- Edible underwear
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Original Edible Underwear
Edible underwear is a candy product which is made into a form and can function as underwear but which is edible.
The product was invented by David Sanderson and Lee Brady[1] in 1975 when they formed a company Cosmorotics, Inc. to manufacture and market the product under the name “candypants, the original 100% edible underwear.” At first the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied their application for a patent on the basis that the idea of candy and pants were incompatible, but later granted the application and within weeks hundreds of thousands of pairs were manufactured and distributed out of the company's food manufacturing plant in Chicago, Illinois.
“Candypants” was promoted as lingerie in clothing shops, major department stores, motorcycle shops, candy stores and chic emporiums. It was considered naughty innocence. The press found it an outrageous delight and news coverage pushed edible underwear into the national and world-wide limelight.[2] The product continues also to be sold through sex shops.
Candypants featured in two separate U.S.Supreme Court battles for First Amendment rights. Edible underwear, as “Candypants”, was used by the defense for Screw (magazine) in their fight to stay on the newsstands despite their content and then again by the prosecution to attempt to shut down the late night Public-access television cable TV show Midnight Blue in New York City.[3] At the same time author Jerzy Kosinski in his novel “Pinball” referred to it as the “essence of American freedom’ on the “Late Night with David Letterman” show.
Years later edible underwear continues to shock and amuse and its place in American mythology remains intact. People Magazine listed it among the 434 names and events that define pop culture.[4]
References
- ^ "Sugar, Spice and a Piece of Ice Prove a Cracker Jack Combo for Two Enterprising Chicagoans". People 21 (2). January 16, 1984. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20086872,00.html. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 30, 1976
- ^ Time Magazine, June 7, 1976
- ^ People Magazine, March 6, 1989
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