what does that dispenser there aren't
many brands of candy as iconic as Pez
the small and often delicious
rectangular candy that is loaded and
then popped out of a dispenser despite
the fact that Pez seems as popular as
ever there's not a lot that is widely
known about the little candy that could
so here are 10 things you didn't know
about Pez the Pez is on dead the name
Pez is a name that is as iconic as it is
short there are a few candies that are
as easily recognized or as well known as
Pez however very few english-speaking
people actually know what the name Pez
means or rather where it comes from Pez
was created in 1927 in Vienna Austria by
Eduard Haas the third the first Pez was
only one flavor peppermint but it most
likely wasn't the peppermint were used
to today as it was more of a compressed
peppermint sweet what does that have to
do with the name you asked well in the
German language the word for peppermint
is femen's abbreviated as Pez like the
Austrian way better so did I the name
and flavor wasn't the only thing that
was different about that earlier version
of Pez as they also didn't come in
they're now famous dispensers rather
early Pez was encased in small hand
sized containers that were made of tin
and were similar to modern Altoid cases
the tinsmith forgot to give me a heart
the first PEZ dispenser these are people
of all ages are familiar with the
general shape and function of Pez
dispensers even if they've never
actually used one the candy is housed in
a plastic stacking mechanism that has
the Pez logo on each side and atop that
is typically the head of some well-known
character these include some of the
best-known fictional characters as well
as some famous people from history John
F Kennedy PEZ dispenser
once you tilt that head back one
delicious rectangle of flavor is
dispensed however as we just learned
that's not how Pez was originally
dispensed Pez started in tin cases just
like Altoids then moved to cardboard
cases during World War two
when basically all metal was scarce it
wasn't until the 1950s when the first
dispensers were introduced and despite
the fairly obvious name choice of
dispensers they actually weren't even
referred to as Pez dispensers initially
instead they were referred to as
regulars no Pez for only smokers hey you
like Pez Pez is a candy that is mostly
marketed to children or the child in all
of us which is obvious based on their
flavor and the characters that typically
reside at the top of modern Pez
dispensers however the original Pez
dispensers were called regulars and
while the story behind that name is a
mystery their original shape and size
weren't a coincidence
the original peppermint Pez was marketed
as a breath mint for adults there were
also Pez drops which were round or she's
selling her body for Pez and also
supposedly an alternative for those who
smoked cigarettes some will remember
that chewing gum was similarly marketed
in the United States for decades the
adult target market led to adult
oriented advertising campaigns with
pinup girls being a part of a lot of Pez
marketing this changed during the US
post-world War two ERA and the target
market switched to catering towards
children which made some sense
considering the post-war baby boom
besides he's a baby boomer they invented
drugs Pez didn't cross the pond until
1953 this American tradition right there
when you grow up with a candy that is as
omnipresent and as delicious as Pez you
can't really imagine a world in which
kids grew up without this delicious
candy so it may come as a surprise that
Pez only came to the United States in
1953 as it seems like something as
equally brilliant and old school as Pez
should have at least hit the u.s. much
earlier what did you pay for in the
first place another big surprise is that
Pez wasn't immediately popular in the
United States the past people decided
that they had to diversify their
offerings beyond just peppermint and
began to introduce the gamut of fruit
flavors that we know today the change
was exactly what the company needed and
it was only a short time after that they
also replaced the heads
used on their dispensers and began using
different character heads like Mickey
Mouse this helped solidify the massive
change the brand went through from one
that appealed to adults and smokers to
one that appealed to children and came
with a dispenser as important as the
candy itself would you care for some
pears they still sell tons of Pez he's
hooked on Pez there are countless
examples of something that was huge with
one generation having trouble staying
popular with the following generations
candy is no exception
Pez has seemingly bucked that trend thus
far which is probably due to the
combination of their delicious tastes
and also the huge demand for new Pez
dispensers the iconic PEZ dispenser is
part of a huge collector market due to
that consistent popularity Pez is still
available in 60 countries around the
world with the internet allowing people
anywhere to order their favorite candy
and its plastic housing you know my
favorite thing about the Internet is
that it's 100% secure their popularity
is massive in the United States where
there are over three billion Pez candies
purchased each year while that stat is
often reported as 3 billion candies
consumed it's safe to say a large amount
of that candy is never consumed as it's
purchased by collectors who know the
main cardinal sin in the collecting
world is to open any collectible the
global total is over 5 billion candies
and 70 million dispensers either way
that's tons of candy
literally and you know I shouldn't have
given him pears and said they were
vitamins making Pez is no joke either
it's all the joke or none of it is
despite its Austrian origins Pez the
candy is actually headquartered in the
United States in orange Connecticut to
be precise the actual dispensers and
some of the candy are still made in
Austria as well as Slovenia and China
the president of Pez candy is actually
referred to as the president
haha the manufacturing process is a
relatively complicated run and each
candy is subjected to over 3,000 pounds
