Kool-Aid

This article is about the flavored drink mix. For the album by Big Audio Dynamite II see Kool-Aid (album).

Kool-Aid

Type	Drink mix and Pouched Beverage
Owner	Kraft Foods
Country	Invented: United States Manufactured: Mexico
Introduced	1927
Markets	Worldwide

Kool-Aid is a brand of flavored drink mix owned by the Kraft Foods Company.

History

The building in Hastings, Nebraska, where Kool-Aid was invented

Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. All of his experiments took place in his mother's kitchen.^[1] Its predecessor was a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. To reduce shipping costs, in 1927, Perkins discovered a way to remove the liquid from Fruit Smack, leaving only a powder. This powder was named Kool-Aid. Perkins moved his production to Chicago in 1931 and Kool-Aid was sold to General Foods in 1953.^[2] Hastings still celebrates a yearly summer festival called Kool-Aid Days on the second weekend in August, in honor of their city's claim to fame. Kool-Aid is known as Nebraska's official soft drink.^[3][4]

Production

Kool-Aid is usually sold in powder form, in either packets or small tubs. The drink is prepared by mixing the powder with sugar and water (typically by the pitcher-full). The drink is then refrigerated and later served. Additionally, there are some sugar-free varieties. Kool-Aid is/was also sold as single-serving packets designed to be poured into bottled water, as small plastic bottles with pre-mixed drink, or as novelties (ice cream, fizzing tablets, etc.)

Advertising and promotion

Kool-Aid Man

Kool-Aid Man, an anthropomorphic frosty pitcher filled with Kool-Aid, is the mascot of Kool-Aid. The character was introduced shortly after General Foods acquired the brand in the 1960s. In TV and print ads, Kool-Aid Man was known for randomly bursting through walls of children's homes and proceeding to make a batch of Kool-Aid for them. His catch phrase is "Oh, yeah!"

Starting in 2011, Kraft began allocating the majority of the Kool-Aid marketing budget towards Latinos. According to the brand, almost 20 percent of Kool-Aid drinkers are Hispanic, and slightly more than 20 percent are African-American.^[5]

Flavors

Original 6 flavors[6]	Cherry, Grape, Lemon-Lime, Orange, Raspberry, Strawberry[7]
Singles flavors[8]	Black Cherry, Tropical Punch, Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, Rhubarb, Cherry, Watermelon, Orange
Sugar-Free flavors[citation needed]	Double Double Cherry, Triple Awesome Grape, Lemonade, Soarin' Strawberry Lemonade, Tropical Punch, Raspberry, Watermelon
Water flavors[9]	Jamaica, Mandarina-Tangerine, Mango, Tamarindo, Piña-Pineapple
Other flavors worldwide or previously available[9]	Apple, Bunch Berry, Blastin' Berry Cherry, Blue Berry Blast, Cherry, Cherry Cracker, Chocolate, Cola, Eerie Orange, Frutas,Vermelhas, Golden Nectar, Grape, Grape Blackberry, Grape Tang, Melon Mango, Strawberry Splash, Great Blueberry, Great Blue-dini, Groselha, Guaraná, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Incrediberry, Kickin-Kiwi-Lime, Kolita, Lemon, Lemonade, Lemonade Sparkle, Lemon-Lime, Lime, Man-o-Mangoberry, Mango, Mountainberry Punch, Oh-Yeah Orange-Pineapple, Orange, Orange Enerjooz, Pina-Pineapple, Pink Lemonade, Pink Swimmingo, Purplesaurus Rex, Rainbow Punch, Raspberry, Roarin' Raspberry Cranberry, Rock-a-Dile Red, Root Beer, Scary Black Cherry, Scary Blackberry, Sharkleberry Fin, Slammin' Strawberry-Kiwi, Soarin' Strawberry-Lemonade, Strawberry, Strawberry Falls Punch, Strawberry Split, Strawberry-Raspberry, Sunshine Punch, Surfin' Berry Punch, Tangerine, Tropical Punch, Watermelon-Cherry, Shaking Starfruit, Watermelon, Solar Strawberry-Starfruit, Arctic Green Apple, Swirlin' Strawberry-Starfruit, Lemon Ice

Other products

• Kool-Aid Twists Mountain Dew
• Kool-Aid Ice Cream Bars
• Kool-Aid Singles
• Kool-Aid Bursts
• Kool-Aid Jammerz
• Kool-Aid Fun Fizz
• Kool-Aid Pop 'n Drop
• Kool-Pops
• Kool-Aid Koolers (discontinued)

