Meow Mix is a product of

The J.M. Smucker Company The J.M. Smucker Company, also known as Smuckers, is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. Headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, the company was founded in 1897 as a maker of apple butter. J.M. Smucker currently has three major b ...

(as of March 23, 2015); a variety of dry and wet

cat food Cat food is food specifically formulated and designed for consumption by cats. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, cats in London were often fed horse meat sold by traders known as Cats’ Meat Men or Women, who traveled designated routes ...

known for its advertising jingle. Meow Mix was introduced in 1974 and sells many flavors, including "Original Choice" and "Seafood Medley". It also is known for selling "Alley Cat" dry cat food. Their current slogan is "it's the only brand cats ask for by name".

Overview

The Meow Mix Company operates from a facility in

Decatur, Alabama Decatur () is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County, Alabama, Morgan County (with a portion also in Limestone County, Alabama, Limestone County) in the U.S. state of Alabama. Nicknamed "The River City," it is located in North Alabam ...

, and produces Alley Cat brand cat food products. Originally a product of Ralston-Purina, Meow Mix was divested for

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

reasons in the early 2000s. The brand was acquired by

Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods Inc. ( trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company and subsidiary of NutriAsia, headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the largest producers, distributor ...

in May, 2006. Their most famous slogan is, "Tastes so good, cats ask for it by name." The company was acquired by

Cypress Group The Cypress Group is a private equity company focused on leveraged buyout investments in companies across a range of industry sectors. At its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Cypress was among the largest US private equity firms, although ...

, a New York-based private equity firm in a $425 million leveraged buyout in 2003. Three years later, Del Monte Foods acquired the company for $705 million. The company had also been owned by J. W. Childs Associates which acquired the business in 2001 for $160 million. On March 23, 2015, parent company Big Heart Pet Brands was acquired by

for $5.8 billion.

Jingle

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"The Meow Mix Theme" was written by

Shelly Palmer Shelton Leigh "Shelly" Palmer is an advertising, marketing and technology consultant, and business adviser. He is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and CEO of ...

in 1970. The idea came from Ron Travisano, at the advertising agency of Della Femina Travisano and Partners, who had the account with Ralston-Purina in 1974. The first TV spot aired in 1974 and consisted of animals walking across the screen. Travisano put together film footage with editor Jay Gold, looping footage of a cat, both in forward and reverse to make it look like it was "singing". The music was then composed by Tom McFaul of the jingle house Lucas/McFaul, one of the major jingle-composing houses at the time. Working from Travisano's film, McFaul wrote and produced music to fit, with the actual

meowing A meow or miaow is a cat vocalization. ''Meows'' may have diverse tones in terms of their sound, and what is heard can vary from being chattered to calls, murmurs, and whispers. Adult cats rarely meow to each other. Thus, an adult cat meowin ...

performed by professional singer

Linda November Linda Ellen November (born October 16, 1944) is an American singer who has sung tens of thousands of commercial jingles. She was the voice of the singing cat in the Meow Mix commercials, sang the jingle "Galaxy Glue" in the 1981 film ' ...

. Travisano then came up with the idea of adding English "translation" subtitles, along with a

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

pointing out the words, which often reflected the specific flavor(s) of Meow Mix product being advertised and changed from commercial to commercial.

Use in torture

"The Meow Mix Theme" was used by the United States

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

as part of

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

and interrogation programs.

References

External links

* {{Smucker's Cat food brands Animal food manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Alabama Products introduced in 1974 Ralston Purina products Del Monte Foods brands 1974 establishments in Alabama American brands Private equity portfolio companies The J.M. Smucker Co. brands

Overview

Jingle

Use in torture

See also

References

External links