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STORIES: PEZ
PEZ... Over 3 billion PEZ candies are
consumed annually in the U.S. alone. So where did this novel approach to selling candy come
from? To find out, we must take a trip back to Vienna, Austria in 1927. Here
we will find a candyman named Eduard Haas III. Eddie did not try to sell his
candy to kids, however. His market was adults - adults that smoked
cigarettes.
PEZ was originally marketed as a compressed breath mint for smokers (or
to cover up smoker's breath). I know what you are thinking - How did those
fruit flavored pellets cover your bad breath? The answer is quite simple -
they weren't fruit flavored back then! In fact, they were peppermint
flavored, which explains the origin of its unusual name. Then German word
for peppermint is PfeffErminZ. Take the first, middle,
and last letters of the word and you get PEZ!
The first dispensers weren't introduced until the late 1940's and are now
referred to as "regulars" - they lacked the character heads PEZ is famous
for. In 1952, it was time to come to America. The company did extensive
market research with children that led to the introduction of the fruity
flavors and character heads on the dispensers. Since then, over 275
different PEZ heads have been designed, with some 48 models on the market at
any one time.
The most popular dispensers of all time are the Mickey Mouse and Santa
Claus models. When the Flintstones models were introduced several years ago,
they quickly rose to become a hot seller, with Dino the purple dinosaur
being in short supply. Believe it or not, people actually pay big bucks for
these things! The highest price ever paid was $3600 for a rare Big Top
Elephant, which was sold by David Welch in July, 1995.
Technology has also played a part in the history of PEZ. For example, a
company named Cap Toys makes the battery powered Power Pez which twirls and
shoots the candies out into your mouth. Another company, Dream Castle,
markets the Pez Watch which dispenses the candies out the side of the watch.
NOW YOU KNOW... |
Did You Know? Amazing Facts...
