Tropical Fantasy is an inexpensive soft-drink, originally from

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Its low price of 49¢ per 21-ounce bottle led to its success in the 1990s. Tropical Fantasy was initially popular in inner city areas. The company did not employ large marketing campaigns and used simple store displays and low prices to sell its drinks. This made the product almost invisible to consumers not living in areas where the beverages were sold. Tropical Fantasy is bottled by a small family-owned soft-drink manufacturer called Brooklyn Bottling Group, which has bottled seltzers since 1936. In 1990, with its debut of the Tropical Fantasy line, the soft-drinks became an overnight success. It now bottles over $2 million each month in sales.

Juice Cocktails

* Apple Juice * Blue Raspberry * Citrus Delight * Fruit Punch * Grape * Kiwi Strawberry * Lemon Iced Tea * Mandarin Orange * Mean Green Lemonade * Passion Fruit * Piña Colada * Raspberry Rush * Strawberry Lemonade * Lemonade * Cherry blue lemonade

Soft Drinks

* Black Cherry * Champagne Kola * Coconut * Cola * Cotton Candy * Flite * Ginger Ale * Golden Fruit Champagne * Grape Drink * Island Punch Finisher * Kool Kombucha Kooler * Lemon 'n Lime * Mango * Mountain Rush * Orange * Pineapple * Watermelon * Wild Blue Cherry * Wild Pink Strawberry * Sweet Tea

African-American conspiracy theory

In April 1991, rumors began circulating in Black neighborhoods that the beverage was laced with a secret ingredient that would sterilize black men.Tropical Storm.
''Snopes.com'' May 2, 2007. The beverage quickly earned the nickname "Tropical Fanticide." The rumors claimed that the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

was actually bottling the product and using the low price to attract poor citizens. Similar unfounded rumors about Klan involvement periodically have plagued the Church's Fried Chicken chain and

Snapple Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, based in Plano, Texas, United States. The original producer of Snapple, a company that was known as Unadulterated Food Products, was founded in 1972. The brand achieved ...

soft drinks. Later that year the rumor spread rapidly and provoked violence in many city neighborhoods. Attacks occurred on delivery trucks and storekeepers who stocked Tropical Fantasy. Due to these rumors and rising suspicions, sales of the beverage plummeted by 70%. Investigations found the claims to be as preposterous. Sales recovered only after an extensive public relations campaign that included then-New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins, (who was Black) drinking a bottle of the soda for television news cameras. By mid June 1991 the attacks had stopped and the sales had rebounded, but the dark rumors about Tropical Fantasy were not forgotten. Even today, the rumors are still circulating. Many young teenagers refer to the beverages as "Bummies" and "Nutties", mainly due to the rumor that it kills sperm. This is not however limited to the Tropical Fantasy beverage. Other beverages such as "City Club", "Top Pop", and "C&C", are ridiculed in exactly the same way.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Tropical Fantasy website

Brooklyn Bottling Group

Snopes
American soft drinks Cuisine of New York City Culture of Brooklyn Conspiracy theories involving race and ethnicity Products introduced in 1990