# To what demographic does a Hershey bar appeal?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794 "2014-08-18T00:33:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/21 "2014-08-18T01:49:41Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I have no idea how there could be a human being who can put a hershey bar in their mouth and not thing it’s delicious. It’s not as delicious as toblerone though. While I’ve been researching this over the past few mintues, I’ve come across [this](http://nitecloak.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/hersheys-classic-milk-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit/) which suggests that US eaters are just used to the taste of butyric acid and don’t notice it as much as folks from outside the US. If you scroll down, you’ll see that OP was inspired by [this blog post](http://nitecloak.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/hersheys-classic-milk-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit/), and if you read the comments, you’ll see there’s quite a few human beings who have good reasons not to think it’s delicious, and the detection of this flavor may be culture-dependent. Doesn’t really explain my case, as I grew up in the US on Hershey’s. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/22 "2014-08-18T01:49:43Z")
There is no bad chocolate. There is good chocolate, and better chocolate. Hershey’s might not be better chocolate, but it is good chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/23 "2014-08-18T02:15:46Z")
The worst I can say about Hershey’s is that it’s unexciting. I’d rather have darker chocolate, peanuts or peanut butter accompaniment, or what have you. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/24 "2014-08-18T02:35:54Z")
I have never actually noticed the butyric acid thing. I can’t get past the waxy/sandy texture any more. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/25 "2014-08-18T02:38:12Z")
It is not just a matter of taste it is texture too. Hershey bars (and kisses, etc.) are _gritty_. Hershey’s are quite capable of making decent chocolate - the Symphony, only a little more expensive, is quite acceptable - but the basic Hershey bar, belagh! ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/26 "2014-08-18T03:04:06Z")
Hershey’s is available here in Singapore, and everyone I know avoids it. We have the good fortune to have European, Japanese and American food available here (Cadbury and Nestle are kings of supermarket chocolate here, used to be van Houten), and everyone I know avoids Hershey’s. Everyone I know says it’s because of that “coconut” taste that the chocolate has, and I believe that’s just a more charitable explanation of the “vomit” taste referred to upthread. Only Hershey’s has that taste, and we don’t know why. I had thought that it was due to some palm oil additive… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/27 "2014-08-18T03:09:30Z")
I’ve noticed the weird after-taste, but I don’t know that I’ve only ever noticed it with a Hershey bar. Like, I’m familiar with what you’re describing but I don’t know if I notice it just when I eat Hershey or if it’s any chocolate. Anyway…I’m a boring middle-class white person from Ohio and Hershey’s chocolate is all I know. So it may appeal to my demographic? Ok I actually know [Malley’s chocolate](http://www.malleys.com/) too since it’s a Cleveland company but to me chocolate is chocolate and the difference is in the price and the accouterments. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/28 "2014-08-18T03:29:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I actually like Hershey’s bars just fine (and sometimes I crave one), but they do have a subtle, oddball vomit taste to them, so it’s pretty easy for me to see why some people would think they’re terrible (besides the mouthfeel/textural issues and the like). Apparently, it’s caused by a part of their chocolate process that makes butyric acid. It’s only in their milk chocolate products that I notice this taste (and it wasn’t until about five years ago that I noticed it at all. One day I was sitting and getting into a Hershey’s bar and noted a faint, but distinct, undertone of vomit to it. Wondering if I was going crazy, I googled it, and, apparently, it’s not a unique observation.) This, I’ve only eaten Hershey’s once and the vomit taste was most unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/29 "2014-08-18T03:42:31Z")
