Gelatin has existed for centuries, used in dishes such as aspic, a once-popular dish encasing meat, seafood, eggs, or vegetables—sometimes a stomach-churning combination of those things—in savory gelatin made from broth and the congealed by-products of boiled bones and tendons. The process of making these jelly molded foods was laborious until the invention of powered instant gelatin and the proliferation of modern kitchen appliances. Jell-O’s ability to save homemakers time in making these crimes against the palate, and the brand’s complicity in printing recipes for these abominations, helped the brand rise in popularity.

Jell-O enjoyed popularity as both a dessert and base for Jell-O salads until the 70s. In 1974, Jell-O introduced Jigglers, a fun, new way to serve the gelatin treat to kids, in an attempt to boost sales. Taking Jell-O and cutting them into fanciful shapes using cookie cutters helped revive the brand. Well, that and the hiring of then-popular and seemingly innocuous spokesperson Bill Cosby.