems Like Old Times" (1980), Chevy Chase breaks into a candy machine and the gas station attendant asks him if he wants a Zagnut. Chevy Chase says, "Zagnut's good. Zagnut".

See also

References

  1. "Zagnut Commercial". YouTube. 2010-09-08. Retrieved 2012-02-26.
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