The other day, I stopped by a local convenience store in search of some liquid refreshment. (The non-alcoholic variety, mind you. It was the middle of the day.)
On one of the doors of the soft-drink cooler was a sign touting a certain company’s new line of “Throwback” beverages (”Made with REAL sugar!”)
This was the second time around for the so-called throwbacks. I enjoyed them when they were out a few months and was pleased to see they’d been returned to store shelves.
Part of the appeal of these particular beverages is their cool retro packaging. Looking closer, I noticed an image I remembered fondly from my childhood had been brought back for one of the drinks.
On the label of the Mountain Dew Throwback bottles was a picture of a cartoon hillbilly holding a jug.
If you’re old enough to be familiar with this corporate symbol, you know it’s drawn to depict a cork having been ejected from the jug with sufficient force to pierce the brim of the mountaineer’s hat.
It’s an image that a few short years ago was plastered on metal signs one would see nailed to the sides of roadside stores in every corner of our region, including the one my family used to operate in Carter County.
In addition to the drawing of the hillbilly, the signs usually bore the slogan, “It’ll tickle yore innards!”
Seeing Willy back on the Mountain Dew bottle brought back memories of my family’s store and of my first childhood experiences with that sweet greenish-yellow elixir — experiences that usually involved me and my siblings bouncing off the walls for hours after polishing off a few 12-ounce bottles of it.
I have no doubt that arousing such feelings among consumers in my age group was the intent in resurrecting this image.
Nostalgia aside, though, seeing Willy again left me asking myself a number questions.
Like, why doesn’t this bother me? And, should it?
And why is it still OK to use stereotypical images of Appalachians to sell products? Companies seem to have pretty much moved past doing that with regard to other segments of the population.
If that bottle had some sort of picture that stereotyped African-Americans, Jews, Latinos, I suspect people — myself included — would be outraged and rightly so.
I would imagine that even something that portrayed, say, all New Yorkers as obnoxious, loud-mouthed louts, all Californians as blissed-out stoners or all Canadians as slow-witted types who say “eh?” a lot would raise the hackles of more than a few.
But an ad character that depicts rural folk as single-toothed bumpkins? Hey, no problem.
(Willy’s dental health, or lack thereof, is kind or ironic, don’t you think, seeing as how excessive Mountain Dew consumption has been cited as a leading cause of tooth loss in Appalachia, particularly among children. Truth in advertising, anyone?)
One could argue, too, that Appalachians have been hurt as much, if not more, than any other group by negative stereotypes.
Having lived in Kentucky for the better part of 40 years, I obviously know that Willy isn’t a true and accurate depiction of the people of this state or this region anymore than “The Beverly Hillbillies” was a documentary.
But I tend to think folks who have never been here still think we’re all a bunch of hicks, and that symbols like Willy help keep that image alive.
But again ... I’m just not bothered by it. Not in the least.
In fact, with our country becoming ever-more homogenous, I actually find it refreshing, in an odd sort of way, to see our mountain heritage celebrated in such a manner.
Hey, at least they didn’t update Willy and make him into a Florida-bound pain pill addict.
That I might have a problem with.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