I’ll have a Hershey Bar with Almonds once a year or so. They’re better if you put peanut butter on them. As a teen, I liked Hershey Bars with popcorn. I got one of the Hershey’s chocolate bars that’s filled with air (I don’t remember what they call them) out of a machine once. It tasted like cardboard. I sent an email to Hershey with the appropriate product codes and eventually received an email back that essentially said, ‘Sorry.’ No offer of compensation, no coupon; just ‘too bad, so sad.’ ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/30 "2014-08-18T03:47:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There is no bad chocolate. There is good chocolate, and better chocolate. Hershey’s might not be better chocolate, but it is good chocolate. This. I’ll still eat Hershey’s, and I’ve been to Brussels and eaten the Leonidas, Guylian, Callebaut, Neuhaus and Godiva chocolates. I’ve had Cadbury’s and Galaxy in the UK. I’ve had Ghirardelli, I’ve had Lindt, I’ve had Recchiuti from San Francisco, and I’ve had Valhrona and Scharffen Berger prior to the Hershey’s buyout. Know what? They’re all excellent. Know what else? I’ll still eat a Hershey bar without a second thought. They’re still good, even if they’re not in the same league. This is the same argument that beer snobs make to justify not drinking the ABInbev, MolsonCoors or SABMiller products. Their products aren’t bad, they’re just mass-market and not ashamed of it. And as a matter of fact, the mass-market pale lagers are actually technically much more difficult than the double-black-milk-Imperial-Pale-Witbiers or whatever beer the craft guys are making at the moment. I suspect something similar goes on with chocolate- it can’t be easy to make adequate chocolate in the volumes that Hershey’s does. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/31 "2014-08-18T05:42:16Z")
Me! I don’t eat many candy bars, but Hershey’s are definitely up there in the pantheon. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/32 "2014-08-18T06:36:16Z")
I love Hershey’s - then again, I’ve never eaten chocolate I haven’t liked. It has a bit of a “spicy” undertone which I find delicious. I can understand how you’d dislike it if you grew up with a sweeter chocolate like Cadbury’s, though. ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/33 "2014-08-18T06:50:29Z")
There’s a reason why they put them in the checkout stands. The demographic they appeal to most is the hungry impulse shopper. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/34 "2014-08-18T06:58:00Z")
Hershey’s uses soured milk in their milk chocolate. That’s what gives it that distinct flavor that some people like and some hate. Hershey’s dark chocolate tastes more like other chocolates. Hershey’s is cheap, which I’m sure is one reason it sells. Personally, I’d rather eat a little bit of really good chocolate than a lot of mediocre chocolate. I try not to eat much candy, but when I buy a chocolate bar it will be something like Lindt, not something like Hershey’s. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/35 "2014-08-18T07:41:24Z")
Love the Hershey’s Special Dark!. At Halloween, back when I could eat such things, I would get the Hershey’s variety bags for the trick or treaters, and pull out all the Special Darks for myself. Sorry, kids! ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/36 "2014-08-18T10:43:24Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I _will not, cannot_ eat that shit. Could you, would you, off a tit? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/37 "2014-08-18T11:02:16Z")
Try some [Cacoa Nibs](http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2010/06/what-to-do-with-cocoa-nibs-recipes-chocolate.html): dried, fermented cocoa beans. They have a slightly sour taste too. That may have influenced Milton Hershey to replicate that tone in his candy (or maybe it was that daily box of cigars that killing his taste buds). ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/38 "2014-08-18T11:30:08Z")
I’ve gone to the dark side, and avoid chocolate with dairy in it any more. I’ll try a piece of Hershey’s once in a while, like if someone is sharing kisses or something, and they’re kind of like a sandy chocolate flavored wax to me. I really don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/39 "2014-08-18T11:46:12Z")
Which demographic? The American demographic who grew up eating Hershey Bars. For many Americans, Hershey’s is the baseline chocolate, the standard, the one that all other chocolates are judged against. If you just want a chocolate bar, nothing fancy, you pick up a Hershey bar. Now, if you did not grow up with Hershey chocolate, I can understand why you would feel it is somehow wrong. But you would be mistaken, and guilty of “How can anyone like something I don’t like”-ism in the first degree. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/40 "2014-08-18T12:44:03Z")
I think a Hershey’s kiss tastes better than a Hershey’s bar, but I like them both. I’ve always thought Hershey’s chocolate to be better than Nestle’s, so I prefer the Krackel to the Crunch. So it ain’t Godiva, but it’s chocolate and I can afford it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794.md?page=3)