1980's PEZ Packaging Styles
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The
1980's saw the end of PEZ packaging their dispensers
in cellophane overwrap and in vending boxes. Carded
blister packs, started in the 1970's, quickly took over
as PEZ's main type of packaging.
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The
two-toned green and yellow stripe pattern from the 1970's
was continued on into the 1980's. The carded item on the
right is very interesting. PEZ used its standard blister
pack card as a backer card for a "Premium Offer"
shelf display. A pad of mail-in coupons were attached
onto the card... with the coupon having the following
text: "Special Bonus Offer Inside - To display 12
of your favorite PEZ Puppets, send in "10" PEZ
candy refill wrappers for each PEZ "Collector Stand".
"
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Plain
colored card backs made their debut in the 1980's. In
addition to blue, PEZ produced cards with a solid green
and a solid red front face. Note the red insert on the
carded truck... "PEZ - You heard about it in "E.T."
"
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This
is an interesting series of blister cards. The first card
is a Softhead Wonder Woman. The back on this card is very
interesting because it is in color. After this short-lived
packaging design and the Safari and Rallye Cards (shown
below), PEZ did not use color printing on card backs until
in 2000 when the special Euro twin dispenser cards came
out (Glowing Ghosts, Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck, Tweety/Sylvester).
The two cards on the right are Raised Star Wonder Woman
dispensers.
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Pictured
above is a test card for a Wonder Woman blister card design
that was never used. The picture on the right shows the
"Approval" comments that were written on the
back of this card. It reads... "8/26/80 - OK - Color
Keys approved. M. Ehrhardt - Blister Card".
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In
the 1980's Disney dispensers came on their very own card.
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PEZ
continued experimenting with different card designs
in the 1980's trying to enhance their *shelf appeal*
and make their product stand out. One type of design
were Die Cut cards, in which the card had an irregular,
non-straight profile on one or two card sides. The name
for this style comes from the type of equipment (Die
Cutter) used to cut or *punch* the card out of a web
of cardstock. Because these cards were much wider than
the *normal* blister pack card... it is my belief that
PEZ discontinued their use because they ate up too much
shelf space... and because the die-cut cards were more
expensive to manufacture.
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Additional
examples of the very colorful designs that PEZ used to make
their packaging more appealing to their customers. |
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 The
PEZ Safari cards (French distribution, copyright in Munich,
Germany) were a unique blister card design that had a
solid color front, with a color back that featured an
animal picture and a map that showed where the animal
lives. Looking at the back, it appears that the picture
on the card was meant to be a *punch out* collector's
card.
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The
PEZ Rallye cards (French distribution, copyright in Munich,
Germany) were almost identical to the Safari cards (above),
except they featured pictures of automobiles. Like the
Safari cards, it appears that the picture on the card
was meant to be a *punch out* collector's card.
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In
the 1980's, PEZ started a wonderful new dispenser series
that featured animal heads with built-in whistles. This
series is called the Merry Music Makers (MMM), and has
been a continuing series into the mid to late 1990's.
These two pictures show an early blister pack card design
for the MMM's.
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For
whatever reason, and no matter what problems they had
experienced in the past, PEZ was determined to continue
trying to sell gun dispensers that shoot out candy.
In the 1980's, PEZ came out with a Space Gun. This gun
was molded in either red or silver plastic. I guess
that PEZ eventually decided to give up on their gun
concept after this dispenser, because they did not come
out with a new gun in the 1990's (as they had in each
of the previous decades).
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Starting
in the 1980's PEZ began adding graphics to the standard
solid color card backs that were dispenser specific. The
picture to the left shows a not-often-seen blister card
for an Annie dispenser. |
| Pictured
to the right is a giveaway for the movie "Stand by
Me" when it was released for videocassette sales. Inside
the sealed bag was a miniature copy of the movie poster
and a PEZboy dispenser with a candy pack. |
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