Those of you in the UK will no doubt remember the Big D Nuts girl. When I first saw it, I was a bit shocked at the level of sexuality present in advertising for nuts of all things... but then I realized these nuts were primarily located in pubs. Then it all made sense.
The "D" in Big D actually stands for "Dallas", the place where the peanuts actually come from. During the 1970s, some genius (and I don't use that term patronizingly, I mean a true genius) decided to put a hot chick on the package. Evidently it was a success because this marketing strategy lasted all the way into the mid 80s.
Even better, the Big D chick not only wound up on the package, but also on the patented "babe board". The babe board was a display of the Big D girl obscured by packages of peanuts. As people purchased the packs, the picture would become more and more revealed. Ingenious. It never featured nudity, but did push the envelope about as far as it could go.
Who was this Big D girl? Beverley Pilkington is her name, affectionately called "Big D Bev" in Britain. She graced the Big D packages, babe boards, calendars and trading cards for nearly a decade. Her generous assets also popped up from time to time on "Page 3" and "Top of the Pops" album covers. I'm not sure what became of her, but when she left, so did the idea of a sexy Big D spokeswoman. It wasn't until recently that Big D again employed the tried and true "sex sells" strategy with another buxom model. Their sales promptly increased over thirty percent. Big shocker.
Big D merch is all over the internets. You could go find it yourself, or let me find it for you. I've put together a little gallery below. Enjoy.
These next three are examples of the infamous "babe boards"
The next 5 are from a Big D calender
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