Halloween Hershey’s Kisses!

Today is the start of New York Comic Con 2012, and I’ll be attending over the next three days, so I may introduce a bit of brevity into the next few posts… if I can.   With that bit of news out of the way, let me present today’s topic: Hershey’s Halloween-inspired Kisses!

Special flavors and versions of Hershey’s Kisses have been coming out for some time, though the last ten years has seen an explosion of limited editions and exotic flavor offerings.  The first time I noticed a direct tie-in to Halloween was when I spotted Candy Corn flavored Kisses back in 2007.   My good friend Cybele of CandyBlog did a nice write up of Candy Corn Hershey Kisses at the time, and today I’ll be sharing the packaging piece I have for them in my collection:

Hershey – Hershey Kisses Candy Corn Flavor – 100th Anniversary package – October 2007

As it turned out, whatever candy corn formulation Hershey put together for those Kisses, it never really caught on.   But that didn’t scare them away from trying something special for the Halloween holiday.  The following year, Hershey unveiled Pumpkin Spice flavor Kisses, featuring a festive Halloween-themed package:

Hershey – Hershey Kisses Pumpkin Spice Flavor – candy package – October 2008

I remember buying that package of Pumpkin Spice Kisses at Target (I think they may have been Target-exclusives that first year) and I’ll admit to becoming instantly enamored with the flavor — they were great!  Fortunately this flavor caught on and has become an annual part of Hershey’s seasonal Kisses lineup.

Though they’ve become a bit of a tradition, the packaging quickly evolved.  As other products have recently started to do, Pumpkin Spice Kisses moved to a more Fall-themed packaging look, in order to avoid being clearanced out on November 1st. More and more, retailers and manufacturers are trying to find a balance between appealing to Halloween enthusiasm, while still remaining relevant further into Fall.   Here’s the package that they’ve had for the past few years:

Hershey – Hershey Kisses Pumpkin Spice Flavor – candy package – October 2011

So Hershey didn’t find their Halloween Kisses sweet spot right away, but they eventually did get it with their pumpkin spice flavor.   Maybe with the recent success of Candy Corn M&M’s and Candy Corn Oreo’s, they’ll take another crack at a reformulated Candy Corn Hershey’s Kiss.  You never know!

And that’s everything for today’s entry.  I’m off to day one of NYCC 2012!  See you next time!

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Today’s post has been part of CollectingCandy.com’s Countdown to Halloween.  To check out other sites celebrating Halloween all month long, check out the official Halloween Countdown site.