Hershey’s, easily the most famous name in chocolate around the world, took a key role in the season six finale of Mad Men, since Don Draper and company had to make a pitch to become the brand’s ad agency. It didn’t go as well as the characters hoped in the show, but Hershey’s says that it was flattered by the mention.
In the episode, Hershey’s is set up as a great opportunity for Sterling Cooper & Partners, since they don’t usually advertise. Draper looks like he’s sealed the deal, but then he decided to do something Draper never does - get personal. He tells the truth, about growing up at a whorehouse in Pennsylvania and that a bar of Hershey’s chocolate was the one thing that gave him happiness. He could pretend for just one moment that he had a normal life. While it was a stroke of acting genius on Jon Hamm’s part, the characters in the show were disappointed and Hershey’s left without a deal.
According to Cinemablend, after the show aired, Vanity Fair caught up with Anna Lingeris, Hershey’s senior manager of brand P.R. and consumer engagement, who said that the company enjoyed being a part of the acclaimed series.
She said that in typical Matthew Weiner fashion, the company had no idea what role they would play. “Oftentimes, companies will call and ask us to donate product across the board for potential inclusion,” she said. “So that was the extent of the knowledge. We had donated product, but we had no idea about its inclusion in the show or the season finale.”
She added that, “The company was thrilled and incredibly flattered to be part of such a popular television show.”
While Draper connected Hershey’s with a brothel, Lingeris said that the company isn’t concerned that the public will do that as well. It “has not been brought up as a concern. Obviously we know that this is a fictitious television show set in the 1960s.”
Lingeris added, “It was such a wonderful, organic moment that was actually very accurate about the company’s history, and it was able to tell the story of our brand and our founder, which made it so memorable.”
image: AMC