![]() ![]() Either way, the next few decades of soft drink history center around targeting niche if not entirely minority populations. So maybe Mountain Dew's history isn't so much racist as it is classist. It'll tickle yore innards." (The name of the soft drink, of course, refers to the Southern slang for moonshine.) Pepsi bought Mountain Dew in 1964 and changed its image over the years, most recently as "Game Fuel." The company went so far as releasing World of Warcraft-, Call of Duty- and Halo-branded flavors. In the late 40s and early 50s, its label featured the official Mountain Dew mascot "Willy the Hillbilly" and the slogan: "Ya-Hoo! Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew, for instance, originally based its entire brand around making fun of poor Appalachians, also known as hillbillies. For brevity's sake, we won't even get into later issues that surfaced, including exploitation of developing countries' resources and a massive racial discrimination case against Coke that led to a $156 million settlement in 2000, though you should fee free to click through if you're interested.Įlsewhere in the soft drink industry, though, the oversimplification of target consumers has had its questionable if not altogether offensive moments, too. So basically Coke and Pepsi used to be totally racist? As Hale, a history professor at the University of Virginia, goes on to explain, the companies abandoned their respective strategies and worked hard to shed "the image of Coke and Pepsi as 'white' and 'black' drinks." The race problems don't stop there but rather become more complicated and not entirely relevant to the companies' marketing practices. ![]() Some employees even circulated racist public statements by Robert W. The company hired Duke Ellington as a spokesman. Coke marketed mainly to the white middle class:īy the late 1940s, black sales representatives worked the Southern Black Belt and Northern black urban areas, black fashion models appeared in Pepsi ads in black publications, and special point-of-purchase displays appeared in stores patronized by African-Americans. The part about the interwar period in America is particularly interesting. The fascinating century-and-a-half-long history of soft drinks and race relations in the United States is spelled out in a just published New York Times column from Grace Elizabeth Hale. ![]() And now, in 2012 as Mayor Bloomberg plays tough against continued opposition to his ban on soft drinks, the complicated racial dynamics of the industry are exposed once again, as the NAACP works to reverse the ban, thanks, in part, to donations from Coca-Cola. Over the course of the decades and the seemingly limitless growth of the soft drink industry, the companies have expanded their marketing departments and launched myriad campaigns to discourage the idea that either appealed to a specific race. Put more bluntly, Coke was made for white people. Few realize that Coke marketed assiduously to whites, while Pepsi hired a "negro markets" department. Lots of people know about how Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine or how Pepsi was the hip drink in the 1960s. Unlike regular Squirt, Squirt Citrus Power is caffeinated, lacks concentrated grapefruit juice, and contains taurine and other ingredients similar to an energy drink.This article is from the archive of our partner. In 2008, Squirt Citrus Power was introduced. Unlike normal Squirt, Ruby Red Squirt contains caffeine. In the early 1990s, Squirt Sorbet, a frozen treat, was offered in Detroit area supermarkets.īerry flavored Ruby Red and Diet Ruby Red Squirt have also been introduced. In the mid 1980s, a vitamin-C-enriched Diet Squirt Plus was briefly marketed. In 1983, Diet Squirt, the first soft drink in the United States to be sweetened with aspartame, was introduced. Like many other soft drinks, the packaging of Squirt has varied over the years. Squirt is naturally flavored but contains less than 1% grapefruit juice. The Squirt brand has changed ownership several times, and is currently property of Keurig Dr Pepper. In the 1950s, it became commonly used as a mixer used in cocktails. Squirt became a popular soft drink in many parts of the country, especially the West and Southwest. In 1941, a mascot named "Lil' Squirt" was created for marketing the product. The result used less fruit juice and less sugar than some other drinks, and Bishop claimed it had the "freshest, most exciting taste in the marketplace". Squirt was created by Herb Bishop in 1938, after experimenting with a citrus drink known as Citrus Club. The Squirt competed primarily against The Coca-Cola Company's Fresca. Squirt is a caffeine-free, citrus-flavored, carbonated soft drink, created in 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |