"Sunny Jim": История имени и бренда

"Sunny Jim" is the name of two completely unconnected characters used in advertising and product branding:
(1) a cartoon character created to promote Force cereal, the first commercially successful wheat flake;
(2) the name of a brand of peanut butter produced in the Seattle area. It also has been used as a form of address for men in general or to refer to those named James.

The brand of peanut butter known as Sunny Jim was manufactured in Seattle, Washington, by the Pacific Standard Foods company. The company was founded by Germanus Wilhelm Firnstahl in 1921 after he moved to Seattle from Wisconsin and bought a peanut roaster. During the 1950s the brand accounted for nearly a third of all peanut butter sold in the Seattle area. On September 20, 2010, a massive fire finished off the Sunny Jim plant as well as a vacant building on the factory site. The main advertisement for Sunny Jim was "Sunny Jim has underground peanuts with a flavor that's outta sight".

From shortly after the time of its use in advertising, the term gained general currency for cheerful man, and was particularly applied as a nickname to individuals named James, such as UK Prime Minister James Callaghan. Often with the spelling 'Sonny Jim' it was used as familiar term of address in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

At the La Jolla Cove beach in San Diego, California, there is a sea cave called Sunny Jim's Sea Cave. When the cave is viewed from a certain angle, the opening of the cave bears a striking similarity to the cartoon character. The cave is accessible by swimming from the cove, but also is accessible from a nearby store that charges a nominal fee to walk down some in store steps leading to the cave. In The Elephant Man and the 2017 series Twin Peaks, both by David Lynch, there are characters nicknamed Sunny Jim. In the 1968 film Coogan's Bluff, Walt (Played by Clint Eastwood) observes a picture of James Ringerman, the fugitive he is pursuing. The picture is signed "With Love, from Sunny Jim". The Sunny Jim wheat flakes character is referenced in the lyrics to the song 1000 Umbrellas by XTC on the Skylarking album. In Lobo (web series) based on the DC Comics character of the same name had a villain named Sunny Jim. He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and later by Tom Kenny. Sonny Crockett of Miami Vice has a legal first name of James, and is frequently and even officially referred to as "Sonny James Crockett". In the Harry Potter Book, Order of the Phoenix, the gargoyles at the entrance to the staff lounge say to Harry Potter, "You should be in class sunny Jim" when he seeks out professor Grubbly Plank to help care for his wounded owl, Hedwig.