Why Do Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Hearts Look So Weird?

Ryan Craggs
Ryan Craggs

Of the multitude of candies available for Valentine's Day, one that's sure to win over your Valentine's heart: a Reese's peanut butter cup. Unless your Valentine has a peanut allergy; in that case, you should also consider including an epinephrine shot in your goodie bag.

Regardless, to celebrate the manufactured holiday about love, Reese's has released a seasonal version of the beloved peanut butter cups, this time, in the shape of a heart. Except, it appears Reese's doesn't quite get what a heart looks like. Either that, or all the employees are astigmatic. But as expected, people on social media have picked up on the bizarre shape, too.


Some have particularly noted the butt-like shape protruding from one side of the peanut butter cup.

A photo posted by Nicole Roeder (@dblnorton) on

Now, this isn't the first shape debacle of a seasonal Reese's peanut butter cup; no, wind back the clock just a few months, and you'll see how Reese's "tree-shaped" peanut butter cups underwhelmed in their, well, tree-ness. Mostly, they just looked like blobs.

A photo posted by Amanda (@ac7182) on


Eventually, Reese's responded to all the online hate. But that the shapes were more like cones than trees of any kind (perhaps a they were bansai?) was simply undeniable.

An investigation by Thrillist (me) determined that everything about the present seasonal peanut butter cups was the same flavor- and texture-wise. It's just that they look like Modgliani sculpted them.

Nevertheless, Reese's has once again addressed the criticism with a well-timed tweet:

But while that's clever and all, Reese's really needs to work on its shapes. If they get cracking, they can probably have a goat-shaped rabbit peanut butter cup ready just in time for Easter.

H/t Delish


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Ryan Craggs is Thrillist's Senior News Editor. He ate two of these bizarrely shaped peanut butter cups for this article so you didn't have to. Follow him @ryanrcraggs.