The History of Airheads Candy

In the 1980s, Steve Bruner was working as Director of Marketing for Van Melle, the company responsible for creating Mentos. Looking to diversify, Van Melle had developed the technology to produce a fruit chew wrapped in rice paper for Lipton Tea, even going so far as to secure warehouse space in Kentucky. However, the product tested badly and Lipton went in another direction, leaving Van Melle to scramble to find another use for the machinery they’d invested in. The company tried making fruit chews without the rice paper and successfully created a flavorful candy “blob,” but still needed a name. Brunner had heard that it can take a new candy name up to a generation to become easily recognizable, but knew he didn’t have that kind of time to turn things around, so he decided to seek out a word that was already in the public lexicon. Knowing kids were a key demographic, he went to his young sons and asked them, “What would you call your friend who did something silly?” They answered, “airhead.” On August 7, 1985, Bruner submitted a formal plan for Airheads. While Airheads did well in focus groups among children and teens, Bruner realized they still needed a hook for adults. In a bid to appeal to the hippie generation, he marketed the new candies as “a new high in fruity flavors” and included a red balloon on the packaging and in ads. It was successful and Airheads took off in popularity. The company has also occasionally launched new Airheads products, such as Airheads Xtremes. Airheads remain a popular candy option today and are available in a variety of flavors, including Blue Raspberry, Green Apple, Grape, Orange, and Strawberry.