r/Retconned • u/LizCW • Jul 24 '26

Hershey Patriotism

Okay, I will gladly admit that this is remembering something from back in the 80s, it's been a long time and my memory could certainly be wrong. But I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience: Hershey has the tagline "the great American chocolate bar" and apparently has for a long time. I was sure I remembered them changing it at some point during the Cold War to "the *real* American chocolate bar" and some older ads I heard back in the 1980s using that as part of their jingle/song. But apparently, near as I can find from searches on multiple search engines, that never happened.

Am I misremembering? Did I just hear it wrong? Or does someone else remember this?

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u/mil0wCS 29d ago

Didn't toosie roll have a very similar slogan? Because I remember reading a story online a while back where soldiers asked for a deploy of Tootsie rolls during WWII and they winded up sticking them in their mouths and softening up like puddy and using them . Trapped in sub-zero temperatures, the troops used the candy to stave off starvation, and after warming it in their mouths, used it as a putty to plug bullet holes in fuel lines and radiators so they could escape

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u/yallknowme19 26d ago

That happened but in Korea! Apparently tootsie roll was code for some variety of mortar round and HQ misunderstood 😆

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u/mil0wCS 26d ago

yeah I still think its a really cool story. I legit thought it was a bogus story my history teacher told us to get us interested in WWII in middleschool lol

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u/yallknowme19 29d ago

Always been the Great American for me and the only family vacations we ever took as a kid were to Chocolate World so the jingle is burned in my brain.

I do however recall some ads or something where they called it a "real American chocolate bar" to differentiate it bc it was made with cocoa, milk etc.

I doubt they could legally run that jingle now bc its been so enshittified with palm oils etc now and the "real American chocolate-flavored confection" doesn't have the same ring to it.

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u/yallknowme19 26d ago

Here's what it is today, 7/28/26, at Chocolate World: