Vienna, Austria

PEZ was created in 1927 by Austrian health-fanatic Edward Haas III, using oil of peppermint (at that time, only available from chemists) to create a candy for adults. The name “PEZ” comes from the German word for peppermint… PfeffeErminZ. Initially sold in tin containers (much like Altoids), PEZ were marketed as a luxury breath freshener. In 1949, PEZ came out with a pocket-sized dispenser, resembling the shape of a cigarette lighter—and began to be marketed as a sophisticated alternative to smoking. “The lighter-shaped dispenser was not only a trick to play on smokers asking for a light, but it was hygienic, allowing PEZ users to give the candy to friends without touching it.” The company’s motto in 1949 was “No smoking—PEZing allowed.”

The real marketing break-through for PEZ came by means of a graphic artist named Gerhard Brause, whose sexy depiction of the PEZ girl helped spread the brand around the world (PEZ was introduced in the USA in 1952, but marketing was soon focused on children instead, primarily through the use of dispensers featuring “character” heads). Nowadays PEZ is available in over 80 countries with 65 million dispensers and 4.2 billion PEZ candies consumed every year.

I grew up in Frankfurt, Germany, and I remember acquiring my first PEZ pocket dispenser while in Kindergarten in 1958—at that time, we would buy PEZ refills from wall-mounted coin-operated vending machines. Shown above are some of the PEZ Girl illustrations created by Gerhard Brause.