The Story Behind Heart-Shaped Boxes
Their origin story might surprise you...
If you had asked me who created Valentine’s Day, I’d have guessed it was a combined effort by Hallmark and Hershey.
But, it turns out the USA does not deserve all of the credit (or the blame) for the commercial holiday happening in a few days.
And those heart-shaped boxes of chocolate?
They didn’t start with Hershey or Mars either.
They were born in England.
But what’s the story behind them?
I was curious…
Our story begins in 1861, when a man named Richard Cadbury had a problem.
He and his brother George had taken over the family business – Cadbury –but the company was losing money and in decline.
Fortunately, their mother had given them each a financial lifeline of £4000 (the equivalent of £600k today), and they lived frugally as they tried to turn the company around.
One of their first new products were ‘Fancy Boxes’ – beautifully decorated boxes filled with ‘fancy’ chocolates. The boxes were marketed as a keepsake item – covered with velvet, lined with silk, and decorated with Richard’s drawings of the Cadbury family and Alpine scenes.
Sales were good, but Richard and George had to do more to save the business.
They decided to focus their money and efforts on improving Cadbury’s drinking chocolate recipe.
They experimented with different blends of cocoa, and after several years, developed a process for removing cocoa butter from the cocoa bean. This made their drinking chocolate smoother and more pleasant to drink.
They advertised their chocolate with the slogan ‘Absolutely Pure, Therefore Best.’
And, they decided to use the extra cocoa butter to create a new variety of ‘eating chocolates.’
The company was profitable again, and Cadbury decided to combine their creations and introduce a new Valentine’s gift to the market.
In 1868, they took their ‘Fancy Box’ idea and their new variety of ‘eating chocolates’ and introduced a heart-shaped box of chocolates.
The boxes were ornately decorated with Cupids, hearts, and roses – and marketed as the perfect gift for Valentine's Day (with the perfect keepsake box to save love notes and other mementos).
While the Victorians had been celebrating romantic love on Valentine’s Day with elaborate cards and gifts since the 1840s, Richard Cadbury was the first to give them a heart-shaped box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day.
And the Cadbury Valentine’s Day heart-shaped boxes were a hit.
While Richard Cadbury didn’t patent the heart-shaped box, he is believed to be the first to produce one. US chocolatiers like Hershey and Russell Stover began using heart-shaped boxes for Valentine’s Day in the 1900s.
Cadbury continued to make more elaborate boxes until the outbreak of World War II, when sugar was rationed and Valentine’s Day celebrations were scaled down.
But the heart-shaped boxes returned after the war, and sales of chocolate (and heart-shaped boxes) continue to soar on Valentine’s Day.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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How Can I Help?
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If you want to improve your company’s culture and performance, you can start by improving your communication.
I help clients with communication strategy, planning, and thinking. And I do the ‘doing’, too.
I also teach people the skills to help them become better communicators and leaders through 1:1 coaching and team workshops (that are effective - and fun!).
So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the highest paid and most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
And if you see any communication examples (the good, the bad and the ugly) that you think are worth analyzing or sharing, please send them my way!
Keep Smiling — and Stay Curious!
-Beth
Definitely inspired now to buy some heart-shaped boxes for friends as well as lovers :)
Love this, and now of course I want a heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day!