# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/41 "2014-08-18T12:53:21Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hershey bars, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! :o This. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/42 "2014-08-18T12:55:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hershey bars, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! :o This. I have days when Hershey’s is what gets me _through_ the day. ---
**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, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/43 "2014-08-18T14:37:11Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > 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. I grew up with it. My guess was that the quality has gone down since the 1970s. I _could_ be wrong, however. ---
**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, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/44 "2014-08-18T14:44:00Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Could you, would you, off a tit? Depends on the tit, but yeah, show me some options. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/45 "2014-08-18T14:54:03Z")
Just to keep a sense of perspective, remember that many of the people overseas who criticize Hershey’s chocolate also don’t like peanut butter. 😛 > [@pulykamell](#): > > Apparently, it’s caused by a part of their chocolate process that makes butyric acid. > [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Hershey’s uses soured milk in their milk chocolate. That’s what gives it that distinct flavor that some people like and some hate. Googling these claims suggests urban legend to me. I’ve been unable to find anything authoritative. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/46 "2014-08-18T15:16:11Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > 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. Yes, hershey’s only sin is that it is boring. If the problem is simply that you’ve tried it and you don’t like it, and you continue to try it and you continue to not like it, I’m hard-pressed to blame Hershey for that. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/47 "2014-08-18T15:39:34Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > So who eats Hershey’s now (I’m referring to the standard bar; the company also makes other products like Symphony that are at least OK)? If you are a chocolate lover, definitely not, I would say. But if you are not a chocolate lover, why would you bother? Just pop some Skittles or something. > > ! Hershey’s is a US brand. Going by your skittles remark I am thinking you are British or some variant of nonCanadian Colonial. Let me 'splain - Hershey’s milk chocolate has a slightly soured milk and scorch undertone to the flavor because when the original Hershey’s milk chocolate was developed the milk used was slightly soured and the cooking process gave it that slightly burnt flavor. Since it is what the generic we the US kids grew up with, it is normal to us. The fancier Swiss made milk chocolates didn’t have the same sour burnt flavor profile so that is what the Europeans grew up with. It is all in what you grew up with. \ I don’t happen to like hazelnuts mixed in with my chocolate so I don’t get the whole nutella-lust thing going on. [URL=“[http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/](http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)”] ---
**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, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/48 "2014-08-18T15:41:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Googling these claims suggests urban legend to me. I’ve been unable to find anything authoritative. You’re right that there isn’t anything definitive. The speculation (as it’s a trade secret) is that the milk is partially lipolized, which is what gives it its distinctive sour twang. Regardless of how it’s achieved, there’s a distinctive sourness/tang of their milk chocolate that is not present in any other chocolates that I (and many others) have noticed. ---
**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, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/49 "2014-08-18T15:44:22Z")
[This is the best I can find](http://books.google.com/books?id=GDE-szZfkSUC&pg=PA108&lpg=PA108&dq=hershey%27s+milk+chocolate+process+sour&source=bl&ots=wN4yWGaanc&sig=bVbZ2OgUWePlwz6hp51qbmXwq-4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4h7yU4TFD5KQyASGxIGYBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hershey's%20milk%20chocolate%20process%20sour&f=false) so far, from a biography of Hershey. > [@](#): > > Fro the very beginning, Hershey’s milk chocolate has had a distinctive flavor. It is sweet, like the others, but it also carries a single, faintly sour note. This slight difference is caused by the fermentation of milk fat, an unexpected side effect of Schmalbach’s process. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/50 "2014-08-18T15:49:05Z")
I don’t really get the Hershey hatred. That said, I’ve lived in the US for a long time now so may I acquired the taste. I can’t distinguish it from Whitman’s or Russell Stover or other US-made chocolate. What I do know is that I’ve never met anyone in real life who said they loved Hershey chocolate but had tried anything else. I gave my wife her first Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (which is, let’s face it, not supposed to be anything fancy) and when she tried it her eyes lit up like she had been let out of prison for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/51 "2014-08-18T15:56:50Z")
