In my efforts to get back in shape after my long illness, I decided to cut out my drink of choice: Sprite. I am trying to make a conscious effort to cut down on the amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup I consume. So, instead of sugar for tea I will use honey; and instead of store brand syrup for waffles/pancakes I will use natural maple syrup. This past weekend during dinner with some people I know, I ordered a unsweetened iced tea, which caused some illicit stares. I explained my new “plan” and people seemed interested in what I was doing.
In an effort to find a new drink to tide me over, I decided to go back to the drink of my childhood: Kool-Aid. I went to the store yesterday to seek out my favorite flavor … red. Red for me is either cherry or tropical punch — strawberry is not allowed. I found the aisle and I began my search for some red. While searching, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some people were watching me … but I am not sure why. I got some red, orange (color, not the flavor), and blue. While walking from the aisle, I ran into someone from my tennis club. We said hello and looked at the items in my hand.
“Kool-Aid?” he asked.
I said yes and explained why I got the drink while he just smiled and nodded. We had a bit of small-talk before saying our goodbyes. As he walked away, he gave me this look. It was the same look that people gave me earlier.
Is there a stigma on Kool-Aid that I am not aware of?
Stigma about Kool-Aid? You mean beyond the whole Jonestown, Guyana thing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown
(though reading it now I realize that was flavor-aid (whatever that is) … I always thought it was kool-aid)
“It is a popular misconception that 900 followers of cult leader Jim Jones
committed suicide by drinking Grape Kool-Aid laced with cyanide at their
commune in Jonestown Guyana in the late 1970′s. This is not true. The
followers of Jones actually drank cyanide laced Flavor-aid, a cheap
imitation of Kool-Aid. The Flavor-aid flavor they consumed was grape.
Therefore, Kool-Aid played no part in this tragedy.” (no doubt posted by an employee)
As usual, I stand corrected … however this is what I thought:
“People made jokes about the “Kool-Aid drinkers” as if there really was no more to the story than a bunch of really stupid, worthless people who followed a delusional madman into a murderous pact.”
presumably that is what kool-aid does to you. Stick to the green tea!
On re-reading that, I cannot figure out what a cheap imitation of kool-aid would be? I mean, how expensive are kool-aid packages that someone made a cheap knock-off???
Live and learn … clearly I know nothing about marketing.