Do Pez Dispensers Automatically Remove Wrappers?

Claim:

A video showing a Pez dispenser automatically removing the candy's wrapper is authentic.

Rating:

False

About this rating

Pez may just be the world's greatest candy. The Pez dispenser, however, while a delight to receive candy from, is a bit of a hassle to load, as it requires the Pez eater to remove the wrapper and place each individual candy into the device. In July 2021, a candy eating life-hack went viral on TikTok that supposedly showed an ingenious workaround to this decades-old problem: Simply load the wrapped Pez into the bottom of the device and let the Pez dispenser do the rest.

This video has racked up more than 25 million views. And while it appears to show every Pez-eater's dream becoming a reality, this video has been deceptively edited to make it appear as if the candy's wrapper was automatically removed by the Pez dispenser.

The Pez dispenser was invented by Oscar Uxa in 1948. While you can now get these dispensers in a variety of shapes and colors modeled after everything from cartoon characters to athletes, the basic premise of how they function has remained rather constant. The candy is placed into a spring-loaded sleeve inside of a container. When one Pez is dispensed, the candies are pushed one spot closer to the top by a spring. Or, as Uxa put it in their patent:

The invention relates to pocket containers having a hinged lid and adapted for the delivery of articles, such for example as pastilles, tablets, sweetmeats and cigarettes, which containers can be opened or closed with one hand, and present the merchandise to the user in a hygienic and unspoilt condition. The possibility of operation by one hand only is important not only for persons having only one hand but also persons who often have only one hand free (for example motor-vehicle drivers), or whose occupation causes their hands to become smeared with dirt.