Miss Chiquita and Historic Chiquita Moments

Since enterprising ship’s captain Lorenzo Dow Baker purchased his first 160 bunches of bananas in Jamaica in 1870 and resold them in Jersey City 11 days later, Chiquita has become one of the world’s most beloved and famous banana brands.

Over the years, the Chiquita banana has been the shining star of many truly great global advertising campaigns. Like who can forget the lovely Miss Chiquita and her journey to being the iconic figure she is today? This fun, festive lady started life in 1944 as an animated banana – teaching consumers how to eat and use this exotic new arrival through her famous catchy jingle.

Over time, people began to understand the nutritional benefits of bananas, and today our trusty yellow fingered friends are known the world over as one of the best superfoods. From the 1950s onwards, an extensive range of recipe books began to appear to showcase the banana in all its glory with hundreds of delicious banana recipes. Here at Chiquita, we’ve created dozens of healthy banana recipes, ourselves, helping spread the good word that bananas are not only healthy and delicious, but can be combined with a whole host of other ingredients to create really easy and healthy snacks.

As the years passed, the “First Lady of Fruit” came to life, with many models and celebrities starring in her role – and her smiling face has graced our world-famous Blue Stickers since 1963. A remarkable 70 year old in 2014, Miss Chiquita is as popular as ever, inspiring Charlotte Olympia’s “Let’s Go Bananas” fashion collection at London Fashion Week in 2017.

Miss Chiquita Campaigns

For us, Chiquita has always represented fun, imagination and creativity. Some of our famous old campaigns are still remembered with great fondness today – like this humorous 1960s “Look for the Seal on the Peel” campaign featuring our iconic Blue Sticker on the foreheads of both children and adults alike!

Our fun, creative campaigns around the globe have helped to make generations of banana lovers smile over the decades and reflect our “Playful by Nature” branding, while also helping people understand that bananas are not only delicious but great for your health too. What’s more, banana lovers have had loads of fun with our iconic Blue Stickers over the years, for example, taking the Blue Stickers off Chiquita bananas and putting them on some other yellow objects like tennis balls, t-shirts and hats.

Other great campaigns from the past include the much-loved ‘Quite Possibly, the World’s Perfect Food’ campaign from the 1990s, which emphasized the convenience and energy-giving qualities of Chiquita bananas to help everyone, from kids to athletes, maintain an active lifestyle. People also have happy memories of our ‘Special Delivery Banana’ campaign from the 1960s, which explained the enormous care our pickers and packers took (and still take!) to bring bananas to you in perfect condition (even after a 2,200-mile journey over the ocean).

Another great campaign from the 1960s took the bull (or rather the banana!) by the horn and unzipped the interesting question of why Chiquita is the best banana brand in the world. Asking ‘The Chiquita Banana – Is It Really Any Different?’, the campaign highlighted the enormous care we take with every Chiquita banana, from flower bud to shop – not to mention their very special taste. Then there was our classic 1960s ‘How to Read a Banana’ campaign, which took people through the fascinating ins and outs (and curves) of the Chiquita banana; from the lovely sugar spots of a fully ripe banana to how to tell if a banana was picked at the right time (we do). In the early days, we were teaching the world about how and why to eat bananas. Today, we’re highlighting some of our favorite banana recipes, both old and new!

Best Banana Recipes

5 minutes Chiquita banana Fudge S’mores Mug Cake

This delicious dessert is also a great snack for kids and cooks in the microwave in under five minutes. The recipe includes melted butter, crushed graham crackers, ripe Chiquita bananas, cacao powder, cinnamon, flour and marshmallows. A real recipe for indulgence!

Vegan ice cream with Chiquita banana scoops, matcha, kiwi and berries

Chiquita bananas have always been a really tasty and healthy snack, especially for vegans! This recipe showcases that great taste of creamy Chiquita bananas alongside a medley of other refreshing fruits – plus the ever antioxidizing matcha powder –  for an ice cream that is as good for you as it is delicious!

Oatmeal Chiquita Banana Bread

Made with delicious, ripe Chiquita bananas, oatmeal, maple syrup and crunchy walnuts, this fluffy and mouth-wateringly moist banana bread is the perfect healthy snack for kids to give them long lasting energy throughout the day.

Sponsorships

We’ve promoted fun, active lifestyles since the 1980s, when we sponsored the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid that year, followed by major tennis tournaments and other sporting events. For example, we have offered continuous support for marathons like NYC, Miami, Athens and Disney including others around the globe helping both runners and spectators to keep their energy levels high by donating hundreds of thousands of Chiquita bananas. We also teamed up to implement a banana peel collection and recycling for that race season as a part of our commitment to leadership in environmental responsibility.

So, in all, you can see that over the decades Chiquita has been keen to help banana consumers to express their love for the world’s favorite fruit. Whether at work, home or play, we have always believed that the Chiquita banana should be a part of everyone’s life, bringing health, quality and taste to all.