Hershey’s Kisses iconic holiday commercial gets a big makeover
The classic holiday ad featuring a hand bell choir of Hershey’s Kisses ringing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” has found a different rhythm this holiday season.
The l o ngest- r unning commercial for the Hershey brand — 31 years and counting — now features a little R&B to go with those bells.
The new 15-second spot, which will air on broadcast for the first time Nov. 23, depicts the familiar ringing Kisses at the start, but they start to get pulled away by a little girl baking cookies. She giggles as she tops each warm Peanut Butter Blossom with Hershey’s Kisses.
Hershey’s says the change came about because it was the cookies topped with Kisses that were always the real icon, warming hearts and homes each season. The evolution is the company’s way of honoring holiday baking traditions.
The ad had not changed since its inception, apart from an update to high-definition CGI animation in 2016 and, in 2018, a digital extension online where one could play the bells and create a new tune.
It remains the longest-running commercial for the Hershey brand.
The bells ad joins other beloved holiday ads to get a makeover in recent years. In 2012, the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Snowfall” commercial was redone as a shot-by-shot match of the original, but in high definition and a widescreen format.
Mars M&M’s “Christmas
Faint” ad had been running since 1996, leaving a 20-year cliffhanger until the company released a sequel in 2017.
Other favorites have endured. Campbell’s Soup “Snowman” has remained untouched since 1993, featuring a snowman eating chicken noodle soup until he melts and a grinning child appears. The camera zooms in as a jazzy rendition of “Let It Snow” plays in the background.
Christmas lights have been going up well ahead of schedule in this pandemic-darkened year, but some traditionalists cling to just that — tradition. Having commissioned its own study in which 74% of bakers say baking is a favorite thing to do for the holidays, Hershey’s hopes the changes this year will become a new favorite part of the holiday season.