I rarely eat candy bars. I didn’t even when I was a kid. Practically the only time I purchase them are a) at Halloween and b) when my wife needs them to make her famous toffee. I thought it might be fun to consider their history and how they’ve changed over the years.
The grand-daddy of all commercial candy bars sold today in the U. S. is, of course, the humble Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar. It was first produced in 1900 and so is a newcomer relative to the English Fry’s solid chocolate bar (1847). It sold for a nickel, a price it held for more than 50 years, but its weight fluctuated with the cost of chocolate. In 1969 the price was increased to a dime and that was just the start of the price increases. They’re typically $1.59 now.
The Baby Ruth was introduced in 1920 and contrary to what you might think it wasn’t named after the ballplayer but after Grover Cleveland’s daughter, Ruth. It originally cost a nickel, too.
The Butterfinger bar was introduce in the nickel candy bar market in 1923.
The Milky Way was introduced in 1923, too. It was named for milkshakes.
The Snickers bar was introduced in 1930. It was named after a horse.
The story of 3 Musketeers is a bit interesting. As originally introduced in 1932 it consisted of three pieces sold in the same package: one chocolate-flavored, one strawberry-flavored, and one vanilla-flavored. That changed during the war due to restrictions on sugar. It has always been sold as shareable. When I was a kid, the slogan was “Big Enough for a Pal and You”. I can probably still sing the jingle used to advertise it on the Howdy Doody program.
You could probably write a history of American mass-merchandising just around candy bars.
Stephen J Gould in 1983 published an amusing article in the NY Times (later anthologized in Hen’s Teeth and Horses’s Toes) talking about the diminishing size of Hershey Bars.
27 years ago I played Den Leader to six cub scouts one of them my own son.
At summer camp a relay race was organized using a Butterfinger bar as the baton.
The funny catch was the race wasn’t over until the baton delivered to the Den Leader, was completely chewed and swallowed. I didn’t know but I found out that can’t be done quickly. Butterfinger soaks up all saliva and there you sit with your teeth stuck together while the boys laugh.