20-04-2025
Fact Check: Jif peanut butter has never been called 'Jiffy'
Claim:
Jif-brand peanut butter originally had the name "Jiffy."
Rating:
For years, internet users have claimed that Jif-brand peanut butter once had the name "Jiffy."
Dozens of TikTok videos have engaged with the claim. Videos posted to YouTube also exemplified the common mix-up. One example, a 50-second clip from the game show "The Pyramid," showed a contestant describing a unit of time – a "jiffy" – as "peanut butter."
The word "jiffy," which Merriam-Webster defines as "a very short period of time," is not – and has never been – the name of the popular peanut butter product. As a result, we've rated the claim false.
The peanut butter company writes on its website:
We have always been called Jif® since our company was first founded in 1958!
Jif's website also says the company chose the name "because it was easy to say, spell and remember!"
As writers for publications like Esquire and Yahoo have noted, confusion over the brand's name is an example of the "Mandela Effect," a phenomenon the Cleveland Clinic describes as a collective misremembering of facts or details about a particular person, event or pop culture object.
As Snopes previously reported, this categorization of false memories is "named after the widespread but incorrect notion that South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela died in prison during the 1980s."
In actuality, Mandela was released in 1990 and became South Africa's first Black president before dying 23 years later.
For decades, Snopes has investigated dozens of Mandela Effect claims on the internet, including whether the chocolate bar is named "KitKat" or "Kit-Kat" and whether Mr. Monopoly wore a monocle.
For a complete list of Mandela Effects Snopes has examined throughout the years, check out this list.
- YouTube. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
---. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
"40 Mandela Effect Examples That Will Blow Your Mind." Esquire, 8 Feb. 2022,
"40 Mandela Effect Examples That Will Make You Question Everything." Yahoo Life, 8 Apr. 2021,
Definition of JIFFY. 5 Apr. 2025,
Dobrin, Nikki. "KitKat or Kit-Kat: The Chocolate Bar's Mandela Effect." Snopes, 9 Dec. 2024,
Frequently Asked Questions| Jif®. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
"Mandela Effect: 10 Examples of False Memories." Cleveland Clinic, Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
Mandela Effect Articles | Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
TikTok - Make Your Day. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.
Wazer, Caroline. "Mr. Monopoly Never Wore a Monocle?" Snopes, 2 Oct. 2024,
Wrona, Aleksandra. "Wait, That Never Happened? 10 Examples of the Mandela Effect." Snopes, 12 Apr. 2025,
