# What does the Nabisco logo represent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822 "2005-02-01T18:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@snow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snow)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/1 "2005-02-01T18:20:10Z")
[old logo](http://www.leefleming.com/neurotwitch/archives/nabisco.jpg) [older logo](http://www.kraft.com/100/art/pics/picuneedaR.jpg) [newer logo](http://www.yamazaki-nabisco.co.jp/company/img/NABISCO_logo.jpg) Too early to be a TV aerial. Is it an Eastern cross? * * * I post at [Fathom](http://fff.fathom.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10) ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/2 "2005-02-01T18:53:11Z")
According to [this site](http://dawgnet.butler.edu/archive/951026/cool.html), it’s: “_The colophon, the symbol for Nabisco, is a trademark usually placed on the title page of a book or as an inscription at the end of a book giving facts pertaining to publication_.” -And if you look close it’s on the face of the oreo Itself. And though I can’t confirm it, it appears that a company called “ **Colophon Company Limited** ” is a holding of Nabisco (now Kraft). And since Google tells me that Nabisco was created as an amalgamation of several bakers, I would wager an estimated guess that the “Colophon Company Limited” was one of the companies that joined to form Nabisco originally. -But’s that’s just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/3 "2005-02-01T19:37:11Z")
Just for the record, **RumMunkey** , “colophon” is a generic term for any trademark or symbol placed on the title page of a book–it doesn’t refer just to Nabisco’s logo or any other specific symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/4 "2005-02-01T20:21:09Z")
It looks like a “croix de lorraine”. Maybe there’s some historical connection ? ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/5 "2005-02-01T20:53:51Z")
I’m drawing a blank right now, but I am almost certain that I remember reading an explanation for the symbol in _Barbarians At The Gates_, the book about the RJR Nabisco takeover in the late 1980’s. Maybe someone else remembers, or it at least provides someone with a lead. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/6 "2005-02-01T21:01:40Z")
Well just look at the darn thing! The original logo contains the full name, “Nabisco”, in its shape! Lookie: [www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg](http://www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/7 "2005-02-01T21:06:12Z")
I always thought it was from the Fifties, influenced by TV antennas and space and orbital paths, what we would now call retro-futuristic, like the design of props in the (later) Jetsons cartoon. I\ **Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/8 "2005-02-01T21:19:10Z") > [@Phase42](#): > > Well just look at the darn thing! The original logo contains the full name, “Nabisco”, in its shape! > > Lookie: > > [www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg](http://www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg) Well, yeah, but by the same logic, it also contains the full word, “labia,” in its shape. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/9 "2005-02-01T21:21:24Z")
Heh, kind of appropriate that I should reply to this thread. However, frustratingly I can’t remember the exact details. What I _do_ remember is that back in the 1980s (?), a certain pack of Nabisco brand biscuits featured an explanation of the red-triangle device ([i.e. this version](http://www.yamazaki-nabisco.co.jp/company/img/NABISCO_logo.jpg)). Unfortunately I can’t even remember which type of bicuits it was on :smack: It certainly wouldn’t have been Oreos, as we didn’t have them in the UK until quite recently. I think it was a savoury cracker… ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/10 "2005-02-01T21:44:45Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Well just look at the darn thing! The original logo contains the full name, “Nabisco”, in its shape! > > Lookie: > > [www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg](http://www.phase42.net/nabisco.jpg) Is that the intent of the logo design? There are a number of words you can spell with that formula! Check it out, I can spell “BOOB”!!! ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/11 "2005-02-01T21:54:50Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > Is that the intent of the logo design? There are a number of words you can spell with that formula! Whoosh! The N, B, and C are on that logo because they stand for the National Biscuit Company. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/12 "2005-02-01T22:10:45Z")
To take it back a little further, it seems that the figure appeared on the original packaging for “Uneeda Biscuits”, the first product sold by the National Biscuit Company in 1898: > **[My Food and Family Recipes](https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/)** > > Explore a wide variety of My Food and Family recipes today. My Food and Family recipes are great for new dinner ideas, easy meal prep and so much more. Note that the lettering inside was different, then used to promote their new “inner seal” packaging to keep the crackers fresh. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/13 "2005-02-01T22:32:27Z")
