The product that eventually became known as Kool-Aid goes back to the 19th century. Ir was first called Fruit Smack and then Kool-Ade and finally Kool-Aid. At the beginning of the Great Depression, packets of Kool-Aid cost ten cents. But they dropped the price by half, and sales quintupled! That's when Kool-Aid became a million-dollar business, and it sounds like a strategy other food manufacturers should think about. It wasn't until the 1950s that "Pitcher Man" came about. Ooooh, yeah! In the 1970s, he got a new name- "Kool-Aid Man," and he got arms and legs! That character had all kinds of adventures over the next 50 years. Kool-Aid Man is known for breaking through walls and causing mass destruction, but you have to admit, you'll never forget him.
Being not born or brought up in the USA, I didn't hear about Kool-Aid until I read about a mass murder/suicide, somewhere in your lovely country.
ReplyDeleteI could look it up, but you probably all know what, where, and who.
Jonestown, maybe ?
First glimpse of the Kool-Aid man, or at least a facsimile of him, was on the Simpson's.
Here in the Antipodes and until recently, the only powdered juice you could get was called Raro, the name coming from one of the very similar languages spread across the Pacific Islands from Hawaii right down to a few kilometres from the Antarctic Circle, indicating a sea faring people's settlements.
Interesting fact, Hawaii used to be owned by Hawaiians, somehow the USA now owns it.
I think there is a similar story with the Southern and Western states of the USA, indicated by the place names if not by the history books.
Surprising that Canada got to stay Canadian owned really, guess the cold put people off, but that doesn't explain Cuba exclusion in the 50 ... imagine that with American ownership !
To be fair, Alaska WAS paid for.
Jonestown is in Guyana, in South America. But most of the participants in that were Americans. It's in the video.
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