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Hershey’s chocolate syrup was created in the 1920s as The Hershey Company was looking for new products to expand into.
Milton S. Hershey developed the syrup to meet growing demand from households and soda fountains looking for a fast way to make drinkable milk chocolate.
To stay fresh, the syrup needed to stay cold. The product was launched alongside the emergence of the refrigerator.
Its stable formula allowed consumers to easily add chocolate flavor to milk, desserts, and ice cream at home.
Hershey marketed their Chocolate Syrup as a health supplement in the 1930s.
Their advertising positioned it as a nutritional aid designed to entice children to consume milk. They claimed it provided “energy” and promoted “strong bones.”
This was before rigorous food advertising regulations were common, as Hershey’s chocolate syrup was high in sugar content.
Urban legend suggests bootleggers used Hershey’s Syrup to mask the harsh taste of homemade moonshine during the 1920s—though Hershey’s never officially endorsed this use.
During Prohibition (1920-1933), bootleggers reportedly mixed Hershey’s chocolate syrup with homemade moonshine to mask its harsh taste.
The syrup helped illegal spirits become more palatable and disguising the distinctive smell from authorities.
The practice became widespread enough to enter American folklore. However, it was never promoted by The Hershey Company.
Bootleggers typically mixed one part chocolate syrup with five parts moonshine, creating what some called “brown lightning.”
In 1973, Hershey’s launched the “Twist” marketing campaign, encouraging consumers to pour chocolate syrup onto bizarre food like mashed potatoes, meatloaf, and vegetables.
The marketing strategy failed when parents objected to advice.
In 1983, Hershey’s shifted from glass to plastic squeeze bottles for its chocolate syrup.
Younger people embraced the practicality of plastic’s controlled dispensing and break resistance. However, old-timers missed the distinctive sound and substantial feel of glass packaging.
The 1984 horror-comedy film Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante and produced by Steven Spielberg, featured a memorable kitchen scene where a gremlin attacks Mrs. Peltzer with a Hershey’s Syrup bottle.
The product placement became an iconic moment in the film’s marketing history, leading to a fan tradition where enthusiasts mail Hershey’s Syrup bottles to Dante as memorabilia.
In 2013, The Hershey Chocolate Company collaborated with Pittsburgh-based charity Feed the Children to mix a record-setting 5,000-gallon batch of chocolate milk in Smith Center, Kansas.
The chocolate milk required over 300 gallons of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup blended with fresh milk.
It earned the official Guinness World Record certification as the largest chocolate milk serving ever produced.
Organizers divided out chocolate milk to the crowd after the feat.
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