When Planet of the Apes fever swept across America in the early 1970s, the franchise didn’t just dominate toy aisles, comic racks, and lunch boxes. It even made its way into candy counters. Phoenix Candy Company, a New Jersey‑based confectioner known for licensing pop‑culture brands, jumped into the Apes craze with one of the strangest and most delightful tie‑ins of the era: Planet of the Apes candy.
For kids in the 1970s, candy wasn’t just candy. It was part of the ritual of going to the movies, stopping at the corner store, or begging for a treat during a grocery run. Candy companies knew that a hit film could turn a simple sweet into a must‑have collectible, and Phoenix Candy leaned into that idea with gusto. Their Planet of the Apes line wasn’t massive, but it was memorable, and it captured the gritty, adventurous spirit of the franchise in a way only 1970s candy packaging could.
The most iconic item was the Planet of the Apes candy bar. Phoenix wrapped it in bold, colorful packaging featuring ape soldiers, ruined cityscapes, and dramatic artwork that looked like it came straight off a movie poster. The bar itself was a simple chocolate confection, nothing fancy, nothing unusual, but the wrapper made it irresistible. Kids bought them for the artwork as much as the candy, and many wrappers ended up taped to bedroom walls or tucked into shoebox collections.
Phoenix also produced Apes‑themed candy sticks, similar to the chalky, fruit‑flavored sticks sold under dozens of licenses at the time. These came in small illustrated boxes featuring characters like Cornelius, Zira, and Dr. Zaius. The artwork was stylized, almost comic‑book‑like, and the boxes became tiny collectible billboards for the franchise. Kids would buy them for a dime, eat the candy in minutes, and then keep the box as a souvenir.
Another standout was the Planet of the Apes gum. Phoenix packaged the gum in small pouches or mini‑boxes, often including simple printed inserts or character cards. These weren’t trading cards in the Topps sense, but they were fun little extras that made the candy feel like part of a larger world. The gum itself was classic 1970s fare, hard at first, flavorful for about thirty seconds, and then quickly fading, but the packaging made it special.
What made the Phoenix Candy line so charming was how it embraced the Apes aesthetic. The artwork wasn’t sanitized or overly cartoonish. It leaned into the rugged, dystopian look of the films. Ape soldiers looked stern and imposing. Humans looked desperate and determined. Even the ruined city backgrounds had a gritty, pulp‑sci‑fi vibe. For a kid standing in front of a candy rack, it felt like a tiny piece of the movie world had been dropped right into the store.
The candy wasn’t around for long. Like most licensed sweets of the era, it had a short shelf life tied directly to the franchise’s popularity. Once the film series wound down and the TV show ended, Phoenix moved on to other licenses. But the Apes candy left a lasting impression on the kids who bought it, and today it’s one of the rarest and most sought‑after pieces of Planet of the Apes memorabilia.
Collectors hunt for intact wrappers, unused boxes, and unopened candy sticks—though the latter are more curiosity pieces than edible treats. The artwork makes them display‑worthy, and their scarcity makes them valuable. They’re the kind of item that shows up at toy shows, estate sales, or tucked inside old lunch boxes found in attics. When one surfaces, it’s a little time capsule from a moment when movie merchandising was still wild, experimental, and wonderfully unpredictable.
The Phoenix Candy Company’s Planet of the Apes line is a perfect example of how deeply the franchise permeated 1970s pop culture. It wasn’t just a movie series. It was a phenomenon that reached into every corner of childhood life, even the candy counter. These sweets may have been simple, but they carried the imagery, excitement, and imagination of a world where apes ruled and humans struggled to survive.
For retro pop‑culture fans, the Apes candy is one of those delightful oddities that remind us how creative and wide‑ranging movie merchandising once was. It’s a sugary slice of sci‑fi history, wrapped in bright artwork and nostalgia, and it deserves its place alongside the comics, lunch boxes, and Mego figures that defined the era.
More to enjoy here at The Retro Network…
- Planet of the Apes: How a Sci Fi Film Started a Pop Culture Empire
- The Planet of the Apes TV Series: A Lost Gem of 1970s Sci Fi
- When Apes Hit the Spinner Rack: The Comic Book History of Planet of the Apes
- Planet of the Apes by Mego: The Toy Line That Ruled the Living Room
- How Kool-Aid Became the Flavor of Childhood
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