I’m excited to announce that Hershey’s classic 1970’s Rally bar has returned to shelves across the nation! Because of this unexpected-and-groovy news, I’m preempting the start of our Halloween Countdown coverage today to look back at the history of the Hershey Rally bar!
The Hershey Rally bar was first put on sale in 1970 and its initial marketing push is notable as it was done through outdoor advertisements:
Hershey – Rally bar – candy trade announcement news clipping – June 1970
The Rally bar features one of the most striking 1970’s wrapper designs I’ve encountered. With an awesome bit of extruded red type for the logo set upon what becomes a powerful plane of negative white space, it’s one that must have really stood out on store shelves.
I have two different pre-UPC, early 70’s Rally bar wrappers in my collection. The two differentiate themselves by their listed weight:
Hershey’s – Rally – pre-UPC 1.4 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – early 1970’s
Hershey’s – Rally – pre-UPC 1 3/4 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Determining the order and timeline of the Rally pieces in my collection has been difficult for me to do, as the only clear marker of order that I can draw upon is whether the wrappers are pre or post-UPC. I do have two different “printed-on” price wrappers, and with those, my assumption is that the lower-cost version is earlier, but that might not even be the case, as the lower price could have reflected a lower weight. Making things even less clear, the 15-cent wrapper has been trimmed to just the front section:
Hershey’s – Rally – 15-cent 1.2 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Hershey’s – Rally – 20-cent 1.5 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
I also have a 1.2 oz post-UPC Rally wrapper without any printed-on price whatsoever:
Hershey’s – Rally – 1.2 oz chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Rally was a solid part of Hershey’s 1970’s lineup, and even warranted a groovy embroidered patch:
Vintage Rally bar embroidered patch – 1970’s – Image Courtesy Brandon Coker
Rally was even popular enough for Hershey to give it a release north of the border up in Canada, as evidenced by the following wrapper:
Canada – Hershey – Rally – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
It would appear that by 1980, the Rally bar had been discontinued, at least here in the United States.
I suspect that during the ensuing years, the Rally bar found life with Hershey under different names and in different countries. However, the next sighting of an actual Hershey Rally bar occurs in 2004, and comes courtesy of MikesCandyWrappers.com. In spite of it being found in a dollar store in the United States, this bar was clearly intended for some kind of international distribution:
International – Hershey’s – Rally – chocolate bar wrapper – 2004 – Image courtesy MikesCandyWrappers.com
A few years later in 2008, the Rally bar would make its first official-yet-brief return to shelves here in the USA. This time, it would appear possibly exclusively at Hershey World in Pennsylvania and in full 1970’s retro packaging. [Note: I’m not entirely clear on the distribution of this release, but there is evidence that it was exclusive to Hershey-owned retail outlets.]
My friend Cybele over at CandyBlog.net sampled and reviewed the 2008 Rally release at the time. She later sent the empty wrappers to me, and here they are:
Hershey – Rally – 4-pack outer wrapper – limited retro release – 2008
Hershey – Rally – chocolate candy bar wrapper – limited retro release – 2008
And so we’re up to the present and the reason for today’s alert post – the Rally bar has made a triumphant return in 2013.
I first heard the news in a voicemail from my lovely mother on Saturday night. She said she “found a new Hershey Rally candy bar” at her local Walgreens store. I wasn’t aware that Rally bar was making a comeback, but after the initial scoop from my mother and a trip to my nearby Walgreens store, I had them in hand.
I followed that up with an e-mail to my contact with the Walgreens corporate candy buyer, who confirmed that this new Rally bar is currently a Walgreens exclusive (though it may only be a “timed exclusive” that could be available everywhere in later months).
So here it is, the wrapper for the 2013 Hershey Rally bar, currently available exclusively at Walgreens stores:
Hershey – Rally – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 2013
The new Rally wrapper design doesn’t take much from the classic 1970’s version, but it’s still a nice-looking package, and it’s awesome to see these back on store shelves.
