A Star Wars Pez is a Pez candy dispenser themed after the Star Wars movies, and is one of the company's most prominent merchandising deals. Twenty types have been released on the market from 1997 to 2005, among the many collectibles spawned by the franchise.
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The extreme interest of marketing executives in all things Star Wars has spawned a scholarly interest in the "materializing fantasy media" such as these PEZ dispensers. It has also led to several museums to feature such Stars Wars memorabilia in their exhibits and/or gift shops, as well as media attention on this fairly odd phenomena.
In museum exhibits and gift shops
In recent years, several museums around the United States have featured Star Wars Pez in their exhibits and/or gift shops. These products are displayed and exhibited because they are classic Americana. Despite the dispensers' "popularity and cult status," the manufacturer's original factory in Austria does not give tours or sell fancifully-shaped memorabilia. Only in January 2012, this group of dispensers became prominently displayed at the company's new North American headquarters in Orange, Connecticut: one travelogue wrote, "The company has been making the cartoonish plastic heads for 60 years now, representing everything from Star Wars to U.S. presidents to the Geico chameleon."
The Clayton Historical Museum, in Clayton, California opened a new exhibit on the history of candy manufacture in January 2012 that featured these confectionery dispensers.
Pez with Star Wars characters have been featured prominently in the Star Wars Museum in Maryland. The Star Wars Pez dispensers are pictured on a fan website, which describes them as "some Candy Heads from 1980".
The Pacific Science Center sold Pez at a popular exhibit about "Star Wars".
These branded dispensers are among the "top sellers" at the gift shop at the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia, outside San Francisco. This museum also displays "a whole lot of Star Wars Pez," in Plexiglas displays. This "unofficial shrine" to the collectibles is unaffiliated with Pez Candy, Inc., and the manufacturer sued the Burlingam museum in 2009 for copyright infringement. There was a notorious, giant Pez sculpture of C-3PO and Chewbacca locked in a slash fiction kiss. As of early 2012, this museum remains open. The sales manager at a major San Francisco hotel recommends that tourists visit the museum, noting "you have to check out the Star Wars section."
Another Pez museum in Easton, Pennsylvania also has featured prominently their obligatory Star Wars memorabilia, ("Of course, we had to include the Star Wars Pez Dispensers"), including an oversize Darth Vader figurine. As of early 2012, this museum appears to have closed to the public.
Other influences
Carrie Fisher's "Princess Leia Pez dispenser" is one of the "merchandising horrors" she discusses in her one-woman show Wishful Drinking.
These candy dispensers are featured prominently in the 2010 Emmy Award-winning fan film, Star Wars Uncut.
Star Wars Pez has a gateway drug-like effect for some young collectors. One fan of Pez dispensers started her huge hoarde with Star Wars figurines at the age of three. Another fan calls Pez dispensers generally "a 'gateway drug' to hardcore collecting". Pezheads shopping for new dispensers frequently place "Star Wars" first on their shopping lists.
Chronology of releases
Five Pez were released in 1997:
Four Pez were released in 1999 "in advance of the May 19 premier of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace":
Three Pez were released in 2002:
Fourteen giant Pez were released in 2005 to "commemorate Star Wars movie":
Pez released in 2005
Pez released in 2009:
Pez released in 2012 (before the release of the 3D re-released of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace :
Four limited edition crystal Star Wars Pez were released in 2015:
Pez were released in 2016: