“ | Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger! | „ |
~ Bart Simpson |
Butterfinger is a popular peanut-butter and chocolate candy bar which was founded in 1923. There have been 150 commercials for Butterfinger that aired on Fox, FX and Fox News Channel, which featured The Simpsons beginning in 1988 when America's Most Wanted first aired on Fox, before moving to Lifetime in 2011.
Many of the commercials featured Homer trying to get Bart's Butterfinger, but would be one-upped by Bart each time. Each commercial closes with Bart saying the catchphrase, "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!". In 1999, this was changed to “Bite My Butterfinger!”, then in 2001, it was changed to "Nothing Like a Butterfinger!" Beginning in 2009, a slightly rewritten version of the "Nobody better lay a finger" slogan, "Nobody's gonna lay a finger on my Butterfinger!", was introduced.
Most of these advertisements have been released on The Simpsons DVD sets as bonus features along with other commercials. All Butterfinger commercials were available on iTunes and Netflix. The following is high-quality than the VHS versions of these commercials: The Butterfinger Group (1988), Bully - Maggie's Stick (1991), The Karate Lesson (1992), Butterfinger Ice-Cream Bars (1991), The Shrink - Up a Tree (1992), Maggie's Party (1992), The Power-Cut (1993), Bart's Locker - Treasure Hunt (1993), Lisa's Sharing (NEW! Butterfinger Snackerz) (1993), Good vs. Evil (NEW variant, full version) (1994), One Less Sister (NEW variant) (1994), The Raid (1994), Aliens (1998, full version), and Hit a Homer (1998, full version). On April 1, 2013, Butterfinger announced on their Facebook page that Bart Simpson would again be their mascot. On September 25th of the same year, Butterfinger issued another "Who Stole Bart Simpson's Butterfinger" commercial/contest, this time on the web.
Although Butterfinger's ties with the Simpsons were largely phased out by the time of "Sweets and Sour Marge" due to their contract being cut, they later had Bart appear on some packaging for Butterfinger due to the company celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2023.
Other commercials[]
- The Ullman Shorts
- Butterfinger "The Butterfinger Group"
- Butterfinger "No Teasing"
- The Complete Second Season
- Butterfinger "The Bully"
- Butterfinger "Therapy"
- Butterfinger "The Shock"
- Butterfinger "Box"
- Butterfinger "Butterfinger On A Stick"
- The Complete Third Season
- Butterfinger "The Pacifier"
- Butterfinger "The Last Butterfinger"
- Butterfinger "Butterfinger Break"
- Butterfinger "Good VS Evil"
- Butterfinger "Maggie's Party"
- Butterfinger "One Less Sister"
- The Complete Fourth Season
- Butterfinger "Beach Crabs"
- Butterfinger "Bart's Locker"
- The Complete Fifth Season
- Butterfinger "I've Been Robbed"
- Butterfinger "Crime of the Century"
- T.G.I. Friday's "Homer Simpson"
- Ramada Inn "Ramada's In"
- THX Trailer
- The Complete Sixth Season
- Butterfinger "The Raid"
- Church's Chicken "Picnic"
- Church's Chicken "Piggy Bank"
- 1-800-Collect
- The Complete Ninth Season
- Butterfinger "Aliens"
- Butterfinger "Hit a Homer"
- Butterfinger "Philosophy"
- CC's Chips Australia "Parachutist"
- CC's Chips Australia "Homedini"
- The Complete Tenth Season
- CC's Chips Australia
- Streaker
- Cliff Diver
- Homer Saw
- Hot Foot
- Butterfinger
- Carnival
- Two of a Kind
- 500 Easy Pieces
- Bonecracking
- ABC's
- Intel "Homer's Smarter Brain"
- CC's Chips Australia
- The Complete Twelfth Season
- Butterfinger "Butterfingeritis"
- Butterfinger "Bart's Nightmare"
- Burger King "Spaced Homer"
- Red Rooster "Loungearama"
- The Complete Thirteenth Season
- Burger King "Lines Man"
- Burger King "Trick or Treat"
- Burger King "Springfield Hamburger"
- Burger King "Simpsons Watch"
- Sabritas
- The Complete Fifteenth Season
- Ritz Bits "Smart Trade"
- Mastercard
List of commercials[]
So far, Bart appears in every Butterfinger commercial, except for Plastic Underwear.