In popular culture

• "Drinking the Kool-Aid" refers to the 1978 Jonestown Massacre; the phrase suggests that one has mindlessly adopted the dogma of a group or leader without fully understanding the ramifications or implications: at Jonestown, Jim Jones' followers followed him to the end: after visiting Congressman Leo Ryan was shot at the airstrip, all the Peoples Temple members drank from a metal vat containing a mixture of "Kool Aid" (actually Flavor Aid), Cyanide, and prescription drugs Valium, Phenergan, and chloral hydrate. Present-day descriptions of the event often refer to the beverage not as Kool-Aid but as Flavor Aid,^[10] a less-expensive product reportedly found at the site.^[11] Kraft Foods, the maker of Kool-Aid, has stated the same.^[12][13] Implied by this accounting of events is that the reference to the Kool-Aid brand owes exclusively to its being better-known among Americans. Others are less categorical.^[10] Both brands are known to have been among the commune's supplies: Film footage shot inside the compound prior to the events of November shows Jones opening a large chest in which boxes of both Flavor Aid and Kool-Aid are visible.^[14] Criminal investigators testifying at the Jonestown inquest spoke of finding packets of "cool aid" (sic), and eyewitnesses to the incident are also recorded as speaking of "cool aid" or "Cool Aid."^[15] However, it is unclear whether they intended to refer to the actual Kool-Aid–brand drink or were using the name in a generic sense that might refer to any powdered flavored beverage.
• In 2010 Ice Cube released a song named "Drink the Kool-Aid"
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a work of literary journalism by Tom Wolfe depicting the life of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. The book's title is a reference to an acid test in Watts, California, where the Pranksters spiked a batch of Kool-Aid with the psychedelic drug LSD in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}
• Family Guy has often featured the Kool-Aid Man bursting through a wall and exclaiming "Oh yeah!" This happens at inappropriate times, leaving the Kool-Aid Man embarrassed as he retreats back into the hole he made, e.g. towards the end of the courtroom scene in "Stewie Kills Lois" (Season 6, episode 4).^[16]

References

1. ^ The History of Kool-Aid and Edwin Perkins.
2. ^ "History of Kool-Aid". Hastings Museum of Culture and History. http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-16. 
3. ^ "Nebraska takes sweet turn, names Kool-Aid state drink". Deseret News. May 22, 1998. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/631464/Nebraska-takes-sweet-turn-names-Kool-Aid-state-drink.html. 
4. ^ Gustafson, Angela (August 9, 2011). "Nebraska's official soft drink celebrated at the 14th Annual Kool-Aid Days on Aug. 12-14". The Fence Post. http://www.thefencepost.com/article/20110809/NEWS/110809900/1032&ParentProfile=1001. 
5. ^ Newman, Andrew Adam (27 May 2011). "ADVERTISING; Kraft Aims Kool-Aid Ads at a Growing Hispanic Market". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/business/media/27adco.html. Retrieved 27 May 2011. 
6. ^ Kool-Aid Days
7. ^ "The History of Kool-Aid". Hastings Museum of Natural & Cultural History. 2008. http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 
8. ^ "Kool-Aid Powdered". http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Products/ProductInfoSearchResults.htm?CatalogType=1&BrandId=25&SearchText=Kool-Aid%20Powdered%20&PageNo=1. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Shaw, Scott (October 8, 2006). "Kool-Aid Komics". Oddball Comics. http://www.oddballcomics.com/article.php?story=2006-10-09. Retrieved 2008-11-17. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Eric Zorn (2008-11-18). "Change of Subject, "Have you drunk the 'Kool Aid' Kool Aid". Chicago Tribune, www.chicagotribune.com. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/11/have-you-drunk-the-kool-aid-kool-aid.html. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
11. ^ Krause, Charles A. (Dec. 17, 1978). "Jonestown Is an Eerie Ghost Town Now". Washington Post. 
12. ^ Martin Khin (2007-12-19). "Don't Drink the Grape-Flavored Sugar Water...". Fast Company, www.fastcompany.com. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/92/debunk.html. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
13. ^ Al Thomkins (2003-11-13). "Al's Morning Meeting, "Thursday Edition: Clearing Kool-Aid's Name"". The Poynter Institute, www.poynter.org. http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=54353. Retrieved 2009-08-27. 
14. ^ Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
15. ^ "Guyana inquest". http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/PrimarySources/GuyanaInquest.pdf. 
16. ^ ""S06E04 Stewie Kills Lois"". http://www.familyguyepisodes.tv/family_guy_season_6_episode_4_stewie_kills_lois.html. 

External links

• Official website
• History of Kool-Aid from a museum in Hastings, Nebraska