Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are chocolates with a peanut butter flavored filling. They were created in 1928 by Harry Burnett Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey. The H. B. Reese Candy Co., established in the basement of Reese's house in Hershey, Pennsylvania, merged with the Hershey Company in 1963. Reese started making peanut butter cups around 1928, along with other types of candy. [http://www.hersheyarchives.org/ Hershey Community Archives]

Reese's cups are made from milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, nonfat milk, milk fat, lactose, and the emulsifiers, soy lecithin and pgpr), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, salt, and the preservative, tbhq.

Variations

Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are sold in bags of convert|9|oz|g or more. These chocolates come in a brown paper cup wrapped in gold or colored foil. Hershey's also produces "limited editions" of the candy that have included: [cite web |url=http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/reesespeanutbuttercups.asp |title=Reese's product listing |accessdate=2008-05-09]

*"Big Cups" – an oversized version of the traditional cup (also available with nuts and with a combination of nuts and caramel)
*"Peanut Butter Lovers" – a layered cup with top peanut butter layer, thin chocolate layer and peanut butter filling
*"Chocolate Lovers" – a thicker chocolate cup with a thinner layer of peanut butter
*"White Chocolate" – peanut butter filling in a white chocolate cup
*"Inside Out" – chocolate filling in a peanut butter cup (a reversal of the traditional version)
*"Caramel" – the traditional cup with an added layer of caramel filling
*"Marshmallow" – the traditional cup with an added layer of marshmallow filling
*"Peanut Butter & Banana Creme" – a layered cup with top chocolate layer, bottom banana creme layer and peanut butter filling; released in summer 2007 in tribute to Elvis Presley. It was available in standard, Big Cups and Miniatures sizes
*"Crunchy Cookie Cup" – a layered cup with crushed chocolate cookies and peanut butter filling (discontinued as of 1999)
*"Honey Roasted"
*"Dark Chocolate"
*"Hazelnut Cream" - Hazelnut Cream replaces the standard peanut butter filling.

Marketing and advertising

In the United States, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups come in one-, two-, three-, four-, and six-packs in distinctive orange packaging. In Canada, where they are known as Reese Peanut Butter Cups, they come in a standard pack of three cups or the king-size variation with four cups. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, they were originally available only in two-packs, though are now only available in three-packs, imported from Canada. In 2007 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were made available in Denmark by HydroTexaco and 7-Eleven.

In the 1970s and 1980s, a series of commercials was run for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups featuring situations in which two people, one eating peanut butter and one eating chocolate, collided. One person would say, "you got peanut butter in my chocolate" and the other would reply, "you got chocolate in my peanut butter." They would then sample the mixture and remark on the great taste, tying in with the slogan "two great tastes that taste great together." These commercials were widely satirized by various comedians and in various cartoons.

In the 1990s, the product's slogan was: "There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's."

The current slogan, introduced in the mid-2000s, is simply: "Perfect." In July of 2008, Reese's made a commercial stating: "Stop global warming now...or all the Reese's will melt." Another ad stated: "Twins do not want to ever be apart, so eat both of your Reese's."

Other products

Other candy products of the Reese's division of Hershey include: Reese's Pieces, Reese's Pieces with Nuts, Reese's Fast Break, Reese's NutRageous, Reeses Peanut butter bars (with either chocolate or fudge coated), ReeseSticks, Reese's cookies, Reese's brownies, Reese's Swoops, and Reeses Crispy Crunchy Bar, a chocolate bar with 5th Avenue (candy) crisp and Reese's peanut butter.

In September 2007 Hershey's began producing a new Reese's bar called Reese's Whipps. Featuring peanut butter-flavored nougat with a chocolate coating, it has been likened to a peanut butter-flavored 3 Musketeers bar.

Hershey also produces several "pantry" items under the Reese's brand, such as Reese's peanut butter chips (analogous to chocolate chips for baking), Reese's premier baking pieces (tiny cup-shaped pieces of chocolate filled with peanut-butter, also for baking), Reese's jarred peanut butter, and Reese's toppings and sprinkles for ice cream.

Licensed foodstuffs

Hershey licenses the Reese's brand (name, logo, etc.) to various companies for the production of other products beyond the traditional realm of candy. For example, General Mills produces Reese's Puffs, a brand of peanut butter and chocolate flavored breakfast cereal. Several companies, including Breyers, Baskin-Robbins, and Friendly's, produce various licensed Reese's ice cream products.

References

External links

* [http://www.hersheys.com/reeses/ Official Reese's Peanut Butter Cup site]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IfbqYwMYAA 1970s Reese's Peanut Butter Cups TV Commercial]