Hershey's Redesigns Iconic Chocolate Bar for the First Time in 125 Years
For the first time in well over a century, The Hershey Company will be changing the iconic brand design for its milk chocolate bar.
The traditional 12 squares of chocolate, which have each traditionally been labeled “Hershey’s” for the duration of the company’s 125-year history, will undergo a redesign.
The revamped design, featuring a different emoji on each square of the chocolate bar, is a limited-time promotion.
The chocolate bar will be returning to its original design in the fall.
“You ❤️ emojis. Now you can ? them! And guess what? They taste like really delicious chocolate. The new Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Emoji Bar, coming this summer! ???,” Hershey’s wrote Tuesday in a tweet announcing the change.
You ❤️ emojis. Now you can ? them! And guess what? They taste like really delicious chocolate. The new Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Emoji Bar, coming this summer! ??? pic.twitter.com/qK0PLvhfce
— HERSHEY’S (@Hersheys) May 14, 2019
The company further explained what sparked its decision in a news release.
“The Hershey’s brand came up with a new way to satisfy America’s love for emojis,” the brand wrote.
“The new Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Emoji Bars will feature 25 of the most popular emojis across six different emoji packaging designs — all designed to collect, share and eat,” the release reads.
“The new bars are set to launch this summer, nationwide, for a limited-time only in both standard size and snack size bars.”
Kriston Ohm, senior manager of the Hershey’s brand, said the goal of the limited-time change is to push buyers to connect with others by reintroducing reasons to break and share, which the original bar was designed for.
“Our classic Hershey’s bars were made to be shared with others,” Ohm said. “By adding an emoji design to each pip of chocolate, we hope that parents and kids are inspired to share a chocolate emoji and make a connection with someone new.”
Hershey’s said it worked with numerous consumers — parents and children alike — to select particular emojis that would be most likely to “spark a conversation.”
The company explained that its internal research found the new design to be incredibly likely to encourage sharing and connection.
“Research showed that 87 percent of kids agreed that the new Hershey’s Emoji Bar is something they would want to share with others,” the company wrote.
Public response to the announcement has been polarizing, though, with some arguing that the decision is nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Hershey’s marketing team pic.twitter.com/vML8XBSiwg
— Nunya Doe (@Sgtangua4) May 15, 2019
This is the worst. Please don’t actually do this.
— UsYr Illus (@UsYr_Illus) May 15, 2019
Hersheys is only good for s’mores but this is depressing https://t.co/VHt0RMIQIj
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 15, 2019
“Hersheys is only good for s’mores but this is depressing,” New York Magazine and HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali wrote.
But others have taken kindly to the design change.
Two things we ?the most: emojis and ??. Added to our wishlist ✅.
— Visible (@Visible) May 14, 2019
FUN! ??
— Rita Garcia (@TheRitaGarcia) May 14, 2019
“FUN!” KTTV host Rita Garcia tweeted.
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