Small Home Gazette, Winter 2020

History Brief: Pucker Up!

Why is Hershey’s little bite of chocolate called a “kiss?” Candy kisses were available long before Hershey claimed the name and became the best seller.

The Hershey Company introduced its flattened, teardrop-shaped Chocolate Kisses in 1907. These were bits of milk chocolate, individually hand-wrapped in squares of aluminum foil (to allow people to carry the candies without fear of melting). There was nothing special about the name as many other candy companies offered “kisses”or “drops”—in chocolate and in flavors such as cinnamon, molasses and vanilla. But Hershey produced a machine to make theirs.

Further enhancing mass production, Hershey introduced machine wrapping in 1921. This replaced the hand-wrapping part of the process and added the small paper ribbon to the top of the package.

Advertisement for Hershey’s Kisses, 1920.

Hershey’s mass production gave them the edge. And what about the name? A popular theory is that the candy was named for the lip-smacking sound the machinery made as it “kissed” the conveyor belt with a fresh drop of chocolate.

The paper ribbon was trademarked in 1924 but due to “kisses” being a common name for bite-sized candy, Hershey could not trademark the name until 2001. One of the most popular chocolate candies in the U.S., 70 million Hershey’s Kisses are produced every day.