{"id":2275,"date":"2012-03-12T10:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T14:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2012-03-12T10:22:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T14:22:00","slug":"butterfingers-and-bart-nestles-affair-with-the-simpsons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/?p=2275","title":{"rendered":"Butterfingers and Bart – Nestle’s Affair with The Simpsons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Simpsons and the Butterfinger – the connection may not be as obvious as it once was, but during the early days and in fact the first decade of their existence, The Simpsons were inexorably tied to the crispity, crunchety, peanut-buttery treat.<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger - 6-bar pack - Simpsons Illustrated free inside - 1991<\/p><\/div>\n

Not only were they tied together, but for those of us who weren’t watching the Tracey Ullman show, the Bart Simpson Butterfinger TV commercials were our first exposure to Matt Groening’s creations.<\/p>\n

The first Butterfinger TV commercial was aired on October 1st, 1988, but it wasn’t until a year later that their own dedicated series would launch.\u00a0 When I initially heard they were getting a show, I didn’t even know they were spinning out of the Ullman show — I assumed that “those characters from the commercial are getting their own show!”\u00a0 I was wrong, but you get my point.<\/p>\n

I’m not entirely sure when the Simpsons started actually showing up on Nestle wrappers, but by 1991 they were definitely there.\u00a0 There is the 6-pack bar promo, which opened today’s piece.\u00a0\u00a0 1991 also saw an on-wrapper promotion featuring Simpsons Horoscopes inside the wrappers.<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger - Simpsons - Horoscope Sign Inside LEO - wrapper - 1991<\/p><\/div>\n

I don’t have a full set of these wrappers – though the outsides are the same, you could build a complete set of the horoscopes – here are the few that I have, cropped and cleaned-up.<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger - Simpsons - Assorted Zodiac illustrations - 1991<\/p><\/div>\n

The following year, Nestle would run the Simpsons Summer Games promotions across three of its products: Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, and Raisinets.\u00a0 Among the prizes offered were actual gold, silver and bronze medals – emblanized with The Simpsons.\u00a0 Here are examples of the wrappers:<\/p>\n

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Raisinets - Simpsons Summer Games - candy wrapper package - 1992<\/p><\/div>\n

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Baby Ruth - Simpsons Summer Games - chocolate bar candy wrapper - 1992<\/p><\/div>\n

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Butterfinger - Simpsons Summer Games - candy wrapper - 1992<\/p><\/div>\n

Here is something that’s pretty cool; an image of an actual bronze medal from the Simpsons Summer Games promotion.\u00a0 This image comes courtesy from the eBay seller who is currently offering it:<\/p>\n

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Simpsons Summer Games - Bronze Medal - 1992 - Courtesy Architecturals.net<\/p><\/div>\n

I had a little fun with this image, using Photoshop to imagine what all three medals would look like:<\/p>\n

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Simpsons Summer Games - Medals mockup - 1992<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1993, the promotions took a turn toward a mystery with Bart’s “Who Laid a Finger…”<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger - Simpsons - Who Laid a Finger - chocolate candy bar wrapper - 1993<\/p><\/div>\n

The next Simpsons wrapper in my collection comes from six years later.\u00a0 It’s possible that by 1994 the over-saturation of Simpsons was enough to take a break but I can’t be certain of that.\u00a0 Even so, I am certain that in 1999 there was a new on-pack promotion:<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger - Simpsons Watch & Win contest - chocolate candy bar wrapper - 1999<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1999 and 2000, Butterfinger BB’s sported all manner of Simpsons characters on the packages.\u00a0 These are the ones I have:<\/p>\n

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Butterfinger BB's - Simpsons - Bart and Nelson - candy package - 1999<\/p><\/div>\n

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Butterfinger BB's - Simpsons Bart-Fishing-Homer - candy wrapper package - 1999<\/p><\/div>\n

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Butterfinger BB's - Simpsons Bart-and-Homer - candy wrapper package - 2000<\/p><\/div>\n

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Butterfinger BB's - Simpsons Homer-Dancing-Lisa - candy wrapper package - 2000<\/p><\/div>\n

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Butterfinger BB's - Simpsons Krusty-and-Bart - candy wrapper package - 2000<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s everything I’ve got to show that’s Butterfinger-Simpsons related.\u00a0 Undoubtedly there was more produced, so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled, and I’ll be hunting.<\/p>\n

Special thanks to the Simpsons-Wiki.<\/a>\u00a0 Their website provided some great historical data on the Simpsons Butterfinger commercials.<\/p>\n

Closing today with a YouTube clip of what I believe was the very first Simpsons Butterfinger commercial to air, all the way back in 1988:<\/p>\n