What Happen to Hershey's Miniatures Packaging?

[Fading Fast]

My girlfriend brought home a bag of Hershey Miniatures yesterday (that alone is reason enough to love her) and as I was digging in (and doing my best to "ruin my dinner" - maybe that belongs in the "Term's Which Have Disappeared" thread), I became nostalgic for the old wrapping they used to come in: where the mini-bar itself was wrapped in a foil that was then slipped into a paper sleeve that identified the type of bar it was. Now, the bars are all wrapped in one piece of some amalgam of paper and foil or something and only designed to look as if there is an inner foil and an outer sleeve (which like all green-eyeshade-driven corporate sleight of hands, comes off worse than if they had just done away with the two-piece wrapper concept altogether - think 1970s faux woody wagons).

I've accepted this insult for years (protesting is one thing, giving up Hershey's chocolate is just crazy talk), but yesterday I noticed that they changed the font and design of the wrapper description from the classic style to what I assume some over-paid consulting firm told them is a "bold," "young," "fresh" look because the word "Krackle," for example, is all-but too big to fit on the wrapper (I felt as if the bar was screaming its name at me). But in a bit of corporate pusillanimity, they left the back side of the package unchanged.

If ever there was an American brand that should be jumping all over the abused "heritage" craze, Hershey is it. But no, instead they've taken away the two piece wrapper (and the ability to put a chocolate bar inside the wrong wrapper - a fun thing to do as a kid in the 70s before kid-life became all video games and iPhones) and, now, have homogenized away their iconic image. We talk about a lot of big ideas and issues in "The Golden Era," but sometimes it's a small thing that makes me really nostalgic.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's pretty stupid even from a marketing perspectives. Hipsters only eat $10 artisanal chocolate bars. Hershey is strictly for the proles.

I always preferred Nestle's Crunch to Krack-el anyway. And the Aero Bar trumps them both.

 

[Nobert]

If Hershey's wanted to get "heritage," they could start by putting cocoa butter back in their candy. I really thought that I was just having a "childhood is over/you can't go home again" kind of experience when I began to realize that Hershey bars just didn't taste like they used to did. But it turned out that, no, they actually did something to make them taste less like chocolate and more like wax. Special Dark is about the only Hershey's chocolate that I still like. I mean, I'll eat the others if they're there, I'm not that snooty.

 

[Fading Fast]

Nobert - yes, yes and yes to Special Dark - it was, is and I assume will always be my favorite Hershey bar. It was way ahead of the dark-chocolate hipster (nonsense) craze. Sad to hear about the change in ingredients.

Lizzie, I'd have to do a side by side taste test to pick a favorite, but have always been a fan of both Krackle and Crunch. I've seen but never tried a Aero bar - but based on your recommendation I will.

 

[sheeplady]

If Hershey's wanted to get "heritage," they could start by putting cocoa butter back in their candy. I really thought that I was just having a "childhood is over/you can't go home again" kind of experience when I began to realize that Hershey bars just didn't taste like they used to did. But it turned out that, no, they actually did something to make them taste less like chocolate and more like wax. Special Dark is about the only Hershey's chocolate that I still like. I mean, I'll eat the others if they're there, I'm not that snooty.

Huh- I noticed that about Hershey's too but thought it was my memory. I had some chocolate the other day and it was really good, but a lot of Hershey's now tastes chalky to me. Now I know why.


Why the heck would you pay someone to change your wrapper when you're Hershey's?

 

[milliedog]

It is more the use of PGPR as an emulsifier that has ruined the taste of Hershey chocolate than the lack of cocoa butter.

 

[rjb1]

I can't comment on the ingredients of the candy, but by coincidence one of my engineering senior design teams is working for Hershey on a project to improve the candy-wrapping material and wrapping process. The selection of the "newer" material and method is to improve productivity (less machine error or malfunction) and to lower costs.
For better or worse (mostly worse) the idea of heritage or nostalgia doesn't come into it. We in the Fedora Lounge might think it should, but the people who are making the decisions aren't members here.
(Without getting too deep into the engineering, one thing that Hershey wants to monitor is the coefficient of friction of the *inside* of the wrapping material. That's how far companies these days are willing to go concerning anything that affects productivity.)

 

[Fading Fast]

I can't comment on the ingredients of the candy, but by coincidence one of my engineering senior design teams is working for Hershey on a project to improve the candy-wrapping material and wrapping process. The selection of the "newer" material and method is to improve productivity (less machine error or malfunction) and to lower costs.
For better or worse (mostly worse) the idea of heritage or nostalgia doesn't come into it. We in the Fedora Lounge might think it should, but the people who are making the decisions aren't members here.
(Without getting too deep into the engineering, one thing that Hershey wants to monitor is the coefficient of friction of the *inside* of the wrapping material. That's how far companies these days are willing to go concerning anything that affects productivity.)

That is both interesting and not surprising. Having worked for enough large companies, I am familiar with the arrant cost-benefit analysis that companies incessantly (sometimes obsessively, your inside-the-wrapper friction sounds like a good example of this) apply to every step of production (and, in truth, every step of everything). Be it Six Sigma or some other discipline, that's what modern companies do. Okay, and in truth, many times we consumers benefit as that improvement can result in lower costs (if we are honest, many things cost less in real dollars today than they did when we were growing up) or better products, but at the end of all that analysis, cost savings, efficiency improvement, et al., they still have to sell the product to someone.

