Whatchamacallit!

In 1978, the Hershey’s company released the Whatchamacallit candy bar to the masses. The Whatchamacallit bar was made of peanut butter flavored “crispies” and featured a coating of rich milk chocolate. Eager to play on its silly, memorable name, Hershey’s produced this early commercial, a Little League take on the classic Abbot & Costello bit, “Who’s On First.”





In 1987, nine years after its inception, Hershey’s made the controversial decision to add a layer of caramel to the candy bar. Debates still rage to this day whether the decision was a good one. In an effort to take on problems that are truly important, several online petitions have sprung up to get Hershey’s to remove the caramel layer. None of these efforts have been successful.

While the Whatchamacallit bar never had an amazing movie tie-in opportunity like Reese’s Pieces did with E.T. – or, to a lesser extent, Baby Ruth in The Goonies or Zagnut in Beetlejuice – Whatchamacallit did have an amazing mind-bender of a commercial in 1989. Again, though it’s not as revered as, say, that one for the Tootsie Pop (probably the best candy commercial of all time), it’s weird and merges retro and future-retro styles to create something truly memorable.






Whatchamacallit’s brand graphics changed in 2002, with more dynamic package imagery (the name of the bar jumps out against a chocolate “splash” field). In 2006, the Whatchamacallit – along with several other candy bars, including the inconceivably popular Take 5 – underwent a far more radical change than the addition of caramel. Due to the rising cost of cocoa, Hershey’s began replacing the cocoa butter coating with a new coating consisting mainly of vegetable oils. While it still contains some chocolate, Hershey’s is no longer allowed to legally state that the Whatchamacallit contains milk chocolate. As a result, the packaging of the Whatchamacallit changed once again, and advertising that it is “Made with chocolate, peanut flavored crisps, and caramel.”

In 2009, following the trend of candy bars receiving spinoff treatment, the Whatchamacallit introduced a limited edition candy bar called the Thingamajig. The Thingamajig is slightly smaller than the Whatchamacallit, featuring cocoa crisps with a layer of peanut butter substituted for caramel. Like the Whatchamacallit, it is enrobed in a coating of Hershey’s imitation milk chocolate, but because the whole bar is suffused with chocolate essence, one can detect the lack of cocoa butter less.

The Whatchamacallit has never gotten the recognition or praise it deserves (which makes the existence of the Thingamajig it a little puzzling … if delicious), but even with the caramel layer and the change to mocklate, I think the Whatchamacallit is one of the best candy bars out there. Crisp, wide, and a surprising chocolate/peanut butter combination flavor that is at once unusual and inviting, the Whatchamacallit deserves its due.