About Pez Dispensers

The Pez dispenser has acquired the status of rite of passage in American society. Anyone who has never lodged a small fruity block of candy from the head of a favorite cartoon character or pop culture icon can only be described as sorely lacking in the American experience. Pez dispensers today come in looks and characters so varied that it may be easier to list what hasn't been turned into a Pez dispenser.

Pez Candy

Pez candy was originally sold without the fun machinery of the dispenser. The candy was invented by an Austrian candy manufacturer named Eduard Haas III. He named the new candy Pez after the German word phefferminz, taking the beginning, middle and final letter to make the name easier to pronounce and market. Pez was originally marketed as an adult breath mint.

Original Packaging

The way Pez was originally sold, a customer bought a stack of the candy which had to be unwrapped and then rewrapped. In 1948, the Pez dispenser was introduced. The prototype of today's Homer Simpson-heads and NASCAR racecar dispensers resembled an old-fashioned cigarette lighter more than anything else and it worked more like a stapler.

Mickey Mouse

It was in the shape of Mickey Mouse that Pez dispensers first became a fad in the United States in the early 1950s. Since Americans weren't exactly overwhelmed by the mint candy that the European Pez dispensed, the decision was made to fill them with fruit-flavored candy bricks that came in the color of the fruit that was being featured.

Pez Heads

In addition to Mickey, Santa Claus was one of the first popular heads to be featured on a Pez dispenser; those two remain the all-time best selling Pez dispensers. Since then, however, there have been more than 500 different heads. While Disney characters, comic book heroes, and scary creatures for Halloween have always been popular, among the odder choices for a Pez head have been Betsy Ross, a baseball glove, a psychedelic flower and a maharajah.

Collectibles

Pez dispensers really hit the big time when nostalgia turned them into prime collectibles. Although the legend goes that eBay was started as a way to buy Pez dispensers, it is actually just a myth. It is true that the most expensive Pez dispenser ever sold was auctioned off on eBay. It was one of only two prototypes ever made for a special dispenser to be sold at the 1982 World's Fair that ultimately never went into production and sold for $32,000.

Pop Culture

Pez dispensers have made their way into pop culture. In the movie "E.T.," Elliott shows the alien a Pez dispenser. One of the most famous episodes of Seinfeld ever was actually titled "The Pez Dispenser," in which a dispenser played a major role in the plot. In the film "Stand By Me," one of the kids answers a general query about what kind of food they would each choose if the could only have one food for the rest of their life with: "That's easy. Pez. Cherry-flavored Pez."

Advertising

Try to find a commercial for Pez dispensers. For that matter, try to find an advertisement for a Pez dispenser in a magazine. You will not; perhaps the most remarkable thing about the amazing success and longetivity of Pez is that the company does not advertise in America. That does not mean that the dispensers aren't advertised through product placement such as the Seinfeld episode or tie-ins featuring Pez heads like the Chick-Fil-A cows.