I saw this picture of the Popeye Candy cigarettes on social this past week and it brought on a ton of reflection.
It might hurt my brain to think this way, but how did we get from an innocent candy like this one, that was eventually rebranded over the years to taking the pink part off the end (implying it was a lit cigarette), to changing the name altogether?! I do hope there were millions in research dollars spent connecting kids enjoying this innocent candy at 8 years old and cigarette addiction later in life. I can tell you (and it's a small sample size), none of my friends ended up smoking and we enjoyed these candies almost weekly. Sure we did simulate a puff or two holding them in our fingers thinking we were cool. We soon realized that's not in fact what we deemed cool later in life.
I guess I bring this up because it happens more and more these days, the old cancel culture where the vocal minority speak up in rage against something, and the rest of us quietly watch that part of our life slink away. Remember Halloween? Now called Black and Orange day at school, implying it's far more dangerous to kids today than in our youth etc etc.
Yes, I have to say it, I miss the good ole days.... *sigh*
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