Giving through the Ages

Ready to be heartwarmed?” (HersheyMission) This type of phrase isn’t normally associated with marketing and advertisement tactics of the twenty-first century. In today’s world, some of the most successful ad campaigns are ones that center around humor, sex, want, and pity. However, go to the Hershey’s website, look at their mission statement, and this phrase is the first thing that will grab your attention. Displayed in a playful, old-fashioned font against a light plumb background, the white letters practically demand one’s attention. Strategically positioned at eye level, it is the first thing the eye is drawn to and the unexpected question leaves a person wanting to know more. Just below the ?? phrase, sits a little blub about a man named Bob Williams and tells how he has been sharing Hershey’s products with his neighbors, friends and strangers for over fifteen years. (paraphrase) The message of sharing and giving has been one the Hershey’s company has been spreading throughout the world for over a century. It started with the founder, Milton Hershey, and although the type of products the Hershey company has advertised over the decades has changed, his message of giving and sharing has remained consistent.

Born in 1876, Milton Hershey was thirty-seven years old years old when he began what would be one of the most successful chocolate companies in the world. Priced at only five cents per chocolate bar, the Hershey Company netted one million dollars in its first year in operation. The money was rolling in, and Milton Hershey started giving it away in very big ways. He built a small city around his factory and sponsored a nationwide contest to name it. He opened what today is Hershey Park, and built the largest free zoo of that time. In the midst of the Great Depression, he created over six hundred jobs while building the Hershey Hotel and gave away $100,000 to the five churches in his town with instructions to use the money to help people in need. In 1935 he created the M.S. Hershey Foundation and in 1942 he was the money behind a stunning botanical garden. Among all these things are about a dozen other smaller side projects that he established for the benefit of the community, but none was as profound as the orphanage he built on his land in 1909 named the Hershey Industrial School. It would be this school that Milton Hershey would gift his entire $60 million fortune to. There can be no question that the Hershey Company’s founder was putting out a strong message in his community about and being kind to others. It is this message that his company continues to share with the world through their advertising mediums.

Throughout the decades the Hershey Company has constantly included a message of love and giving in their ads. An example of this can be seen in this ad from 1980. Here is shown a mom and daughter in what appears to be a heartfelt moment. The background is simple and plain to keep the reader’s attention on the mom and daughter who are smiling at each other. The little girl’s barrette is glowing, signifying an angelic element of innocence, as she holds onto her very first Hershey’s chocolate bar. According to the text, this is a tradition being passed down through the generations from mom to daughter and is symbolic of how the Hershey Company keeps passing down Milton Hershey’s message of giving through advertising.

Marketing and advertisements have changed a great deal from what was put out in 1980 verses today’s standards, and that is because society has changed right along with it. While the Hershey Company has kept up with the times by updating the format of their ads to be able to blend into today’s lifestyles, their message of sharing their products in kindness has stayed the same. If the ad from 1980 was altered to match the values of today’s society, the message wouldn’t change, but the image would. Instead of mom and daughter sharing a quiet moment in the foyer of their home, it would probably show them inside of a sport utility vehicle after making a grocery haul and the mom handing back a Hershey bar to her smiling daughter in the back seat as she drives down the road. The little girl’s plaid outfit would be replaced by fashion tights and her saddle shoes would get swapped out for My Little Pony sneakers. The mom’s outfit would also see an update and would include jeans and a comfortable-looking top. Her hair would be piled on top of her head in a messy bun and she would be smiling back as she looked at her daughter in the rear-view. Changes like these would be necessary for the ad to be relevant to the chaotic pace of today’s world.

Advertisements have had to change a lot to keep up with trends throughout the decades, but even today, Milton Hershey’s acts of philanthropy continue to inspire his company to pass down his message of giving to its consumers. Quite moments of pause are not relatable anymore and neither would be that scene in the ad from 1980.

However, replacing dark hardwood floors and plain walls with plush, grey interior and large windows that show the world zooming past would be a different story. 

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