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Jif and Giphy team up for limited-edition peanut butter to settle the GIF pronunciation debate

Peanut butter powerhouse Jif and popular GIF service Giphy have teamed up to create a limited run of special 40-ounce jars of peanut butter with double-sided JIF/GIF labels to “settle the great debate over how to pronounce GIF.”

The fun collaboration comes just before National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day on March 1. With the double-sided label, there’s a guide for saying Jif with a soft G and GIF with a hard G.

Jif®, said with a “soft G,” is America’s number one peanut butter. GIFs, said with a “hard G,” are the frequently shared looping videos that add humor, culture, and entertainment into people’s daily conversations (of which GIPHY serves 10 billion each day).

The big debate over how to pronounce GIF has gone on for years even after the creator, Steve Wilhite said it’s pronounced with a soft G instead of hard G (JIF). That’s because many people naturally say GIF with a hard G like “gift,” “guff,” “gaffe,” “gimp,” or “graphics” which is the G in GIF stands for (Graphics Interchange Format). There’s even an entire website dedicated to explaining the logic behind GIF being pronounced with a hard G, like Giphy and Jif are advocating, contrary to the founder’s preference.

On the top lid, Jif and Giphy have “If you’ve even called a GIF a Jif, we forgive you.”

The two companies have made some fun GIFs for the occasion, are encouraging the use of hashtag #JifvsGif, and even put up a microsite.

The limited-edition JIF/GIF 40-ounce peanut butter is available on Amazon for $10 while it lasts.

Where do you stand on the great GIF pronunciation debate? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.