Food Commercials, With Dope Music, Stirred Hunger & Negatively Impacted Health For 80s & 90s Kids

On this week's episode of Queue Points, the crew reflects on how Black musicians have been used in food marketing.

Screen Capture from Kurtis Blow’s Sprite Ad

In 1984, no one was cooler than Alfonso Ribeiro. The year prior he was “The Tap Dance Kid,” and his star rose even more as he starred in a Pepsi commercial with the biggest star we’d ever seen - Michael Jackson. It was cool, it was lively, and yes, we all wanted Pepsi!

But should we have been drinking Pepsi at all? In 2023, a single 12oz can of Pepsi contains 41 grams of sugar. Who knows what that number was in 1984.

According to American Heart Association:

• Men should consume no more than 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of added sugar per day.

• For women, the number is lower: 6 teaspoons (25 grams or 100 calories) per day.

From “How much sugar is too much?”

Pepsi was no stranger to using Black musicians to sell products. In the 1940s, they hired Duke Ellington to promote the product, through their “negro markets” department. This was the opposite of Coke, who did not promote to Black consumers, at the time.

McDonald’s is one of the most strategic users of this kind of marketing. They have a distinction of being one of the early companies to open their doors to Black francisees, which also lead to marketing specifically to Black consumers.

Remember that time Vesta and Al Jarreau sang for their lives about a Big Mac?

Queue Points discussed the perilous relationship between food companies and Black musicians - how they inspired us, made us hungry and taught us to eat food that wasn’t good for our bodies.

Content Mentioned in This Episode

A Brief History of Racist Soft Drinks: https://qpnt.net/F4a4

Targeted Food Marketing to Black and Hispanic Consumers: The Tobacco Playbook: https://qpnt.net/F4a5

A $300 billion opportunity: Serving the emerging Black American consumer: https://qpnt.net/F4a7

Aspartame Is a Possible Cause of Cancer in Humans, a W.H.O. Agency Says: https://qpnt.net/F4a9

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Exclusive Content: Queue Points Watches Some Of Our Favorite Food Commercials

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In this clip, provided exclusively for our newsletter subscribers, Queue Points is watching some of our favorite food commercials featuring Black musicians. Let us know what your favorite is by voting below!

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Tune In For Our Next Queue Points Live!

House Music took over the worldwide airwaves in the late-1980s & early-1990s, but it was specifically the voices of Black women blaring through the speakers that listeners often remember most. Recently Good Morning America aired a segment ‘A look at the women of 90s House.’ Well, join us as we discuss some of them live.

Also, if you stick around for this show, we’re going to dive into some “bitch tracks” that are important to our current cultural moment.

Let’s discuss it live on Thursday, 7/27/23 at 8PM ET on YouTube!

Upcoming Live Streams

8/3/23 - Black Music on Television

8/10/23 - UK Soul & Hip Hop (Guest: Jason Randall Smith)

8/17/23 - Trip Hop and Drum & Bass (Guest: Jason Randall Smith)