Hershey's Changed Its Iconic Kisses Christmas Bells Commercial for the First Time in 30 Years

Kristin Salaky
·4 min read
Photo credit: Hershey - YouTube
Photo credit: Hershey - YouTube

From Country Living

You can always tell the holidays are coming up when you see certain iconic commercials start hitting your TV screen again. We're talking about the Coca-Cola polar bears, the red and yellow M&Ms hiding from Santa and, of course, the iconic Hershey's Kisses playing We Wish You A Merry Christmas as a choir of bells. The commercial has run for more than 30 years, and now, the company has changed it up for the first time ever.

The new ad features the choir of Kisses as we're used to, but instead of finishing their song with a flourish and one of the Kisses wiping its "brow" with exhaustion, we see a hand sneak in and snap up one of the Kisses and it pans to a little girl making Peanut Butter Blossoms with her father. The ad is a nod to the fact that Hershey's Kisses were found to be the number one candy brand used in holiday baking ... and for good reason. Like, come on! Have you ever had a Peanut Butter Blossom?!!

Because the ad is SO iconic, and, as we know, people dislike change, when it first premiered in late November, many took to social media and comments sections to complain that the ad they've loved for so many years had been altered.

When asked about some of the negative comments, Hershey's sent a statement to The TODAY Show:

We made the decision to make a slight update to the original that kept the opening holiday melodies and incorporated another holiday tradition, baking—melding together these two time-honored traditions. From playing the bells to baking peanut butter blossoms, it’s Hershey's Kisses that have stood the test of time. For viewers who love the original version—don’t worry, it hasn’t gone away for forever. Our hope this season is that our updated version not only harkens back memories of the original Kisses bells tune but also brings the genuine feeling of heartwarming to life with images of holiday baking between a father and daughter.

They also issued a statement to Delish clarifying that BOTH commercials will be running this season so never fear!

Our Kisses Bells commercial marks the arrival of the holiday season. This year, we kicked off the season airing the original version of the ad on November 9th before introducing our new Kisses holiday ad “Bells to Blossoms” on November 23rd. Our newest ad incorporates the original holiday melodies and another holiday tradition, baking – melding together two time-honored traditions. From playing the bells to baking peanut butter blossoms, it’s Hershey’s Kisses that have stood the test of time.

For viewers who love our original – don’t worry, we’ll be running both holiday ads this season. Keep your eyes peeled for our classic and iconic Bells spot as well as the newest “Bells to Blossoms”.

There were also plenty of people who liked the new ad ... or at least people who didn't notice it had changed in the first place.

So there you have it! One thing we can all agree on is that we should all have some warm Peanut Butter Blossoms on our plates right now!!!!

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