Baby Boomers and the Candy Cravings of Their Childhood

Although the tiny, box-shaped candies named PEZ came into existence in 1927, by an Austrian candy company named PEZ Candy Inc., the captivating containers were not introduced until 1955, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEZ.

The introduction of the PEZ candy dispenser was destined to become a fond memory of many a baby boomers' early childhoods. Children might have gotten a PEZ dispenser with Donald Duck's head in their Christmas stocking. A trip with mom to the 5 & Dime might net them a Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Charlie Brown and Snoopy dispenser (not to mention Mickey Mouse and some Archie characters). Just bend the character's head back, and out pops the tiny treat. To date, the PEZ company, www.pez.com, reports that every year, over 3 billion of the tiny treats are enjoyed in the U.S. alone.

American marketing strategies would eventually ramp up the candy company's bottom line. Children were the target, and to this day, kids of all ages find collecting the PEZ dispenser a tasty hobby. Yes, the candy is semi-sweet, but the candy really isn't the point, is it? Try taking a child to the candy counter. Offer them the choice between a chocolate truffle or a PEZ dispenser, you know what they will choose! It's hard to imagine all those dispensers I threw away or lost as a child of the 60s. Wikipedia also tells us that eBay merchants and buyers hold the PEZ dispensers in high regard. eBay sellers have sold dispensers for as high as $11,000! It's a good thing folks are sentimental. Maybe those Cabbage Patch Kids and Transformers will be valuable someday!

A Halloween staple of the '50s and '60s was the wax lips. They smelled of artificial cherries, tasted like a stale candle, and the cheap ones left red stains on kids' faces. But they loved them just the same. It's hard to find out what year the plumper puckers came into existence, but all I've found is that the company that brought them to the candy counter was the American Candy Company, which was founded around 1899, according to Wikipedia. Although ACC is now out of business, the Concord Confections, www.concordconfectionsinc.com bought the wax candy division in 2002. Wax lips prevail!

The celebration of Halloween in the 1950s and '60s brought a high demand for more than popcorn balls and candy apples. Kids wanted something special. They wanted candies that they didn't always get every day. Kids would have contests to see who could go the longest without chewing up their lips into tasteless balls of wax. Those wax bottles of sweet mystery juice ended up the same way. A healthy replacement for bubble gum!

Who can forget Fizzies? Flavors ranged from cherry to root beer. Drop a tablet into a glass of water and watch 'em fizz. Parents forbade their kids to suck on them without putting them into water. Their tummies might bloat too much, prompting a run to the emergency room. There was just something special about making one's own soft drink at home. You have to admit the 60s marked a whole new era in marketing foods to children. The commercials encouraged kids to ask their moms to buy all manner of foods full of empty calories. That was actually before they knew they could rot kids' teeth! Well, maybe the dentists knew. Read more about it at www.fizzies.com/nostalgia.html, and relive the good 'ole days.

Remember Bosco? Why is it such a simple thing as chocolate syrup in a glass jar could invoke such excitement in children? It was the effect of the groundbreaking commercials of the 60s. Television advertising was experimental and sometimes, a lot of times, corny. But it was working. You can still buy this liquid delight, now bottled in plastic containers. For more information on Bosco, go to www.boscoworld.com. There you'll find where to purchase it, recipes and more. According to Wiki, the syrup was actually first produced for the public in 1928.

Then there was Fruit Stripe Gum. Pretty, wasn't it? The commercials were like mini-cartoons. The funny thing is that it really didn't taste that great, and the flavor didn't last but about 20 seconds. But it was sure cool to have a pack of that stripey stuff! Although it was artificially flavored, it just somehow seemed a healthier choice and was the only gum with painted on stripes, says Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_Stripe Fruit Stripe. The product was then acquired by Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. in 2003. Go to www.farleysandsathers.com to find a full list of other fun sweets.

You could say we're dating ourselves with these recollections. It was a happy, innocent, romantic time in our culture. If we could bottle our memories of the '60s, they would vividly include our first experiences at Disneyland, Dad's Polaroid camera...one of the first, and seeing the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. Back then, we didn't question the ingredients of what we consumed. We trusted the products on the shelves. Either way, those days may be gone, but they surely did leave us some sweet memories.