Image | First Aired | Title | Length | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
December 1988 | No Teasing | 30 seconds |
Bart teases Lisa about having the last Butterfinger in the house. | |
December 1988 | The Butterfinger Group | 30 seconds |
Milhouse and Bart explain about the existence of The Butterfinger Group. | |
January 1, 1991 | The Bully | 30 seconds |
Nelson Muntz tries to take Bart's Butterfinger. | |
April 5, 1991 | The Bully - Maggie's Stick | 30 seconds |
A shorter version of The Bully is shown, then followed by a short commercial for the Butterfinger Ice Cream Bars, with Maggie eating Bart's Butterfinger Ice Cream Bar. | |
April 6, 1991 | The Shock | 15 seconds |
Homer tries to take Bart's Butterfinger; which is wired to an electrical current, in which Homer gets electrocuted, causing Bart to wake up. | |
April 7, 1991 | The Shrink | 30 seconds |
Dr. Marvin Monroe diagnoses inkblots for a Butterfinger obsession with Bart, who refuses to share with Dr. Marvin Monroe. | |
June 6, 1991 | The Shrink - Maggie's Stick | 30 seconds | A shorter version of The Shrink is shown, then followed by a short commercial for the Butterfinger Ice Cream Bars, with Maggie eating Bart's Butterfinger Ice Cream Bar. | |
November 2, 1991 | Butterfinger Ice Cream Bars | 15 seconds | Bart has gotten to Apu's shipment of Butterfinger Ice Cream Bars before everyone else. Apu then throws him out for it. | |
April 3, 1992 | The Big Surprise | 15 seconds |
Homer wants Bart to give him his Butterfinger, but instead he gets Maggie's pacifier. | |
June 6, 1992 | Maggie's Party | 15 seconds | Maggie is having a party and as Homer goes to bring out the Butterfinger Ice Cream Nuggets he finds they are gone because Bart ate them. | |
November 2, 1992 | The Last Butterfinger | 30 seconds | Bart and Homer race to get the last Butterfinger in the supermarket. Homer almost had it, but tripped on a cart, giving Bart enough time to catch it. | |
November 3, 1992 |
The Karate Lesson - Best Friend | 30 seconds |
A shorter version of The Karate Lesson is shown, then followed by a short commercial for the Butterfinger Ice Cream Nuggets, where Bart stops Milhouse from eating a Butterfinger Ice Cream Nugget. | |
November 3, 1992 | Angel Bart, Devil Bart | 15 seconds | Bart's conscience decides whether he should share or eat his Butterfinger BB's. | |
November 30, 1992 |
The Last Butterfinger - Best Friend | 30 seconds |
A shorter version of The Last Butterfinger is shown, then followed by a short commercial for the Butterfinger Ice Cream Nuggets, where Bart stops Milhouse from eating a Butterfinger Ice Cream Nugget. | |
December 1, 1992 | The Karate Lesson | 30 seconds | Akira teaches karate Bart some karate skills, in which he takes Bart's Butterfinger by trying to stop Bart. | |
December 18, 1992 | One Less Sister | 15 seconds | Lisa helps Bart with his math homework. He says the answer is "one less sister". | |
January 29, 1993 | The Beach | 15 seconds | Bart takes Homer's Butterfinger while he's buried under sand. | |
April 1, 1993 | Bart's Locker | 30 seconds |
At school, Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabappel try to get Bart's Butterfingers in his locker, but Bart locks them in there. | |
September 30, 1993 | I've Been Robbed Part One | 30 seconds | Someone steals Bart's Butterfingers.
