Hershey’s Logo Evolution: Evaluate the Changes

The short answer

The Hershey’s identity has moved from ornate, illustration-heavy marks in the company’s early decades toward a simplified, bold wordmark, and later toward a flatter visual system. The most widely reported recent change came in 2014, when The Hershey Company introduced an updated identity that included a flattened silhouette of a Hershey’s Kiss alongside the wordmark. The direction of the changes is broadly documented: fewer details, stronger letterforms, and artwork that reproduces cleanly at small sizes and on screens. This article does not have attributable records for exact adoption dates, designers, or stated design intent for each version. Those details should be confirmed against the company’s own archival records before you rely on them.

In this article, “the Hershey’s logo” means the consumer brand wordmark and related corporate marks, not product-specific packaging such as individual bar wrappers or Kisses packaging. Packaging artwork has its own history and is not covered here.

How the logo has changed, phase by phase

The broad phases below summarize the generally recognized arc of the identity. Approximate eras are given only where the general timeline is well established. The supplied material had no sources to verify specific years, so treat this as an outline to check, not a definitive chronology.

• Early company era (late 19th and early 20th century): Milton S. Hershey founded the chocolate business in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Marks from this period used decorative lettering and pictorial elements typical of trademark design at the time. Exact versions and dates are a gap here.
• Mid-century consolidation: The brand settled on a heavy, all-caps HERSHEY’S wordmark. That wordmark became the most recognizable element and still anchors the identity. Precise dates of individual refinements are not documented here.
• Kiss as a brand symbol: The Hershey’s Kiss, introduced as a product in the early 1900s, became a visual shorthand for the company. Earlier depictions leaned on foil highlights and dimensional rendering.
• 2014 identity update: The company adopted a flatter, simplified Kiss silhouette and refreshed the wordmark presentation. Public reaction at the time included widespread online commentary comparing the new Kiss silhouette to an emoji. Who designed the update and what the company stated as its rationale are not documented in the supplied material.

What explains the design changes

No attributable statement of design intent was supplied, so the explanations in this section are interpretation, not documented company reasoning.

Interpretation: The long-term move from illustrative marks to a heavy block wordmark follows a pattern common to mass-market consumer brands. Simple, high-contrast letterforms stay legible across printing methods, package sizes and viewing distances. The weight of the HERSHEY’S letters also gives the name strong presence on a wrapper, where it competes with other products on a shelf.

Interpretation: The 2014 flattening of the Kiss matches the broader shift toward flat design in that period. Flat design dropped simulated foil reflections, gradients and bevels in favor of solid shapes. Flat silhouettes hold up better at app-icon and favicon sizes, in single-color applications such as embossing or one-color print, and in responsive digital layouts. The trade-off is lost detail. A silhouette with no rendering cues depends entirely on outline, and the public reaction to the 2014 Kiss shows how much an outline alone can be read in unintended ways.

Why the changes matter for vector artwork

Each phase of the identity converts to vector form differently, and that affects anyone preparing or evaluating logo files.

• Flat marks such as the post-2014 Kiss silhouette and the solid wordmark suit vector construction well. They can be built from a small number of closed paths with solid fills, which keeps files light and easy to recolor.
• Earlier dimensional Kiss renderings with foil highlights usually depend on gradients, gradient meshes, blends or embedded bitmap textures. A file reproducing that look may not be fully editable as paths, even if it is saved in a vector format.
• Ornate early-era marks are often available only as scans or photographs of historical material. Any vector version of them is a later redrawing, not original artwork, and its accuracy depends on whoever traced it.

Checking a Hershey’s logo file before you use it

Files labeled SVG, EPS, AI or PDF are often presented as vector logos, but the extension alone does not confirm editable vector paths. These containers can hold embedded raster images, or a raster preview with little or no real path data behind it. Open the file in a vector editor and inspect it in outline or wireframe view. Genuine vector artwork shows as clean path outlines. An embedded image shows as a single rectangle or is reported as a linked or embedded image. Also check whether the wordmark is live text or converted outlines. If it is live text, the correct font may not be installed, and the substitute font will change the letterforms.

Be sure you know which version of the identity you have. Logo collection sites often mix historical and current marks, and older dimensional artwork is sometimes mislabeled as current. Compare the file against current official Hershey materials before using it in a layout.

Downloading is not the same as permission to use

Hershey’s names, the wordmark and the Kiss shape are trademarks of The Hershey Company. Being able to download a logo file from a website does not give you rights to use it, alter it, or use any typeface it contains. Editorial reference, such as illustrating an article about the logo’s history, is treated differently from commercial use, merchandise or modified artwork. The rules vary by jurisdiction and context. For anything beyond clear editorial reference, get approval through the company’s official brand or licensing channels, and get legal advice where the use is significant.

Gaps to resolve before citing this history

• Exact adoption years for each wordmark revision.
• The designers or agencies responsible for each version, including the 2014 update.
• Any official company statement explaining the reasons for the 2014 redesign.
• Whether the wordmark is based on a commercial typeface or custom lettering.
• The Hershey Company’s own archival collections are the most direct place to verify these points.