When it comes to stocking stuffers, one product hits a perfect harmony: the PEZ dispenser. Part character, part candy, and all collectible, the trinket has delighted kids and collectors around the world for decades. And yet when Austrian confectioner Eduard Haas III invented PEZ, he set out to corner an entirely different market.
By the 1920s, Haas already owned a successful baking goods business in Austria that he’d inherited from his father. Eduard Haas II founded the Ed. Haas Company in 1894 to sell the baking powder invented by his father, Eduard Haas I, and other ingredients. Eduard Haas III took over management of the company when he turned 18, and created its first newspaper advertisements for their pre-measured cake mix.
The success of Haas baking powder inspired the young businessman to pursue his interests in the confectionary world. An anti-smoking advocate, Haas III wanted to create a tablet that would “not only refresh one’s breath but could also help consumers who were anxious to cut down on smoking or overeating,” writes Shawn Peterson, company historian at PEZ Candy, Inc., in PEZ: From Austrian Invention to American Icon.
Strong peppermint flavoring seemed like just the trick, but peppermint oil was expensive and primarily used in pharmacies. Peppermint-flavored products were usually made by boiling ingredients, which wasted peppermint flavoring because it evaporated in the heat. So Haas Company chemists developed a tablet manufacturing process that’s cold. PEZ tablets are made by compressing confectionary sugar and flavoring with thousands of pounds of force until each brick holds together. The candies didn’t originally come in dispensers but were instead packaged in metal tins or foil-paper wrapping.
Before he could sell the new product, Haas needed a name—something snappy and universal. He took the first, middle and last letters from the German word for peppermint, pfefferminz, and created PEZ.
The first PEZ candies, called PEZ Drops, were marketed as a luxury item for adults. Advertisements touted health benefits and showed couples about to kiss with the caption, “Deliciously fresh breath!” Early ads proclaimed, “No smoking, PEZing allowed!” Later, the Ed. Haas Company hired young women to drive around crowded locations in PEZ-branded trucks, wearing PEZ uniforms, and stand near busy squares and major events to hand out free samples of the peppermint treats. “Already PEZing?” asked pin-up girls in ads. The women, called PEZ Girls, “would soon arrive at famous landmarks around the world, offering the public a new way to freshen breath and refrain from smoking,” writes Peterson.