This morning in my Sunday paper, I came across an advertisement that made me stop and consider its content. The ad, reproduced at right, is for Kool-Aid. It depicts young black children in various "gangsta" poses.

This is wrong on so many levels. The ad was in the Sunday magazine section, so its obviously aimed at parents. I could be wrong, but I don't think people are going to coo and go "Oh look, they're little gangsters. How adorable!" At least I didn't. I immediately thought about how course culture has become when this is an acceptable depiction of children. Start your kids on the road to being a gangster early, so they can screw up their life later!

Then there's the racial component. The "angry black" image coming into everyone's homes in an ad for Kool-Aid? This merely reinforces a negative stereotype that is hardly constructive. Blacks as well as whites should find this ad to be objectionable.

What are the folks at Kool-Aid thinking? They must be drinking their product...