As I said at the top of today’s post, Rally’s unexpected return was such big news that I felt the need to preempt my CountdownToHalloween kickoff, but it IS October 1st, so I can’t completely drop Halloween for today’s post. With that in mind, here’s a close-up of a Rally bar Juniors Halloween package from a 1972 trade ad:
Rally – Halloween Juniors package image from trade advertisement – June 1972
And speaking of Rally Juniors, I have a 1970’s wrapper for one of those right here:
Hershey’s – Rally – Juniors size chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
And that’s everything for today’s coverage of the Return of Hershey’s Rally bar. Stop back tomorrow for the kickoff of our 2013 CountdownToHalloween coverage – it’s going to be a lot of fun!
See you next time!
ahhh the Rally bar – reminds me of the scene in Caddy Shack – sure, that was a Baby Ruth – but it looks very similar
I try to have a Rally every morning after my coffee and whilst reading the paper (yup, I still read the paper)
I’m glad Hershey is pushing these out again – I’ve been pushing them out for years!
I did see these at Walgreen’s over the weekend and picked one up. Of course I can’t compare it to the previous version, but it appears the ingredients are different. I was also a little surprised at how Hershey’s logo isn’t displayed at all. You have to fold over the wrapper on the back to reveal it.
how do i get some of these im gonna try walgreen ty
Sadly, this limited edition re-release was most recently available in early 2014, but not again since.
I’ve not had a Rally before – it looks like a chocolate covered PayDay, which appeared briefly about six or seven years ago and was quite nice.
I grabbed one at Walgreens last night as part of a .49 cent Hershey’s promotion and decided to google the name since it had the ring of a “throwback” to me. I was born in 1980 so I’d never had a Rally, but I liked this one. I’ll have to go snag some more at that price. I’m glad I found your blog through this candy purchase!
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Though I’ve cut way back on carb, I will take a carb hit for this. I’m going to enjoy mine tomorrow!
What a big disappointment. It tastes and looks to me almost exactly like a Baby Ruth.
I don’t remember them tasting like a Baby Ruth. Oh well, Mars bars and Three Muskateers don’t taste like they use to either.
No it does NOT!
This bar has been produced in Canada for as long as I can remember. You can also find it in large bags of Halloween small bars, as OH Henry bars made by Hershey. The OH Henry bars made by Nestle in the US , SUCK ! OH Henry bars are my favorite bar. I was amazed to find that as stated you usually only find them labelled Rally bars, or in Halloween bags here in the US. I will be grabbing a box of them every cross boarder trip I make from now on.
Where can I find some Rally in the red wrapper! I brought them at Walgreens last December and Walgreens hasn’t had anymore since. So, where else are they locate here in Xenia, Ohio!
Faye,
Unfortunately, I believe these were a limited run Walgreens exclusive. So for the time being, they’ve run their course. I don’t know if they’ll be returning.
bummer 🙁 but thank you Jason.
I just found the Rally bars at a Walgreens in TN. They were on clearance for a quarter each. Guess that means they won’t restock them. Oh well, I bought eight so I can enjoy them for a bit! Thanks for the info-I thought it looked vaguely familiar from my childhood.
I have been eating these bars in Canada since the late 1950’s but always under the name Oh Henry!
How can i get some of these ?
Unfortunately, Debbie, these were only made available as a limited edition and are long gone.
As others have noted, these have been available in Canada as “Oh Henry” bars, which are much better than (and quite different from) the American version of “Oh Henry” bars. I used to get the Canadian Oh Henry bars when visiting relatives north of the border as a teen many years ago.
I can’t believe no one mentioned the tv commercials in the 70’s… it was excellent marketing campaign that became a bit of a catchphrase. Characters in the commercial would say “Really?” And the person with the candy bar would reply “No, Rally.” People would sometimes respond the same way in real life to “Really?” America watched all the commercials back then…
Thanks for that recollection and insight, Phil! I’ll have to see if I can track any of those down! -Jason
What is the difference between Rally’s, Oh Henry and Baby Ruth? I wanted to do a comparison but don’t think it’s worth ordering Oh Henry from Canada. Thanks Deb