of pressure but this is perhaps the
least important part of the process
the most important part sugar of course
over 50,000 pounds of granulated sugar
is delivered to the peds factory every
four days that sugar is then milled to
create granulated sugar which is the
most important ingredient in the candy
industry that building block is then
mixed with things like corn syrup
plant-based fats and other ingredients
depending on the type of Pez being made
and then press by machines that apply
that 3000 pounds to turn the candy mix
into the tiny candy rectangle we all
love and recognize stolen pass any one
Pez collecting mania who makes the post
dispenser of somebody's head when
they're engaged a big part of Pez is
popular tea and bottom line is the large
and active collecting community that
snaps up everything Pez from the new
dispensers to the original tin cases
regulars or advertisements both in
English and its original German
especially the old-time Pez girl pinup
ads despite its popularity these days
the first convention for Pez collectors
known as Pez heads didn't happen until
1991 a full four decades after Pez was
introduced in the United States while
that was the first it definitely wasn't
her last collector conventions exploded
across the country in the year since
with the Pez mania convention growing to
become the largest convention of Pez
heads in the world the twenty ninth Pez
mania was a multi-day affair in July of
2019 and was billed as having more Pez
than you have ever imagined the Pez
collector community can be broken down
into groups and tiers as well with the
top collectors being called master Pez
collectors there are also Pez dealers
who make their living buying and selling
valuable Pez dispensers and also Pez
otters who write books specifically
about the little candy that everyone
loves scary stuff scary stuff scary
stuff King
as once had a super creepy mascot I
don't think they make a well of Pez a
recent study showed that more Americans
fear clowns than climate change being a
clown these days is definitely tough
thanks to movies like it and that
growing irrational fear of adults who
paint their faces in an attempt to bring
joy to the world granted there were all
those people dressed as evil clowns
appearing in cities and rural areas
across the United States and Canada
whose intentions were never really
discovered so we take back everything we
just said as clowns are terrifying and
clearly plotting to take over the world
take very boy we bring this up since Pez
used to actually have a mascot one that
they rightly abandoned back in the 1980s
after about two decades of service his
name was Pete Pez Pete was a clown and
he was in Pez ads everywhere around that
time one has to wonder whether or not
those ads are as popular to collect as
the other ads like the Pez girls from
the 1940s creeped out Pez and eBay damn
you eBay one of the more popular and
consistent items sold on the world's
largest auction site eBay is in fact Pez
but the relationship between Pez and
eBay is actually a lot deeper and as a
viral story years ago claimed it was Pez
itself they gave the founder of eBay
Pierre Omidyar the catalyst to create a
site where his fiancee Pamela could
trade and add to her Pez collection
while this was widely reported after
eBay's marketing department reported
about it there is actually zero truth to
the story that Pez is partially
responsible for eBay's initial success
what life has been a lie it was reported
and supported by books like the perfect
store and credible newspapers like The
Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker
that because his fiancee wanted a place
to buy and trade her where's the eBay
founder created the site auction web
which two years later became eBay
however eBay's third employee and first
PR manager Lou saw
admitted way after the fact that the
entire story was made up to drum up
interest in the fledgling auction site
creation myths like this are actually
super popular in the tech industry as
everyone loves the idea of a company
starting in a garage for example which
is the story behind the largest company
in the world
Apple song summed up perfectly by
stating no one wants to hear about a 30
year old genius who wanted to create a
perfect market everybody lies on the
internet Santa is the best-selling PEZ
dispenser of all time while the news
that Santa Claus is the best-selling PEZ
dispenser of all time might come as a
surprise it actually makes a lot of
sense as it's one of the few Pez
dispensers that is released or
re-released every single year many of
the other dispenser heads come and go as
marketing trends change meanwhile the
Santa PEZ dispenser remains a very
popular stocking stuffer in many
countries while Santa may be the most
popular dispenser it is by no means the
most collectible as rarity and
collectibility go hand-in-hand one of
the most expensive Pez dispensers is a
50s era dispenser that has a transparent
space gun instead of the traditional
character head that Pez dispensers sold
for over $11,000 but that is by no means
the holy grail of PEZ dispenser
collectibles or prices that honor goes
to the mr. Potatohead PEZ dispenser that
was marketed as the make a face mr.
Potato Head
and came with attachable face pieces
what are you looking at yeah hockey puck
what makes it so valuable and rare is
that it came with multiple pieces that
could easily be lost the tallest PEZ
dispenser is one featuring the simpson's
matriarch Marge Simpson who is as famous
for her tall hair as she is for her
raspy voice that dispenser comes in at
over five inches tall which is a decent
amount larger than the average dispenser
while Santa has sold the most he might
not be the most popular the debate
amongst Pez heads is whether Santa or
the Mickey Mouse PEZ dispenser is the
most popular it's
micki is often caught up in Pez related
debates the question to be answered is
whether or not he was the first PEZ
dispenser head or if that honor Falls to
cartoon legend Popeye the sailorman
yeah I'm surprised you haven't realized
this is not how a human being is
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