Note: The suspects were Otto, Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Mr. Burns, and Homer. | |
October 30, 1993 |
I've Been Robbed Part Two |
30 seconds | The thief is revealed to be Krusty the Clown. | |
December 31, 1993 | The Dog Biscuit | 30 seconds | Bart tricks Homer about eating a dog biscuit during a power outage. | |
November 30, 1994 |
The Raid | 30 seconds | Bart has a nightmare, in which the rest of the family steals his Butterfinger BB's. | |
January 1, 1998 |
Aliens |
30 seconds |
Bart has been abducted by Kang and Kodos who are confused about his Butterfinger. Bart then takes them to his leader, Homer, who gets abducted while Bart is set free. | |
May 31, 1998 | Hit a Homer | 15 seconds | Bart plays baseball in which Homer steals Bart's Butterfinger. | |
November 30, 1998 | Philosophy |
15 seconds |
Martin Prince tells Bart to share his Butterfinger BB's with him. | |
December 30, 1998 | Carnival | 30 seconds | Homer wants to trade Bart's Butterfinger for a stuffed poodle. | |
January 1, 1999 | Smell Your Breath | 15 seconds | Bart is sitting in a tree holding a Butterfinger. Homer tries to get it, but Bart keeps moving it just out of reach while a dog barks and an alarm blares offscreen. Bart finishes the Butterfinger and tosses the empty wrapper on Homer. | |
July 28, 1999 | A to Z | 30 seconds |
Bart and Lisa tease Homer with Butterfinger BB's while reading an alphabet book to Maggie. | |
December 30, 1999 | 500 Easy Pieces | 15 seconds | Bart watches an Itchy and Scratchy skit entitled "500 Easy Pieces" featuring a Butterfinger bar. | |
December 31, 1999 | Plastic Underwear | 15 seconds |
Grampa gets annoyed by the crunching sound of a Butterfinger eaten by Lisa, in which he is woken. This is the only time in the Butterfinger commercial that Bart doesn't appear in. However, Lisa fills in for Bart in this commercial. | |
February 5, 2001 | Bart's Nightmare | 15 seconds | Bart has a nightmare that the Kwik-E-Mart is out of Butterfingers, in which Bart woke up screaming. | |
May 1, 2001 | Butterfingeritis | 15 seconds | Bart discovers that he has a disease called Butterfingeritis. | |
Trivia[]
- A few commercials aired in 1992 (namely Good VS Evil and One Less Sister) were colored using digital ink and paint instead of cel animation, a rarity for the time. Moreover, every Butterfinger commercial from the beginning of 1998 onward uses digital ink and paint, whereas the main series wouldn't switch to this method until late 2002. The same is true of most other post-1996 Simpsons commercials.
- In "Barting Over", after watching the Baby Stinkbreath commercial, Bart says "I was in a commercial?" and then pulls out a Butterfinger and starts eating it. This is an obvious reference to the commercials.
- Butterfingers are again referenced in the Season 13 episode Sweets and Sour Marge where Chief Wiggum attempts to burn them, but as he puts it "Even the fire won't take them." According to Al Jean in the DVD commentary, this joke was made only because the contract between the 2 companies ended, otherwise they would not have made the joke.
- In the Season 13 episode "Half-Decent Proposal", Bart writes "I will not bite the hand that feeds me Butterfingers" on the chalkboard in the opening, referencing the Butterfinger joke two episodes earlier in "Sweets and Sour Marge".
- On a Season 8 DVD commentary, Matt Groening says that Milhouse was created for and first appeared in the commercials.
- The Simpsons "Stolen Butterfinger" in one minute length commercial in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" on DVD in December 30, 2008.
- In a deleted scene in "I Am Furious (Yellow)", on Bart's trap for Homer, Homer grabs a Butterfinger bar but tosses it after realizing it's a Butterfinger.
- The Butterfinger catchphrase, "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger", was also referenced in a cutaway gag in the Family Guy episode "Mother Tucker", where Brian compares Stewie selling out to when the latter starred in Butterfinger commercials. The scene cuts away to Stewie mimicking the Butterfinger catchphrase while sitting on a park bench and holding a Butterfinger, adding a forced "D'oh" at the end.
- In the episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII", In the CGI opening, "The Sweets Hereafter", Many characters from the show are in a bowl of candy on Halloween night. Nearly all of the names of the candy them are references to real-life candies. This includes Bart, who is a "Barterfinger" a clear reference to Butterfingers. Homer even accidentally calls Bart Butterfinger in the short, but quickly corrects himself.
- Marge Simpson is the only Simpson family member (sans Maggie) who does not speak once in any of the commercials (likely due to Julie Kavner being unavailable to reprise her role as her]]).
- The slogan "It's Neato!" used in "No Teasing" and "The Butterfinger Group" would be replaced sometime in 1990, with subsequent airings of both commercials replacing it with "Nobody Better Lay a Finger on My Butterfinger."[1] [2] [3][4]
- "The Butterfinger Group" marks the first appearances of Milhouse Van Houten and Springfield Elementary School, which would officially debut in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." As such, this is only time either of them are present when the Tracey Ullman shorts were premiering.
Bart's Sayings[]
- "It's Neato!" (1988 - 1990)
- "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!" (1990 - 1994; 1998 - 1999[5])
- "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger BBs!" (1994, 1998 - 1999[6]; Butterfinger BB's variant)
- "Bite my Butterfinger!" (1999 - 2001)
- "Nothin' like a Butterfinger!" (2001 - 2010)
- "Nobody's gonna lay a finger on my Butterfinger" (2010-present)