Mountain Dew and Islam

Most people don't know this, but before Mountain Dew had ads with hip hop beats and zooming motorcycles it was marketed with crazy hillbilly stereotypes!


I can personally remember seeing a faded billboard just like this on the side of a run-down store somewhere around Adams County, Ohio as a kid. And folks I'm not that damned old.

The term 'mountain dew', while today a registered trademark of the Pepsi Corporation, was originally a slang term for homemade moonshine. As in the old-timey song "That Good Old Mountain Dew", which was recorded by the Stanley Brothers, Doc Watson, and Mother Maybelle Carter, among others. Grandpa Jones sang the song on this episode of TV's Hee Haw. Here's a good classic version of the that bluegrass favorite done by Lonzo and Oscar on the Grand Ole Opry:



Now, here is an original Mountain Dew commercial - featuring a take off on the song - and the old-school hillbilly ad campaign. (Which seems to be more than coincidentally similar to old Lil' Abner cartoons. I wonder if Dogpatch creator Al Capp was pissed.)





According to Robert Guinn, the Mountain Dew brand soft drink was originally created in Knoxville in the late 40's as cocktail mixer. Later it was bottled in Johnson City and was bought by Pepsi in 1964. In 1973 the Pepsi folks decided the hillbilly marketing image was rather dated and switched to something less culturally specific. I find it extremely ironic that the more recent ads have focused on youth-oriented extreme sports, pretty much the polar opposite of cartoon hillbillies and backwoods corn whiskey.

And while we're on the subject here's some crazy hillbilly-stereotype-themed comics from the 50's:


This is from the Again With the Comics blog, which is running a great piece about such.


Also I visited an urban mosque today, which was quite interesting. I went with a friend from work to the storefront Masjib Al-Ashab, off Vine and 13th street in Over the Rhine. My friend Abdul introduced me to some of the brothers there, most of whom were older African American converts. Needless to say a few of the faithful looked a little surprised to see me at first, since I'm a young nerdy-looking white dude. I only saw one other white dude there, a young man with a flowing robe, smiling eyes, and a bushy red beard beneath his skullcap. He greeted me warmly and asked me where I was from; my guess is he wondered if I was foreign. He spoke with a noticeable Ebonics influence and told me that he had found Islam via hip hop culture. After being introduced to Islam by a friend his interest in graffiti led him to an appreciation of the ornate flourishes of Arabic calligraphy. I met another brother with a turban who had taken the name of ancient African civilization. I told him I appreciated his style.


The Egyptian-born imam (who is an aerospace engineering Ph.D. candidate) gave a sermon about why some people refute God. When I was introduced to him he thanked me for coming and was kind enough to bestow upon me a lovely copy of the Holy Koran with an accompanying CD of a Koran singer - something I had been looking for. Everybody was incredibly nice. The congregation gave me a plate of delicious food and encouraged me to come back soon.

I think I will.