Newman's Own

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Newman's Own is a food company founded by actor Paul Newman in 1982. The company is a for-profit corporation, and Paul Newman receives all the proceeds. Newman then donates 100% of those proceeds, after taxes, to educational charitable purposes. According to the Newman's Own website, the franchise has resulted in over $200 million in donations as of April 2006. One of Newman's award is the PEN/Newman's Own Award, which is presented annually to a United States resident who has fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word.

The brand started with salad dressing, and has expanded to include pasta sauce, iced tea, lemonade, limeade, fruit cocktail juices, popcorn, salsa, cookies, coffee, cat food, and other offerings. Newman's Own Limeade (shown at right) was introduced in 2004.

One beneficiary of his charity is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a summer camp for seriously ill children he cofounded in 1986, located between Ashford and Eastford, Connecticut. While proceeds from Newman's Own financed the startup of the camp, it now receives funding from many additional sources.

Newman's Own and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp are the subject of a book, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good (ISBN 0-385-50802-6).

[edit] Trivia

In the episode King-Size Homer on The Simpsons, Homer vents gas from a nuclear reactor. The gas destroys crops of corn. A farmer looks and says, "Oh no, the corn! Paul Newman's gonna have ma' legs broke!" This is in reference to the legend on Newman's Own popcorn products, in which Newman threatens anyone who might try to steal his popcorn.*"The Legend" by Col. P. Newman, Newman's Own Website, retrieved August 12, 2006