Was Zuzu Bailey a Product Placement?

The question has to be asked… was Zuzu Bailey, the youngest of the children in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” a product placement? By all accounts the character’s name was taken from the popular ginger snap. Product placements in movies were certainly not unknown at the time. In fact “It’s a Wonderful Life” has another notable product placement, a National Geographic magazine. George Bailey as a boy (played by Bobby Anderson) is talking to Mary as a girl (played by Jean Gale)…

He (George) pulls a magazine from his pocket and shows it to her.

MARY
A new magazine! I never saw it before.

GEORGE
Of course you never. Only us explorers can get it. I've been 
nominated for membership in the National Geographic Society.

So it’s not like they were above it. Also, the rest of the Bailey children have fairly common names: Janie, Pete and Tommy. Zuzu is indeed an odd character name in this all-American family.

I have always assumed that Zuzu was a nickname which would sorta, kinda lend more credence to the name being used for product placement. Then as now, Zuzu was not a common given name. But when George Bailey, the father, is talking to Zuzu’s teacher Mrs. Welch he refers to his daughter as Zuzu. If Zuzu was a nickname it seems like he would have used her “real” name when addressing this official person. But it was a small town where everyone knew each other and nicknames might have been used for small children even in “official” situations. Also, plot-wise, it would have only complicated things to have to introduce her given name and link the two for the sake of some kind of realism.

All that being said I’m not buying it. When the movie plugged National Geographic it was not subtle about it. The product was mentioned in dialog and the magazine itself prominently shown. It would have been a simple matter to show a package of Zu Zu Ginger Snaps on Zuzu’s bedside table or in Gower’s Drug store. But it wasn’t. Also, as far as I know, there wasn’t any cross-promotional marketing from the Zu Zu Ginger Snaps side of things. Nabisco (then N.B.C.) was not shy about marketing its products and it seems like they wouldn’t let something like a famous movie tie-in go by without a poster or two.

Maybe a document will surface some day showing that the sweet, little Zuzu was only a corporate marketing arrangement. But I hope not.