Take a moment and imagine your favorite Halloween candy – the one you eat from the bag or bowl before you reach for everything else. (Or maybe you’re one of those disciplined people who slowly dissects your favorite, piece by piece, or saves it for last?) Locked in a picture of that candy? Good. OK. So your favorite Halloween candy is…
If you just said “Snickers” you have a lot of company. Snickers are the favorite Halloween candy of residents in 23 out of 50 states, making them the top candy bar choice for nearly half the country, according to a new study using research data published by the research firm and My Telescope market information.
And if KitKats, Tootsie Rolls or Hershey’s bars are your favorites, well, you’re not alone there either. The three candies battle for a distant second, with KitKat and Tootsie Rolls each winning the hearts of six states and Hershey taking five. (Sorry, Butterfinger fans; you threw your loyalty behind the most wanted candy in one state: Indiana.)
Baby Ruth, meanwhile, is the least wanted chocolate by state, according to My Telescope.
And in a head-to-head race for most searches by state, Twix is the best of the Milky Way bars. (I guess people prefer nougat cookies with their chocolate and caramel.)
Search data is based on a state-by-state breakdown of the top Halloween candies, based on Google search volumes, which is then ranked by search share. (Search share measures “the relative interest in a search term against a defined set of search terms” and is used by marketers to provide insight into which brands people prefer and will buy, according to My Telescope.)
So which states have the most wanted Snickers? That would be (deep breath) Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah , Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Meanwhile, Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, and West Virginia were all devoted to KitKat. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina love Tootsie Rolls. And citizens of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota searched for Hershey’s chocolate bars in droves.
Milky Way reigns supreme in Colorado, Connecticut and Idaho. Twix is the top choice in Michigan, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington. And Kentucky and Louisiana hold on for 3 Musketeers. Oh, and yes, then there’s Indiana, standing and alone for Butterfingers.
Interestingly, Baby Ruth, Reese’s Cups, 100 Grand, Butterfinger, Crunch Bars, and Almond Joy were all among the candies that made repeat appearances (in various states) on the least wanted list. Hershey’s Bar, Milky Way and Butterfinger were also among the least sought after in several states.
One person’s favorite is another person’s least favorite – that’s what post trick-or-treat trading is all about.