The Premium Hershey's Chocolate That Rivaled Dove Vanished Without Explanation

The Hershey Company has delighted candy fans through the years with iconic chocolate treats like the classic milk chocolate bar and Mr. Goodbar, as well as treats like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat. Its vast catalog has also included offerings like its Bar None, Air Delight, and Hershey's Gold. Of all of the brand's chocolate confections, Hershey's Bliss might have the most mysterious journey of them all.

Introduced in 2008, Hershey's Bliss seemingly vanished into thin air after it disappeared from store shelves without explanation sometime in 2016. For customers who remember Hershey's Bliss looking similar to Dove Chocolate, that was The Hershey Company's goal. It was created to look and have a mouthfeel just like Dove to try and give Hershey a foot in the door for positioning as a premium chocolate company — for which Dove traces back to 1939 and spans more than a dozen flavors.

The bite-sized, curved square candy promised "one square inch of bliss" to customers and was instantly recognizable by its colorful foil wrappers. They were initially available in just milk and dark chocolate flavors, but eventually Hershey's Bliss was unveiled in flavors like dark chocolate with caramel, and even options with meltaway centers were offered in crème de menthe, raspberry, and white chocolate.

The similarities between Dove and Hershey's Bliss were noticed immediately — so much so that Mars Inc., the owner of Dove, sued The Hershey Company in 2009. At the heart of the lawsuit, Mars alleged that Hershey copied its TV ads. That dispute was eventually settled out of court, but the rivalry (and the drama) didn't end there. 

In 2010, Hershey sued Mars for trademark infringement, alleging that the brown, orange, and tan packaging used for Dove Promises copied the color scheme of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The company dropped the lawsuit in 2011. However, the two brands clashed yet again in 2014 over copyright infringement. This time it concerned a battle of malted milk balls — Mars was already selling Maltesers and claimed that Hershey's Malteser was an infringement, both in its name and similarly colored packaging. The companies eventually settled.

Despite repeated battles, Dove ultimately won the war. All of Hershey's efforts weren't enough to unseat Dove in the premium chocolate market, particularly around Valentine's Day, and the company quietly discontinued Bliss in 2016. While the chocolates haven't appeared on store shelves in a decade, Hershey's Bliss lives on in the hearts, minds, and nostalgic palates of those who remember them fondly, along with Hershey's other discontinued delights.