My four-year-old nephew
I like to call that subtle red-ringed Kool-Aid mark around his lips- juice mouth. Consuming a drink, consisting of tons of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial coloring, usually causes juice mouth. Like Kool-Aid, the beverages that cause juice mouth are inexpensive and easy to make. Wal-Mart sells individual Kool-Aid packets for 17 cents apiece, a good buy for anyone who has a lot of mouths to feed but is restricted by a tight budget. Bug juice, another popular beverage that causes juice mouth, is priced at 89 cents a bottle.
A Kool-Aid, mustache symbolizes the carefree days of children; children who are not concerned with their physical appearance; children who don’t brush the dirt off of their jeans, or wash sticky residues from their hands.
Kool-Aid’s relationship with children and low socio-economic families begin almost 88 years ago, when the powder was sold for five cents a package during the Great Depression.
“When I was a child I had a friend who became a Kool-Aid wino as the result of a rupture. He was a member of a very large and poor German family. All the older children in the family had to work in the fields during the summer, picking beans for two-and-one-half cents a pound to keep the family going. Everyone worked except my friend who couldn’t because he was ruptured. There was no money for an operation. There wasn’t even enough money to buy him a truss. So he stayed home and became a Kool-Aid wino.” (Brautigan)
Kool-Aid is often associated with children, but more specifically — poor and black children. In 1992, Kool-Aid commercials were repeatedly played on Saturday mornings, during the airing of Soul Train, a music series primarily featuring black artists, targeting black audiences (Powell). More recently, Kool-Aid advertising has been filled with racist memes such as Black people are poor and the "White man can't jump" stereotype, which assumes that all Black males naturally are skilled at playing basketball.
In 2007, Toure, released a series of essays titled, “Never Drank the Kool-Aid”. Here he discusses the origins of the modern slang “Drinkin the Kool-Aid,” which means buying into what someone else tells you. “It springs from the story of 1978 massacre at Jonestown, Guyana. The religious dictator and notorious cult leader Jim Jones initiated mass suicide, instructing his 900-plus followers to drink cyanide-laced punch. Many did; others were shot or injected. Jones shot him self in the head. After the notion of drinking the punch or Kool-Aid become linked with being brainwashed or believing someone else’s mind-set completely.”
Stereotypes, racism, and mass suicide? Suddenly, the fun loving mascot for Kool-Aid, a giant pitcher, filled with red liquid and marked with a smiley face- doesn’t seem like an honest representation of the company’s hostile past.
Brautigan, Richard. "The Kool-Aid Wino." The Kool-Aid Wino. N.p., 10 Feb. 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
Neblett, Toure. "Never Drank the Kool-Aid." Google Books. Macmillan, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
Powell, Azizi. "Pancocojams." The Stereotype Of African Americans. N.p., 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
A Kool-Aid, mustache symbolizes the carefree days of children; children who are not concerned with their physical appearance; children who don’t brush the dirt off of their jeans, or wash sticky residues from their hands.
Kool-Aid’s relationship with children and low socio-economic families begin almost 88 years ago, when the powder was sold for five cents a package during the Great Depression.
“When I was a child I had a friend who became a Kool-Aid wino as the result of a rupture. He was a member of a very large and poor German family. All the older children in the family had to work in the fields during the summer, picking beans for two-and-one-half cents a pound to keep the family going. Everyone worked except my friend who couldn’t because he was ruptured. There was no money for an operation. There wasn’t even enough money to buy him a truss. So he stayed home and became a Kool-Aid wino.” (Brautigan)
Kool-Aid is often associated with children, but more specifically — poor and black children. In 1992, Kool-Aid commercials were repeatedly played on Saturday mornings, during the airing of Soul Train, a music series primarily featuring black artists, targeting black audiences (Powell). More recently, Kool-Aid advertising has been filled with racist memes such as Black people are poor and the "White man can't jump" stereotype, which assumes that all Black males naturally are skilled at playing basketball.
In 2007, Toure, released a series of essays titled, “Never Drank the Kool-Aid”. Here he discusses the origins of the modern slang “Drinkin the Kool-Aid,” which means buying into what someone else tells you. “It springs from the story of 1978 massacre at Jonestown, Guyana. The religious dictator and notorious cult leader Jim Jones initiated mass suicide, instructing his 900-plus followers to drink cyanide-laced punch. Many did; others were shot or injected. Jones shot him self in the head. After the notion of drinking the punch or Kool-Aid become linked with being brainwashed or believing someone else’s mind-set completely.”
Stereotypes, racism, and mass suicide? Suddenly, the fun loving mascot for Kool-Aid, a giant pitcher, filled with red liquid and marked with a smiley face- doesn’t seem like an honest representation of the company’s hostile past.
Brautigan, Richard. "The Kool-Aid Wino." The Kool-Aid Wino. N.p., 10 Feb. 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
Neblett, Toure. "Never Drank the Kool-Aid." Google Books. Macmillan, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
Powell, Azizi. "Pancocojams." The Stereotype Of African Americans. N.p., 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
I find this response to be effective at naming all the different ways that the product, Kool-Aid, has permeated and evolved in American culture; and the specific points that Cain chooses to highlight work very well together in creating the argument’s profile. The evidence used, I thought was really well chosen, especially the mention of the Jonestown Massacre, and the quote from Brautigan talking about the “Kool-Aid wino.” The pictures of children with red-stained lips are extremely effective for the topic. The argument itself, however, felt a bit short-lived and out of place at the end of the piece. I thought that this part could either be extended, or omitted, seeing as the evidence has been presented in a way that mirror’s Rankine’s style of presenting facts. The title instills a question in the air, setting up the paragraphs to potentially make an argument on their own, by letting the reader infer a conclusion. Over all, I find it to be an extremely interesting topic presented in a very accessible, smart style.
ReplyDeleteI find this response to be effective at naming all the different ways that the product, Kool-Aid, has permeated and evolved in American culture; and the specific points that Cain chooses to highlight work very well together in creating the argument’s profile. The evidence used, I thought was really well chosen, especially the mention of the Jonestown Massacre, and the quote from Brautigan talking about the “Kool-Aid wino.” The pictures of children with red-stained lips are extremely effective for the topic. The argument itself, however, felt a bit short-lived and out of place at the end of the piece. I thought that this part could either be extended, or omitted, seeing as the evidence has been presented in a way that mirror’s Rankine’s style of presenting facts. The title instills a question in the air, setting up the paragraphs to potentially make an argument on their own, by letting the reader infer a conclusion. Over all, I find it to be an extremely interesting topic presented in a very accessible, smart style.
ReplyDelete