Hershey's Kisses

Hershey's Kisses

Product type	Chocolate
Owner	The Hershey Company
Country	United States
Introduced	1907
Related brands	Hershey bar Hershey's Kissables
Markets	Worldwide
Ambassador(s)	Milton Hershey
Website	hersheys.com

Hershey's Kisses is a brand of chocolate manufactured by The Hershey Company. The bite-sized pieces of chocolate have a distinctive shape, commonly described as flat-bottomed teardrops. Hershey's Kisses chocolates are wrapped in squares of lightweight aluminum foil with a narrow strip of paper protruding from the top.

History

Old Hershey Kisses ad

The Hershey Kisses were first introduced in 1907. At first, the Hershey Kisses were wrapped by hand, but in 1921, a machine was made so the Kisses would be wrapped automatically. Brothers Walter, Howard and Raymond Phillippy made improvements, such as devices to reject misshapen Kisses and position unwrapped candies upright. This is also when the plume was added.

In 1924, Milton S. Hershey received a registered trademark for the plume. During 1942, production of Hershey Kisses was briefly interrupted due to the rationing of aluminum foil. Instead, the machines were used to create chocolate paste for the soldiers in World War II. In 1976, the Kiss received a registered trademark for the foil wrapper

Kisses are one of the most popular brands of candies in the US. In 1989, the chocolate drops were the 5th most popular chocolate brand in the United States, spawning sales that topped $400 million. More than 60 million Hershey's Kisses chocolates are produced each day at the company's two factories. Today's Kisses brand chocolates use Hershey's original milk chocolate formula.

In 2005 Hershey's Kissables were introduced as a smaller sized, candy coated version of Kisses chocolates. They were discontinued in 2009.

Kisses Brand varieties

Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolates filled with caramel.

Though originally made of solely milk chocolate, many variations of the Kisses brand of chocolates and candies have since been introduced. Hershey introduces and discontinues new flavors constantly. As of January 2013, some of the flavors available throughout the year include:^[1]

Wrapper varieties

Hershey's Kisses chocolates were originally wrapped in silver-colored foil, and were only available in this single color for decades. 1962 marked the first year that Kisses chocolates were available in different colored foil wrappers: red, green, and silver-wrapped candies were manufactured to coincide with the Christmas season. This idea was the suggestion of John Figi, owner of Figi’s “Gifts in Good Taste” - a mail order food gifts company based in Marshfield, Wisconsin. The green and red colored wrapped chocolates were featured for the first time in the Figi’s Christmas catalogue. In 1968, pastel blue, pink, and green wrappers were introduced for Easter, and in 1986, Valentine's Day-themed wrappers of red and silver were introduced. Xs and Os have also appeared on pink and red wrappers as well as little red hearts on silver wrappers for Valentine’s Day. "Fall Harvest" colors were introduced in 1991. Independence Day has silver with red stripes and blue-starred wrappers. Pink wrappers with "ribbons" on them to support breast cancer research have also appeared. Camouflage wrappers are also available, primarily on military bases. Kisses Dark Chocolates come in a deep purple wrapper. The Halloween themed Kisses Candy Corn candies come in a wrapper whose colors imitate the color of a candy corn with yellow, white and orange stripes swirling around the candy. In 2016 four limited Holiday wrapper varieties were released: Santa hats, Kissmas sweaters that resemble knit Christmas sweaters, Kissmas Trees with plumes that read Fa La La, and Kissmas Presents with plumes that read from me to you. The Christmas themed Kisses Candy Cane candies also come in a wrapper whose colors imitate the color pattern (red stripes and white chocolate). The original silver (for regular) and gold (for Almonds) wrappers are available year-round.

Hershey is introducing new pastel-colored wrappers with white polka dots for the upcoming Easter season. This created controversy within the organization because many workers and environmentalists have requested a more environmentally-friendly packaging, which would have eliminated the aluminum wrapping and replaced it with biodegradable materials. This was supposed to be rolled out on April 1, 2009.

Paper plume

In addition to the standard "Kisses®" paper plume and the special variety plumes (such as "cheesecake"), special messages have been available for various occasions, including:

Packaging varieties

• Chinese New Year Gift Box - contains gold and red wrapped kisses

Advertising

"Christmas Bells" is a commercial in which Hershey's Kisses, fashioned as a handbell choir, perform the Christmas carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". It premiered in 1989 and has run each holiday season since in the United States; it is the longest-running television commercial for the Hershey brand.^[2]

Additives

Hershey's Kisses Hugs and Hershey's Kisses Cookies 'N' Creme are made with the ingredient PGPR (Polyglycerol polyricinoleate, E476),^[3] which is used as a cheaper replacement for cocoa butter.^[4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hershey's Kisses.

• Official Hershey's Kisses website
• Zoe's Hershey Kiss Collection
• History of Hershey's Kisses