This is where the intangible relationship consumers have with a product come into play. So I would respectfully and only partially disagree with you as Hershey's does play up its heritage in its commercials (as I recently saw a commercial for some toffee of Hershey's where they were discussing Milton Hershey - with black and white photos - and how it was his original recipe) and they kept the look of a foil wrapper inside a paper sleeve for the mini-bars both as a nod to heritage. So yes, companies drive fervently for cost savings efficiency, but heritage comes into play - not for emotional or sentimental reasons (like many on this board feel) - but for cold hard marketing reasons. And "heritage" is so hot right now that companies that don't have it are trying to "create it" - Hershey's actually has it, so I'm not surprised that it uses it as seen in its commercials or wrappers.

All that said, my original point still stands: either use the old wrapper or simply come up with a new one - the fake "foil inside a paper sleeve" look is cheesy and insults the company's heritage.

 

[3fingers]

I haven't seen the new miniatures wrapper or the fake foil in a sleeve yet, but I occasionally purchase a regular Hershey bar. The packaging they are using on those may be efficient, but it annoys me no end since it nearly requires tools to get access to the chocolate inside. The open here tab on the back is a hit and miss proposition. I also liked being able to eat half now and fold the foil back over the other half for later. The hermetically sealed plastic does not lend itself to that at all.

 

[Nobert]

It is more the use of PGPR as an emulsifier that has ruined the taste of Hershey chocolate than the lack of cocoa butter.

You seem to know the chemistry better than I, so I'll defer to that. All I know is that Hershey's uses the minimum amount of cocoa butter they can and still legally market it as "chocolate," and have petitioned the government to lower the legal standard.

 

[HudsonHawk]

You seem to know the chemistry better than I, so I'll defer to that. All I know is that Hershey's uses the minimum amount of cocoa butter they can and still legally market it as "chocolate," and have petitioned the government to lower the legal standard.

Hershey's process has always been on the cheap since Day 1. That's what makes it "unique".

 

[HudsonHawk]

I haven't seen the new miniatures wrapper or the fake foil in a sleeve yet, but I occasionally purchase a regular Hershey bar. The packaging they are using on those may be efficient, but it annoys me no end since it nearly requires tools to get access to the chocolate inside. The open here tab on the back is a hit and miss proposition. I also liked being able to eat half now and fold the foil back over the other half for later. The hermetically sealed plastic does not lend itself to that at all.

I don't know if I've ever had a Hershey bar wrapped in foil. They discontinued foil in 1942, in favor of the white lining that resembled wax paper. They resumed using foil again from 1984-2005, but I was a grown-up by then, and can't remember the last time I had a Hershey bar.

I did notice recently that the quit wrapping Ding Dongs in foil. I don't know when, but it was quite a surprise for me.

 

[3fingers]

I suppose I should qualify "foil". What I am speaking of is a foil looking material on the outside with a white paper liner, not true foil. As far as the ding dong foil, that disappeared some years ago, in favor of the white plastic bag. I haven't had a ding dong for a long time, but I didn't think that they tasted like they did when I was a kid. I doubt that is related to the packaging as much as the recipe being changed to use cheaper ingredients. Things like that were a treat back then too and not available to me any time I wanted one, so it was more of a big deal to get one. Surely it can't be that they really weren't that good 40 years ago either. :eeek:

 

[HudsonHawk]

I suppose I should qualify "foil". What I am speaking of is a foil looking material on the outside with a white paper liner, not true foil. As far as the ding dong foil, that disappeared some years ago, in favor of the white plastic bag. I haven't had a ding dong for a long time, but I didn't think that they tasted like they did when I was a kid. I doubt that is related to the packaging as much as the recipe being changed to use cheaper ingredients. Things like that were a treat back then too and not available to me any time I wanted one, so it was more of a big deal to get one. Surely it can't be that they really weren't that good 40 years ago either. :eeek:

They probably tasted better when you (and I) were a kid because you *didn't* get them whenever you wanted and any kind of chocolate was a treat, not one of the major food groups. They were pretty cheaply made back in the day too. And I hadn't had one in at least 30 years, but Mrs. Hawk brought home a box a few weeks ago, and well you know, I just had to have one.

 

[milliedog]

You seem to know the chemistry better than I, so I'll defer to that. All I know is that Hershey's uses the minimum amount of cocoa butter they can and still legally market it as "chocolate," and have petitioned the government to lower the legal standard.

I had not heard that. It continues to amaze me the lengths companies go to to earn a few more pennies. Here is a company that made a fortune selling chocolate and now wants to redefine what chocolate is to earn more money. How about taking some pride in what you produce and sell? I would rather pay more or do without than eat plasticized brown wax masquerading as chocolate.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I had not heard that. It continues to amaze me the lengths companies go to to earn a few more pennies. Here is a company that made a fortune selling chocolate and now wants to redefine what chocolate is to earn more money. How about taking some pride in what you produce and sell? I would rather pay more or do without than eat plasticized brown wax masquerading as chocolate.

Hershey has always done this. It isn't new. They became popular precisely *because* they redefined what "chocolate" is while making it cheap.

 

[Tomasso]

They were pretty cheaply made back in the day too.

Yep, Hershey made cheap chocolate from its inception.

 

[gman41]

I believe they closed the walnut grove CA plant and now make chocolate in Mexico and Hersey PA. They have a new plant which I saw last fall in Hersey. They days of walking through the plant ended in the 70 s but that town sure will take you back to yesteryear.