Reese's Pieces

Reese's Pieces are a peanut butter-flavored candy manufactured by The Hershey Company for the North American market. They are circular in shape, and covered in candy shells that are colored either yellow, orange, or brown. Because of this coloring, Reese's Pieces are commonly used in autumn themes (for decoration, promotion, etc.). They can be purchased in plastic packets, cardboard boxes, or cup-shaped travel containers. The candy was introduced in 1978, and launched throughout the United States in 1980.

Reese's Pieces are a product extension of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups line; this new product was designed to capitalize on the success of the chocolate-covered peanut butter cups.

Manufacture

The candies were first manufactured using the panning machines that were left over from the failed "Hershey-ets" project. Designers knew that they wanted a peanut-flavored candy, but had some problems with the filling. Original plans called for filling the candy shells with peanut butter, but the oil leaked out into the shell, leaving it soft, rather than crunchy.

The developer of the project turned the problem over to a team of outside scientists who created a peanut-flavored sugar filling called "penuche". More experimentation was needed to determine the correct thickness of the shell. Finally, the colors of the candy coating was designed to coordinate with the color of the Reese's package.

Timeline

Cultural References

*Steven Spielberg originally approached Mars with the idea of product placement of M&M's in his upcoming movie, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). Mars declined the offer. Spielberg later approached the Hershey Chocolate Company, who turned down the idea of using their flagship product Hershey's Kisses but chose to use Reese's Pieces instead. Immediately after the movie was released, sales of Reese's Pieces increased by 80%.Fact|date=June 2008

*In the Family Guy episodes "Peter's Got Woods" and "Back to the Woods", Reese's Pieces are used to lure actor James Woods to a crate.

*Indie rapper mc chris wrote a song entirely dedicated to the candy entitled "Reese" for his album "mc chris is dead".

References

*cite book | first=Joël Glenn | last=Brenner | year=2000 | title=The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey & Mars | chapter= | editor= | others= | pages= | publisher=Broadway Books | id=ISBN 0-7679-0457-5 | url= | authorlink=

External links

* [http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/reesespieces.asp Official product page]
* [http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Ana5c_t4DH4 Early 90s advertisement]