Nope. GIF should never be pronounced like the peanut butter Jif, according to the brand itself.
On Tuesday, the Jif brand weighed in on on the great GIF debate, and says we should all pronounce the acronym with a hard G, instead of a soft G. “When is it OK to call a GIF a 'Jif'? Never,” the brand says on a new website devoted to settling the debate once and for all.
The peanut butter maker made the declaration as part of a new marketing campaign, which will sell a limited-edition Jif peanut butter jar, but titled with the name “Gif.” The jar goes on to explain GIFs are “animated looping images,” and pronounced with a hard G.
“With a tongue-in-cheek label, these collectibles can help Jif fans spread the news (get it?) that Jif — with a ‘soft G’ —should be all about the peanut butter,” the brand said in today’s announcement.
The brand’s declaration flies in the face of how the creator of the GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) says the term should be pronounced. In 2013, Steve Wilhite tried to put the question to rest by revealing GIF should be pronounced like the peanut brand Jif by using a soft G. However, since then, the debate has only raged on. In 2016, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was even roped in on dispute when media noticed how she pronounced the acronym with a hard G.
To help settle the debate, the peanut butter brand has partnered with GIF publisher Giphy to release a barrage of new animating looping images that’ll advocate for team hard G, and which anyone can use.
However, the peanut butter brand is happy to debate the issue with the public on social media. It’s encouraging people to participate by posting their opinions with the hashtag #JIFvsGIF. As for the limited-edition peanut bar jars, you can find them for sale on Amazon for $9.99, though it's currently unavailable.
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