Most Influential Candy Of All Time

I came across a surprising article the other day that I'd like to share with you.

According to Time magazine, the Kit Kat bar is the most influential candy of all time.  Kit Kat?  That seems to be an odd choice.  Surely the honor of most influential candy bar in the world should go to the Hershey chocolate bar.  Not so, according to Time magazine.  While the Hershey chocolate bar can certainly be considered the most iconic, Time bestowed the honor of Most Influential on Kit Kat.

Why Kit Kat, you are probably asking.  Kit Kat was given the number one slot because it was the first candy bar marketed as a social snack, a delicious experience to be shared with a friend.  This was due to the candy bar's construction—four crispy sticks (or fingers) held together side-by-side by a chocolate coating that could easily be snapped apart and the individual sticks shared with friends.

According to Time, it was also the first candy bar to have a world wide following.  After its introduction in the U.S. and Europe, it made its way to Australia, Asia and Africa.

Kit Kat was originally launched in London in 1935 as Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp.  Two years they changed the name to Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp, then after World War II shortened to just Kit Kat.  Time said it was the first candy bar to be marketed around the idea of sharing.

Kit Kat is now part of the technology sphere.  In 2013 Google Android named its new operating system Kit Kat.

And another candy bar on Time magazine's list of thirteen?  Something called Chicken Dinner Bar which was a chocolate covered nut roll that did not contain any chicken.  Never heard of the Chicken Dinner Bar?  I'm not surprised.  The Chicken Dinner Bar had been a product of the Sperry Candy Company.  Introduced in 1923 during the Great Depression, it was named in reference to President Hoover's promise of "a chicken in every pot."

Sperry Candy Company marketed the Chicken Dinner Bar with the slogan "Candy Made Good."  An ad to the trade explained the reasoning behind the name—"A name which suggests the best of something good to eat, and known to every child."  Apparently Sperry believed that a big roast chicken was a sure fire lure for the children's market.  Chicken Dinner Bar was discontinued shortly after the company was purchased in 1962.

The remaining eleven candy bars on Time magazine's list of thirteen most influential candy bars are: Hershey's Milk Chocolate, Toblerone, Nestle Milk Chocolate, Snickers, Grenada Chocolate, Scharffen Berger, Cadbury Milk Chocolate, Nestle Crunch, Baby Ruth, Milky Way and the Wonka Bar. 

What's your favorite candy bar?