Tales of a Shrink

According to a Hershey's press release, Jay Cooper (Hershey's Vice President of Chocolate) says about the new Kissables: "They're just plain fun-able." I wish I had been at this press conference, because I would have risen up on my hind legs and asked, "Excuse me, Mr Candy Maker, but what the hell does 'fun-able' mean? And, if I can ask a follow-up question, why isn't Hershey's marketing candy by saying that it tastes good?"

Since Mr. Cooper is unlikely to answer my questions, let me answer them myself. First, "fun-able" is not a word. And it doesn't bode well that the candy maker from Pennsylvania is making up words; it's hard to imagine Godiva of Ghirardelli making new words to market their chocolate.

Second, Hershey's isn't marketing this candy based on its taste because... well, there's nothing new or interesting in regards to taste here. The little candies are obviously an attempt to compete with M&Ms. But Kissables don't taste like M&Ms--instead, they taste almost exactly like Cadbury's mini-eggs, a product traditionally available at Easter time. Cadbury is owned by Hershey's, so I can't help but wonder if this is an attempt to take an already popular candy and increase Hershey's sales.

I really don't blame Hershey's for that. I think that the Kissables are slightly too sweet, which I think could be easily corrected by using darker chocolate to compensate for the sweetness of the candy coating. (Of course, Hershey's won't correct this, but hey--I have to keep my clinical skills fresh.) Other than that, I found them enjoyable.