Another interesting tidbit from a page about the Roycroft Community, a late 19th centery artisan’s guild which also used the colophon: > [@](#): > > What is the meaning of the circle and cross that are on many Roycroft items and the pages of this site? > > The mark is commonly referred to as the Roycroft orb or simply ‘the Orb.’ The basic shape, minus the inserted “R,” is a medieval colophon with which monks ended their manuscripts in order to signify they had done the work to the best of their ability. Hubbard used the mark with an inserted “R” to signify Roycroft, as both a shop mark and as part of the general medieval craftsman ambiance he was trying to engender. It should also be pointed out the Italian papermaking firm, Cartiera Magnani, one of the most respected paper mills in Europe dating its origins back to the 15th century, used and uses today, a very similar ‘orb’ as their mark. Did Elbert first learn of and lift the symbol from Cartiera Magnani, then slightly modify it to avoid trademark infringement, since he probably would have been aware of Magnani due to his ‘involvement’ in the book arts? That answer is buried at the bottom of the Irish Sea. As to the supposed spiritual significance of the Orb, Elbert gave various explanations. (Some “authority” on Antiques Roadshow said it signified the hand of God over the world. Pick an explanantion…any explanation.) **Interesting to note, Nabisco also used the same mark, but substituted an “N” for the Roycroft “R.” (And does to this day, check any Oreos cookie.) A lawsuit resulted over the mark which ended with an out-of-court settlement in which Nabisco promised never to publish books and Roycroft promised never to make biscuits.** Roycroft did, however, later make and sell Maple Pecan Patties. Bolding mine. I would hazard a guess than one of the founders of Nabisco was aware of the derivation of the symbol from the middle ages as some sort of a mark of quality, and it simply appealed to him. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/14 "2005-02-02T01:06:01Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > What I _do_ remember is that back in the 1980s (?), a certain pack of Nabisco brand biscuits featured an explanation of the red-triangle device. Unfortunately I can’t even remember which type of bicuits it was on :smack: I’m from the UK too, and the logo appeared on the side of Shredded Wheat boxes, at least as far back as the late 60s. From memory, the blurb said little more than that the red triangle had been used for a long time by merchants as a symbol of quality. It didn’t get around to explaining the ‘antennae’ aspect of the corporate symbolism. I expect that the symbol is probably part of a very large conspiracy involving big companies, big money, geo-political power struggles and the Da Vinci code. Anyone who denies this is, of course, part of the conspiracy and just trying to cover up. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/15 "2005-02-02T01:13:43Z")
> [@dqa](#): > > Whoosh! > The N, B, and C are on that logo because they stand for the National Biscuit Company. Incidentally, for those who haven’t quite made the connection, **Na** tional **Bis** cuit **Co** mpany… ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/16 "2005-02-02T02:18:49Z")
> [@zut](#): > > Well, yeah, but by the same logic, it also contains the full word, “labia,” in its shape. Just saying. Well, given the suggestive advertising on the Oreo cookie, I can only say one thing: I just **knew** there was something I was supposed to lick in the middle! Tripler :: ducks and runs :: ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/17 "2005-02-02T04:15:55Z")
> [@dqa](#): > > Whoosh! > The N, B, and C are on that logo because they stand for the National Biscuit Company. :smack: Sorry, all I could think of was “boob”. I’m sure you understand. [sub]_boobies_[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/18 "2005-02-02T04:26:20Z")
I was googling Lorna Doone cookies to see how old of a logo was on them and came up with this link mentioning the Straight Dope and Cecil. Interesting. [http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020425.html](http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20020425.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/19 "2005-02-02T13:59:42Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > I’m from the UK too, and the logo appeared on the side of Shredded Wheat boxes, at least as far back as the late 60s. From memory, the blurb said little more than that the red triangle had been used for a long time by merchants as a symbol of quality. It didn’t get around to explaining the ‘antennae’ aspect of the corporate symbolism. I came back to this thread to say “Shredded Wheat”, because it suddenly came to me last night that that’s what I was thinking of – the biscuit link was a red herring. However I think you are right that it only explained the red triangle part of the logo. > [@](#): > > I expect that the symbol is probably part of a very large conspiracy involving big companies, big money, geo-political power struggles and the Da Vinci code. Anyone who denies this is, of course, part of the conspiracy and just trying to cover up. Now I’m certain you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822/20 "2005-02-02T14:11:17Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > I expect that the symbol is probably part of a very large conspiracy involving big companies, big money, geo-political power struggles and the Da Vinci code. Anyone who denies this is, of course, part of the conspiracy and just trying to cover up. Actually, you may be [closer than you think](http://tinyurl.com/68e5k) :eek: > [@](#): > > Page 170 corresponds to September 11, 2001. On that page there is an ad for Philadelphia cream cheese with a recipe for > > ``` > OREO CHEESECAKE > > ``` > > In this phrase there are two Os and five Es, corresponding to the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the five sides of the Pentagon building. > > Philadelphia cream cheese is produced by the Kraft company. The “Craft” is another word for Freemasonry. > > “Philadelphia” in Greek means “brotherly love”, a concealed reference to > the Masonic Brotherhood, the Craft. > > Oreo cookies are produced by Nabisco, a Kraft subsidiary… > > Nabisco’s logo is a red triangle, emblematic of the Scottish Rite of Masonry, also known as Red Masonry. The Nabisco triangle is topped by a double cross, the symbol of a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Mason. You see, it all makes sense… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-nabisco-logo-represent/287822.md?page=2)