Dips

Humankind has been dipping solid food into semi-liquid complements for thousands of years, but it was not until the second half of the twentieth century that commercial dips emerged as an important category of food. Credit for this shift goes to the Thomas J. Lipton Company, which mounted a massive promotional campaign in the 1950s featuring dips made from its dried onion soup mix combined with sour cream or cream cheese. At that time Lipton sponsored Arthur Godfrey’s popular Talent Scouts radio and television program, and these dips were advertised extensively on the weekly show. Lipton also distributed tens of thousands of hanging cards to retailers, promoting these dips, and provided dip recipes on millions of their packages.