Hershey launches fake university for peanut butter-loving fans

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Hershey launches fake university for peanut butter-loving fans

The Hershey Company has found a new way to interact with its Peanut Butter Cup fan base.

The American chocolate company's marketing team has begun a interactive online campaign for a fictional Reese s University, which has a branded website, Instagram and a TikTok page that appears to be a work in progress.

The fabricated release and website are complete with professional-grade photos and fully developed info sections that make Reese s University look like the real deal. There are photos of orange diploma covers, sports uniforms and students posing throughout the fictional campus.

Students come first at REESE'S University. Maybe they are tied for first. It is very close to the website's About Us section. It takes a diverse set of great minds from across academic disciplines to create chocolatey, peanut buttery awesomeness. Class lists for the fantasy university are in sweet art and sciences, including a Make the World Orange drawing course, an advanced peanut butter ratios course, a linear ridge forces course and an introduction to cup structures course.

The university's faux athletics team, the Fighting Cuppies, includes soccer, rowing and cheerleading. According to the website's copy, a marching band, mascot, legendary rock and fictional Reese s Cup Day festival is said to exist.

The website says there are 375 H.B. Reese's Scholars is not immediately clear if it is part of the university's lore.

While Reese fans won't be able to attend the university in real life, the website's school store tab says merchandise for Reese's University will be coming soon, sometime around January 2022.

Representatives at The Hershey Company did not respond to the FOX Business request for comment.

The marketing initiative of the chocolate company seems to build on the cult following of peanut butter candy. In November 2021, Hershey debuted a Thanksgiving pie that sold out the same day. A month before Halloween, the company created a Reese's Pumpkin Patch at Krochmal Farms near Salem, Massachusetts. The 93-year-old peanut butter candy has a seasonal line of Reese s trees and Reese s eggs for Christmas and Easter.

The fans have gotten their Reese s merchandise fix at Hersheypark, Hershey s Chocolate World locations, or licensed candy stores and retail partners.

The Hershey Company saw an increase of 6.3% in the third quarter of 2021, with net sales of more than $2.35 billion.