Airheads Candy

Airheads candy has been a favorite among kids and adults alike since its start in 1986. With a variety of intense fruity flavors and soft chew.

On August 7, 1985, Airheads candy was born under the direction of Steve Bruner, the Director of Marketing for Van Melle – the producers of Airheads. While Bruner never became rich because of the awesomeness of Airheads (he signed an agreement when he went to work for Van Melle in 1984 that anything he created during his time with them was their property), he is proud that to this day, his artwork graces every package.

Van Melle is a German company, and while Airheads is a US invention, its ancestry goes back to Germany. In the early 1980s, Van Melle had produced a fruit and wafer bar that was in competition with a Lipton fruit-based product. Lipton and Van Melle entered into a contest to see which product the public preferred. The winning product would get a national launch propelled by Lipton’s marketing muscle. To compete, Van Melle had to produce 10,000 cases of Airheads for focus group testing and limited-offer sales. Well, when the dust settled, Van Melle lost. American’s preferred the Lipton fruit-based product.