A Star WarsPez is a Pez candy dispenser themed after the Star Wars movies, and is one of the company's most prominent merchandising deals. Over fifty types have been released on the market from 1997 to 2019, among the many collectibles spawned by the franchise. The extreme interest of marketing executives in all thingsStar 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 were among the "top sellers" at the gift shop at the Burlingame Museum of PEZ Memorabilia, outside San Francisco. The museum also displayed "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 December 2019, the museum is now closed. Another Pez museum in Easton, Pennsylvania also has featured prominently their obligatory Star Wars memorabilia,, including an oversize Darth Vader figurine. As of early 2012, this museum appears to have closed to the public.
Other influences
's "Princess Leia Pez dispenser" is one of the "merchandising horrors" she discusses in her one-woman showWishful 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.
One Star Wars Pez was released in 2013, a re-issued and re-painted Boba Fett – now with a green base. Four limited edition crystal Star Wars Pez were released in 2015 as a gift tin:
Crystal Darth Vader
Crystal Yoda
Crystal C-3PO
Crystal R2-D2
From 2016 - 2017, seven individual Pez were released for ' and Rogue One:
