Hershey’s Kissables
Mini-Kisses That Traded Foil for a Candy Shell
Forgotten Food & Drinks · 2005–2009
Archived on
Region
United States; Canada; New Zealand
Associated With
The Hershey Company - brand owner
Defining Feature
Miniature Kiss-shaped sweets with coloured candy shells instead of foil wrappers
Status
Discontinued - reported in early 2009
Overview
Hershey’s Kissables turned miniature Kisses into colourful candy-coated sweets sold in a small packet.
Introduced in December 2005, they kept the pointed Kiss shape but swapped each piece’s foil for a shell, so the sweets could be tipped from the single-serve packet instead of unwrapped one by one.
Hershey still listed Kissables in the United States and Canada in 2008. That year, a packet comparison documented a change from “milk chocolate” to “chocolate candy” wording. A later update reported that the line was discontinued in early 2009.
Why It Mattered
The familiar Kiss shape moved from an individually wrapped chocolate to a handful of candy-coated sweets. Keeping that recognisable shape connected the new product to Kisses, while the shell and shared packet changed how people could eat it.
Packaging and Formula
- A preserved early wrapper reads “candy coated milk chocolate” and gives a net weight of 1.5 ounces (42 g), with nutrition and ingredient panels on the reverse.
- A firsthand comparison dated 7 August 2008 documented a change from “Candy Coated Milk Chocolate” to “Chocolate Candy” and transcribed vegetable oil in the newer ingredients.
- The newer ingredient transcription still listed cocoa butter, so it does not document its complete removal from the product.
The Portability Campaign
- Post Magazine’s April 2006 production account describes an energetic, portability-led campaign combining flat character animation with more dimensional computer-generated candy imagery.
- The account credits agency creatives Steve Garbett and Steve Mark, director and designer Roger Chouinard, animator Laura Sasso and editor Melissa Timme.
- In July 2006, Hershey grouped Kissables with dark-chocolate and refreshment products as major contributors to second-quarter sales performance, without providing separate Kissables figures.
Markets and Withdrawal
- Hershey’s 2008 Form 10-K listed Kissables under the US Kisses franchise and among its principal Canadian products.
- A photograph taken on 3 April 2007 documents a Kissables packet encountered in New Zealand, but not a formal launch there.
- A later, undated update to a 2008 Candy Blog comparison says Kissables was discontinued in early 2009; no original Hershey withdrawal notice or exact end date is available.
Sources & Records
The Hershey Company 2006 Summary Annual Report
Original 2006 summary report preserved. Relevant PDF pages 13–15 visually inspected; printed page 13/PDF 15 discusses Kissables as a single-serve extension. Promotional consumer quotations are not independent satisfaction surveys. Reese’s Crispy Crunchy claims on same page are a different product.
2005 Kissables: original front-and-back wrapper scan
Original 700 by 678 JPEG scan individually visually read, including front descriptor, nutrition, ingredient text and Hershey Pennsylvania address. Host year attribution is not a batch-date reading. Printed ingredient order differs in detail from the later reviewer’s old-packet transcription; no single formula assumed for every batch. Host’s 2009 end date is retrospective, not a withdrawal notice.
The Hershey Company 2008 Form 10-K: product lists
Original 116-page PDF preserved. Relevant printed pages 2–3/PDF 3–4 read. Lists Kissables under the US Kisses franchise and separately Canada. A year-end product list does not establish a later exact discontinuation day or cause.
Products chronology: introduction of Hershey’s Kissables
Relevant chronology entry directly read from original HTML. Archive dates introduction to December 2005 and explicitly does not supply a day. This is a later institutional chronology, not a contemporary receipt or broadcast log.
Hershey announces record third quarter and nine-months results from operations
Original filed company release downloaded; relevant opening, performance, forthcoming-products and outlook passages read. Kissables introduction was forthcoming in October. Whole-company results and costs are not Kissables-only results or proof of a later recipe decision.
Hershey 2006 second-quarter earnings release
Relevant original performance and innovation passages read. Company identifies dark chocolate, refreshment and Kissables collectively as contributors. No isolated Kissables revenue, profitability or independently audited product success rate stated.
Kissables? — period packet photograph
Original Flickr page, exact image and licence links inspected. Photographer says first encountered in New Zealand; this image is not a US shop/launch photograph. Original page explicitly links CC BY-SA 2.0; terms separately read. Copyright licence covers the photograph, not a claim of trademark endorsement.
Cover story: Competing with a candy giant
Complete substantive original article read. Contemporary participant interviews identify North Castle and Duck personnel, design, animation and commercial intent. Focus-group and creative-success language is participant assessment; raw tests and sales attribution not recovered. Article describes a 30-second production, not necessarily the 15-second surviving upload.
Substantial indexed article text directly read, including old/new label transcriptions, personal comparison and later update. Original HTTPS fetch fails certificate verification and web open502. Saved capture is labelled researcher notes, not original HTML or independently inspected 2008 packet photographs. One unblinded taste comparison; no regulator ruling or representative consumer trial.
Gallery
Credit
Sarah-Rose (ohsarahrose), “Kissables?”, 3 April 2007
Caption
Photographed in New Zealand in 2007, these milk-chocolate Kissables replaced each Kiss’s foil with a candy shell, letting the pointed miniatures be tipped from one 1.5-ounce packet rather than unwrapped individually.