Ben Gilbert: uncertainty

Transcript context

…Yup. Putting the final pieces on this initial Hershey success story, right after Milton Hershey figures out milk chocolate, starts this production, and is expanding distribution nationwide, World War I happens. The American military, as they have seen European armies do, they source chocolate as ration bars for the troops. Hershey’s is the big supplier. Millions and millions of American GIs now get introduced and hooked on the slightly sour Hershey’s chocolate. And it’s great. It’s a super dense store of energy. It triggers an emotional response in the brain. Everybody who eats sugar today knows that if you’re eating sugar, it is triggering, I don’t know if it’s dopamine or serotonin, but there’s definitely a stimulus of a happiness release. If you’re a soldier in World War I, you could use a little of that. Yeah. It’s got caffeine. Totally. These soldiers then come home. Right after the war is prohibition in America, so you can no longer buy alcohol, at least legally buy alcohol. All these adults are now like, you need some social lubricant here. What’s the natural alternative? It’s chocolate, which brings us to the candy bar. All of these former penny candy entrepreneurs all around the country, they’re like, wow, chocolate is amazing, we can market to adults, et cetera. It’s expensive. Hershey’s selling their own bars. What if I take just some chocolate, some other stuff, and also make a bar? I could make that a lot cheaper because the other ingredients, whether it’s nuts, nougat, sugar, or whatever, are cheaper. I can develop my own unique taste that people in my region might find appealing. By the end of the 1920s, there are more than 40,000 different candy bars being made in America, almost all of which are these regional entrepreneurial operations. The most infamous of these is, Ben, do you know the story of the Baby Ruth candy bar?…

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