Today in Whimsically-Named Pre-Packaged Snack Cake History: 7/31

Two score and fifteen years ago today, one of the best-known brands in snack cake history was first registered as a trademark in the United States.  On July 31, 1962, the McKee Baking Company of Collegedale, Tennessee was granted U.S. Registration No. 735443 for the mark LITTLE DEBBIE for “Oatmeal Cream Pie.”  As the company recounts on its website, “In 1960, the company pioneered the family pack, a package of individual snack cakes that sold for 49 cents.  They named them after their granddaughter Debbie, and the rest is history.”  The immediate success of the LITTLE DEBBIE snack cake line in the early 1960s provided conclusive proof that the persistent threat of nuclear annihilation could not curb America’s sweet tooth, and the social and political upheaval of that decade was no doubt made easier by the ready availability of LITTLE DEBBIE pre-packaged treats.  Today, the LITTLE DEBBIE brand is touted as “America’s number-one snack cakes,” and the 735443 registration remains in force.

By Evan-Amos (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.

By Evan-Amos (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.