In its development, Pugh carved a core made of wood, covered it with fresh lemon peel to give it a realistic texture, and then cast a plaster mould.

[11][16] Edward Hack developed the original idea and model of lemon juice being contained inside lemon-shaped and coloured packaging in the 1950s.

[16][17] Stanley Wagner had been brought up in the wholesale fruit business, his father having a very substantial company in Spitalfields Market.

Bill Pugh, the chief plastics designer at Cascelloid, based in Leicester, and former Royal Air Force pilot, created a prototype of the blown lemon-shaped plastic shaped container[15] based upon Hack's idea sometime in the 1950s,[16] as well as other types of blown containers.

[16][18] Per Edward Hack, Ltd., the juice was unfiltered, had no water added to it, and contained a preservative to prevent spoilage.

[16] Upon introduction to the marketplace, Hax juice and the plastic lemon design received some press coverage.

[11] Hax lemon juice was the first to be packaged and marketed in said lemon-shaped container, with Coldcrops following shortly thereafter with their own design.

This initially began under the brand name "Realemon", and then after an objection by the then Board of Trade, the name was changed to "ReaLem" and marketed with the slogan "juice in a jiffy".

[11] The Board of Trade objected because it was perceived that Coldcrops was possibly passing off their product as the Realemon brand from the United States.

[16] During this same time period, Hax was marketing tomato ketchup and brown sauce in custom-shaped plastic containers, for use on restaurant tables.

Reckitt and Colman approached Stanley Wagner to buy Coldcrops, and after a very long negotiation a deal was concluded.

The deal transferred ownership of the packaging and concept from Coldcrops to Reckitt & Coleman, and the new Jif-brand lemon juice was launched in 1956.

[14][22] All parties were delighted, Stanley Wagner with a substantial sum of money, for those days and a large profit from the six million lemons that had been sold, Reckitt's even more so because the negotiating team had permission to pay far more for the business than they were able to achieve.

[14] In 1956, Jif was the sole brand of lemon juice packaged in a squeeze pack container in the United Kingdom.

[14][25] Sales of ReaLemon realized successful profits in Europe in 1975, at which time Borden expanded into the United Kingdom market, purveying a 250 ml bottle of lemon juice.

[14] It was ruled that a sufficient public recognition of Jif's packaging was existent, which created an established reputation for the brand.

The campaign and slogan was devised by Reckitt and Colman's advertising agency, Foote Cone and Belding.