I doubt the quality has declined over the years. It’s just that we have access to better chocolate now than when Hershey’s was formulating its bar. Even Dove Chocolate, which is available pretty much anywhere Hershey’s is, is far superior. However, Hershey’s will keep making Hershey’s Bars as long as people buy them, just like other candies with unexplainable followings … cf. threads on Circus Peanuts and Peeps. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/52 "2014-08-18T16:13:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t really get the Hershey hatred. Oh I get it. People love to hate whatever is popular, and thanks to the internet, we all become aware of it. Some people are really adept at making _you_ seem to be the wrong, uncultured, _ordinary_ even, for liking things that happen to be popular. It’s the thinking that, if it is popular, it CANNOT be good. Where does that come from? I feel that, if something is say, the number 1 brand, it is “good” by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/53 "2014-08-18T16:18:07Z")
I can assert with some confidence that _Blurred Lines_ was not the best song of 2013, even if it was the year’s best selling single. ---
**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, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/54 "2014-08-18T16:27:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Really Not All That Bright** : > > What I do know is that I’ve never met anyone in real life who said they loved Hershey chocolate but had tried anything else. I’d moderate that statement to “…said they loved Hershey _most_”, and probably also require that they have tried a variety of others. There are certainly brands that I like better than Hershey’s, but there are also brands that I like less. I find that I like Hershey’s better than Nestle, for instance, and if somebody had only tried those two, they might reasonably call Hershey’s the best chocolate they’d had. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/55 "2014-08-18T16:32:31Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I doubt the quality has declined over the years. It’s just that we have access to better chocolate now than when Hershey’s was formulating its bar. Even Dove Chocolate, which is available pretty much anywhere Hershey’s is, is far superior. In what way is chocolate “better” now than a hundred years ago? And how can something that’s purely a matter of individual taste be “superior”? I like Swiss chocolate, I like Belgian chocolate, I like Cadbury’s chocolate, and I like Hershey’s chocolate. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/56 "2014-08-18T16:41:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I can assert with some confidence that _Blurred Lines_ was not the best song of 2013, even if it was the year’s best selling single. I see you point, but I should have clarified. I meant things like beer. If Bud is the most popular brand, then it is “good”, because when people drink it, they like it. For whatever reason they drink beer, they enjoy Bud. So to them it is a “good” beer. When the beer snobs come out and list any of the myriad ways that Bud doesn’t measure up to what _they_ think beer should be, they make two mistakes. They think their tastes are all that matter (how _dare_ people like something I don’t) and they think there is a definite absolute standard of “beer”. When Busch spent all that time perfecting what he thought was the ‘perfect’ beer, one could argue he was right. The ones arguing he was a sellout are the ones making bitter beers, or beers with more unique flavors, that they like but not enough others do. Note: I don’t prefer Bud. It IS too bland for me. But I’m not going around telling people they are wrong for liking it, either. That’s the blessing and the curse of the modern American marketplace. There are more choices available than you can do anything with, but there are always people who try to make you feel inferior for not liking what they like. Why can’t we all get along? Here, let me buy you a Hershey bar!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/57 "2014-08-18T16:42:58Z")
I consider myself a chocolate connoisseur. I mix mine own hot-cocoa powder for everyday use, and I’ve made various types of choco bars/fudge for fun. I even did chocolate blind-taste party once. (Got a theobromine hangover from it too.) Anyone who rejects Hershey’s as low-quality simply doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Their own personal tastes are preventing them from objectively evaluating the chocolate. I think there’s also a “it’s popular so I’ll reject it” component as well. Hershey bars are not low quality. Low quality chocolate has paraffin in it, sometimes a lot. (Mexican and east-Asian brands are especially guilty of this.) Hershey’s does not. Hershey’s does have a unique taste and mouthfeel. That’s a good thing; it’s a sin to think of chocolate as a commodity. Cadbury and Lindt also have their unique qualities as well. Ghiradelli is rather generic, to my taste. It’s fine to have a favorite brand or bar. Simple-minded rejection of Hershey’s demonstrates an unsophisticated palate–more like a toddler than a snob. /rant ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/58 "2014-08-18T16:43:56Z")
Old people who buy the same brand no matter how much it starts sucking. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/59 "2014-08-18T17:00:09Z")
I’m not a huge fan of Hershey’s anymore, but there’s no denying its cultural import. Nobody ever suffered the Godiva squirts, or took a trip down the Ghirardelli Highway. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794/60 "2014-08-18T18:31:34Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I see you point, but I should have clarified. I meant things like beer. If Bud is the most popular brand, then it is “good”, because when people drink it, they like it. For whatever reason they drink beer, they enjoy Bud. So to them it is a “good” beer. > > \ > > Note: I don’t prefer Bud. It IS too bland for me. But I’m not going around telling people they are wrong for liking it, either. But there is an objective element here. Budweiser (and in all probability Hershey’s too) is constantly reformulated to broaden its appeal. The trick is not to appeal to the most palates; it’s to make the beer drinkable to the most palates. Budweiser tastes the way it does _because it’s designed to appeal to people who don’t like beer_. This process might be uniquely American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-what-demographic-does-a-hershey-bar-appeal/695794.md?page=4)