Hershey and Mother shamelessly jump on royal bandwagon
The palace has relaxed rules around coronation merchandise, allowing anyone to borrow royal motifs for the occasion, as long products carry no implication of royal approval and are in good taste (obviously open to interpretation).
Merchandise is also not supposed to carry advertising, but there’s a fine line between branding and advertising: mugs, teddies, tea towels and confectionery are everywhere, with the Centre for Retail Research predicting a rather modest £1.4m boost to consumer spending as Brits indulge their love of kitsch.
Hershey and Mother have taken a refreshingly irreverent approach to celebrating King Charles III by releasing the new limited edition “Hershey Crowns,” which are exactly the same as regular Hershey Peanut Butter Cups, bar the opportunist renaming and overblown claims to be a “once in a lifetime” product.
Maria Shilyaeva, marketing director at Hershey Europe, said: “At Reese’s, we recognise the importance of such a big event, so we wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the coronation with the introduction of Reese’s Crowns. To make the bank holiday weekend even more special, we will honour the occasion with free a sampling extravaganza.”
Hershey Crowns are on sale in Tesco and will be handed out to royal-watchers as they arrive at Victoria and Paddington stations on coronation day, Saturday 6th May.