Product type Coconut candy bar Introduced 1929 Markets U.S. | Country U.S. Related brands | |
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Owner The Hershey Company
(under license from Mondelez International) | ||
Mounds is a candy bar made by Hershey's. It consists of a filling made of shredded coconut, which is enrobed in dark chocolate. The Mounds bar's sibling is Almond Joy, which is made the same way but with milk chocolate and a whole almond crowning the coconut.
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Mounds' original slogan, "Indescribably Delicious", was created when Mounds ran a contest to come up with the best two words to sell a candy. Leon Weiss, the person who came up with the slogan, won $10, while Mounds went on to use the slogan in advertising and on the wrappers, still continuing today.
Mounds uses a packaging and logo design similar to its sister product, with Almond Joy's blue replaced by red, and the two candies are often advertised together. The candy's famous 1970s ad campaign used a jingle, "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't / Almond Joy's got nuts / Mounds don't", written by Leon Carr.
A limited-edition Mounds Island Orange candy bar was introduced in 2006 with orange-colored and -flavored coconut.
A similar coconut-filled chocolate bar by the name of Bounty is manufactured by Mars, Incorporated and sold in markets other than the United States. The bars are sold in light or dark chocolate and are recognized by their blue (light chocolate) or red (dark chocolate) wrappers. Neither bar contains almonds.
History
Mounds was created in 1920 as a single piece for 5 cents. In 1929, the Peter Paul Company purchased the line and had begun production. The format changed to two pieces that still sold for 5 cents, with the price rising to 10 cents after World War II. Mounds was made in milk chocolate, as well. During World War II, Peter Paul was faced with severe shortages of sugar and coconut which had been shipped from the Philippines before war broke out. Rather than sacrifice quality, the company discontinued some of its lesser selling brands and concentrated production on the Mounds candy bar. Over the years, Peter Paul added several products to its line, including the Almond Joy candy bar and York Peppermint Patties. Cadbury and Peter Paul merged in 1978, and Hershey Foods purchased the company's U.S. operations in 1988.
In popular culture
In Family Guy, Joe Swanson's favorite candy bar is the Mounds bar. In the episode "Finders Keepers", Joe states that he's eaten them "two or three times a day for the past 25 years".
Mounds is mentioned in Philip Roth's debut novel, Goodbye, Columbus. The main character's aunt and uncle are described as "sharing a Mounds Bar in the cindery darkness of their alley".
In an opening monologue on NBC's television show Saturday Night Live, comedian Louis C.K. compared his love for Mounds bars with a child molester's love for molesting children.