Sunday, April 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EASTER CANDY: marshmallow madness

Fans of Peeps take the sugary sweets on vacations, use them for science and, yes, eat them

Some Peeps fans like to photograph the marshmallow candies in contrived situations, such as the one above, where one icon meets another at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Photo by John Gurzinski. Since their creation 50 years ago, Just Born Peeps have infiltrated every nook and cranny of the world. Here, a planeload of Peeps Bunnies "arrives" at McCarran International Airport. These two Peeps Bunnies take in the sights at Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef, with the help of some unidentified hands. This lucky Peep wins a hand of blackjack at a Strip casino. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Some love the colors, a palette of springtime pastels that coat their inner marshmallow gooeyness.

Others love the sugary taste or even the sound of the word: Peeps.

And while it's a good bet most people understand the concept of the marshmallow chicks -- they're made for eating -- there are those such as Tracy Bannett, James Zimring and David Ottogalli who take playing with food to a new level.

Bucking traditional views, the strangers have altered the nature of Peeps from foodstuff to plaything, turning them into artwork, subjecting them to scientific study and taking them on vacations for the purpose of documenting their contrived escapades.

They may be strangers but their passion for Peeps unites them. Call it power of the Peeps.

"I think it's the name," Bannett says, trying to explain her fascination with the leading nonchocolate Easter candy. "It's the noise they make, not what they are. They're so cute and kitschy and kind of retro. In a way they're so simple and perfect."

A vegetarian, Bannett doesn't eat Peeps; they're made of gelatin. But she has been caught up in their sticky web since 1997, when she ran over an empty Peeps box while bike riding. Almost immediately, she developed a love for them that now borders on obsession.

She and her partner of 10 years, Mia Levesque, take Peeps everywhere they go. The couple poses them at various locations or in situations, then snaps photographs to display on their Web site, Tracy & Mia's Peep-O-Rama.

In 2000 they attended the women's NCAA Final Four basketball tournament. Last year, it was an American Peep in Paris. Photos of a Peep at the Eiffel Tower and other French landmarks can be seen in their online gallery at www.marshmallowpeeps.org/

index.html.

"For a long time I would just go around saying the word `Peep.' I loved the sound of it," Bannett says. "They're gross but I love how they're extruded out of that machine in one shape."

The Philadelphia-based Web designer isn't alone in her fetish. Somebody out there is consuming the 1.2 billion Peeps made annually.

"I just made this Web site and they all came to me, all these people who are also obsessed with Peeps. There's something about them," Bannett says. "I think they're kind of magic."

A company often frowns on this kind of unofficial use of their product, but the makers of Peeps, Just Born, seem to understand some people's need to do wacky things with their products. It's almost like they planned it this way.

There's an official Marshmallow Peeps fan club with 15,000 members. The company also regularly asks for feedback on creative ways to use the little chicks, bunnies and other candy shapes, says Just Born spokeswoman Lauren Easterly.

People write in describing how they like to eat their Peeps, Easterly says. Some enjoy them stale, others bite the head first while a good argument is made by some as to why the tail should be the first nibble. A small segment likes to put Peeps on pizza.

The candies have been building a following since the 1950s when Just Born acquired a small Pennsylvania company that made them by hand. Mechanizing the Peeps-making process in 1954 helped Just Born become the world's largest manufacturer of novelty marshmallow candy, Easterly says.

Though they come in pink, blue, white and lavender, yellow is the most popular color. Chicks are the most popular shape, followed by bunnies, Easterly says. For years, Peeps were available only during the spring. Demand was so great, however, that Just Born now makes Marshmallow candies for all seasons, including Valentine's Day, summer, Halloween and Christmas.

"They have a very unique taste and shape. It brings back memories, nostalgia. But the biggest reason for their popularity is there's nothing else like a Peep," Easterly says.

The company produces a handbook for schoolteachers, offering ideas on ways to use the candies in the classroom. But they don't like it when people experiment on Peeps.

"We don't promote nonofficial Web sites, but as long as they're not disgracing the Peeps image we're OK with it," Easterly says.

The fact that she talks seriously about marshmallow candies hasn't escaped Easterly's notice. That's probably why she chokes back a laugh when asked how one might disgrace a Peeps image.

You microwave it, burn it, freeze it, or otherwise "harm" it, she explains.

That's a shame, Zimring says. It's so much fun subjecting the marshmallow candies to the methods of science.

As a medical student at Emory University in 1997, Zimring and friend Gary Falcon decided to find the breaking point of Peeps.

They tested the effects of sudden force on a Peep using a hammer, put them in an autoclave, dunked the candies into a vat of liquid nitrogen. Their experiments and conclusions are posted on a Web site,

www.peepresearch.org, that started an avalanche of Peeps-induced study.

"We tried to do as much of a parody of science as we could," Zimring, now a doctor, explains.

People tend to develop strong feelings for Peeps beginning in childhood, Ottogalli says. Most are exposed to the candies when they get them in their Easter baskets. Children quickly learn to love them or hate them.

For the past 10 years, the Washington, D.C.-based artist has been making sculptures with Peeps. Some of his artwork can be viewed on his Web site,

www.peepsshow.com.

Though he's heard just about everything from those who see his art, he's still amazed at the emotional response Peeps elicit.

"It's just a unique little candy. The color and texture, it really sticks in people's minds," Ottogalli says.