Nancy of Chicago/Flickr

Kool Aid ad from the Fall of 1986.

It’s ostensibly a story about marketing and advertising but it says a lot about the health and eating habits of America’s fast growing minority population: Kraft’s Kool-Aid brand fruit drink is starting an advertising blitz aimed at Hispanics, culminating in a collaboration with Univision Radio in July to sponsor a series of outdoor screenings of Spanish-language movies in public parks in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Why would Kool-Aid be targeting Hispanics? Because that ethnic group, along with African Americans, are the largest consumers of not only Kool-Aid but all fruit drinks—Hispanic adults are second only to African Americans in consumption of fruit drinks. Perhaps not coincidentally these same populations are struggling disproportionately with obesity and diabetes, which calls into question the public health ramifications of an add campaign that pushes sugary drinks on minorities. Is this just a case of clever advertising by Kool-Aid or the underpinnings of a health crisis?

Guest:

Dr. Antronette Yancey, professor in the Department of Health Services at the UCLA