• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, December 4, 2006

In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death next August (16 at 4:37 p.m.), Hershey is rolling out a limited Elvis edition of its Reese's candy in a peanut butter/banana crème flavor. It may be the first use of a dead celebrity to hawk a food product.

The product has succeeded in attracting the attention of candy lovers online. Since the news broke in mid-November, blog posters have been discussing the candy's availability, debating the likelihood that it will taste good, and commenting on the tie-in with Elvis's favorite sandwich (deep fried peanut butter and banana).

Hershey is trying to shore up its brands, which have lost share to Mars in the last three months. Sales of Reese's--the No. 1 chocolate candy--were down a bit during the last year, to $412 million.

Marty Brochstein, executive editor of "The Licensing Letter," which covers the product licensing industry, said Elvis has been "one of the steadiest sales generators." In the latest Forbes ranking of dead celebrities, he came in second behind Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, and pulled in $42 million in sales (down $3 million from the previous year).

"Elvis is different things to different people," said Brochstein. "To some, he's campy and to others he's a piece of Americana. Hershey is trying to take advantage of that. When you license a celebrity, you're renting a certain emotion attached to that person."

In 2005, retail sales of licensed food and beverage products in the U.S. and Canada were $7.9 billion--up 4 percent over 2004, accounting for 11 percent of all food and beverage sales in 2005, according to "The Licensing Letter."

Hershey will also place Elvis on the side of its Reese's NASCAR car and will tout the Elvis tie-in heavily with advertising, in-store efforts and a major public-relations outreach next August and September, especially during Elvis Week 2007, which will take place Aug. 11-19.

Celebrities and candy go back at least to the 1930s, when Yankee legend Babe Ruth marketed "Ruth's Home Run" at five cents a bar. In the 1970s, celebrity candy took off with a Mr. T bubblegum, a (Lee Majors) Bionic Bar, a Reggie (Jackson) bar, and a Muhammad Ali Crisp Crunch. It wasn't until the 1990s--and continuing to this day--that sports figures on candy bars outscored other celebrities. In 1999, Hershey marketed a series of candy bars featuring NFL quarterbacks, and in 2001 Nestle's Crunch featured NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal.