The History of Butterfinger Candy Bars

The Butterfinger candy bar was first fabricated by the Curtiss Candy Company of Chicago, Illinois back in 1923. The company held a public contest to pick out the name of the candy dress. The name is a slang term used to describe a clumsy person, often in sporting events to describe an athlete who can’t hold onto the ball, shaking hands, As an early publicity stunt and marketing ploy, the company dropped Butterfinger and Baby Ruth candy bars from airplanes in cities across the United States which helped increase its popularity. The Butterfinger candy bar was later sold to Nabisco, and, in 1990, Nestlé bought Baby Ruth and Butterfinger from Nabisco.

Nestlé acquired the brand in 1990 and renamed the product THE FINGER in 2008. THE FINGER candy bar is a unique combination of crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery taste that people love. No other candy bar comes close to matching its intense flavor and texture.

Here’s the recent news on the name changes.

LENDALE, CALIF. - April 1, 2008 - Nestlé USA announced today that after 80 years, it is retiring the name BUTTERFINGER and officially changing the name of the popular candy bar to “THE FINGER.” This change is effective immediately.

The renaming of the BUTTERFINGER candy bar reflects the results of a two-year comprehensive study conducted by the company into consumer perceptions of the “BUTTERFINGER” name. According to the study, an overwhelming majority of consumers identified the phrase with undesirable traits, such as being clumsy, awkward and lacking in physical coordination, skill or grace.

The name “THE FINGER” gives the candy bar a shorter, more contemporary name while acknowledging the long heritage of the brand. Finger bars are expected to begin appearing on store shelves as early as May 1, 2008.

This is a momentous day for THE FINGER candy bar, said Nestlé Confections Spokesperson Robert Hall. Changing the name of an iconic American candy bar is a decision we did not take lightly. We are proud to have listened to our consumers, and recent consumer testing validates their feelings. At no time did we want to imply that BUTTERFINGER candy bar was just for clumsy people.

A Butterfinger candy bar consists of a flaky/crispy orange-colored peanut-buttery center all covered with a chocolate coating. The Butterfinger of today may not, however, be quite the same as the original bar — according to some reports, the original Butterfinger recipe was somehow lost when Nabisco acquired the Curtiss Candy Company. None of the old employees claimed to remember how to make the bars, so a new recipe had to be developed that customers would accept.

The Ingredients To Make Butterfinger candy bar are:
Sugar, Corn Syrup, Ground Roasted Peanuts, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Cocoa, Molasses, Confectioner’s Corn Flakes, Whey (From Milk), Nonfat Milk, Salt, Monoglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Cornstarch, Artificial Flavors, Yellow 5, Tbhq and Citric Acid (Added to Preserve Freshness), Red 40.