RSSHoodsnacks™
I was reluctant to name candy cigarettes an official Hoodsnack™. Why? Because they’re an afterthought compared to hood favorites like Chick-o-Sticks, Mambas and candy necklaces. Still, I added them for a few reasons. First off, they come with special effects. Remember how the puff of dust that came from them shits made a young’n feel grown. Secondly, the hood loves combinations: candy+cigarettes; pickles+Kool-Aid; ranch dressing+anything.
Most importantly, I’ve named candy cigarettes an official Hoodsnack™because sugar and smoke together illustrate why cancer, heart disease and diabetes are the first, second and fourth leading causes of death for African Americans.
Let these California Department of Health Services statistics blow some candy dust on you:
• In 2002, approximately 2.7 million or 11.4 percent of African Americans in the US had diabetes.
• African Americans were 1.6 times more likely to have diabetes than whites of similar ages.
• Compared to whites, African Americans experience higher rates of diabetes complications such as eye disease, kidney failure, and amputations.
• Among African Americans in California, 9.3 percent reported they had been diagnosed with diabetes, which is 1.7 times the rates of white Californians.
• Heart disease and cancer combined to account for over half (51%)of deaths among African Americans in California and for nearly half (48%) ofall deaths among African Americans nationally.
Question: What influences kids more…candy cigarettes, television, friends or the cheap lucys they sell at the corner store?
10 Comments, Comment or Ping
Malia
TOO FUNNY!!!
Friends by all means!!! You imitate your atmoshphere, it’s as simple as that. I had a hood nigga (just like the song) and we drove around and hung out at the carwash all day and had bar-b-ques in the park, and then I had a boogie creole brother and we went to upscale retaurants and hung out in bookstores all day…lol. Who you hang with is a definite reflection of you are or who you will become when you grow up!
[Reply]
"A Mom"
Friends.
It’s sad but I think that our country is raising a bunch of followers, when we need more leaders. First children finds more caring in their friends because parents are not as available. whether it be two working parents, a single parent working, or children dealing with addicted parents. We have a lot of very good parents out there but something is missing in our “All about me world” that our children are finding elsewhere. I have had so many of my children’s friends that have lived with us for sometime because of the lack of parenting or someone to care about them. At the end of the day all they want is some attention and love.
[Reply]
She-Rell
Television and friends
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mrschocolatestuff
Friends but .. and i think the exposure with the signs and billboards just confirms or reconfirms what they’ve seen or heard on tv
[Reply]
Eric Battles
My answer, all of them, but the biggest influence of all, is what goes on in your home.
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*SB*
I think everything influences a child but especially peer pressure…they want friends and they want to feel cool around their freinds…so they watch certain TV shows, and eat certain candies and smoke ciggarettes if they havent already to fit in…
I say that because I know from experience…I was really into rock before highschool (my dads a rocker and i went to a predominately white middle school) then i get to predominately black high school and it wasnt cool to be into rock like that so I found myself watching BET /CMC (california music channel) and listening to the rap/r&b radio stations….so peers are the biggest influence in my experience
I agree with MALIA, the company you keep is a reflection of you…i have my hood-friends and then I have my bougie friends…because i have my bougie moments as well as my hood moments but I dont think the company you keep determines who you become when you grow up though…that is left upon the individual and their experiences…i say that because i was the only one of my friends in highschool to go to a 4yr and graduate…and the only one of my college friends to move out of our home state after graduating…i believe I was different because of my experiences…it showed me there is a world outside of this neighborhood, city, state…
Thats why I feel its so important to expose our young brother and sisters different things so that they can break away from that block/set/neighborhood limited reality…
[Reply]
*SB*
I know I went off on a tangent but did anyone else notice the brand of the cigg-candies…its fitting considering their targeting children so they can grow up and become smokers…
[Reply]
TROUBLMan
SB
I like where your head is.
Target brand candy cigarettes are made World Candies inc. Located in Brooklyn, NY, they’re one of the largest producers of candies with a tobacco-theme in the U.S. They also make chocolates, and other candies too.
And guess what? They’re owned by British American Tobacco, the same company that owns lucky strike. See the resemblance?
[Reply]
"A Mom"
I reminder those cigarettes the ones that tasted like chalk and the bubble gum one that the smoke came out of.
When I had them, I did think about smoking it was the closes thing to it. I watched my father smoking and I would pretend I was doing like him.
As I grew up I tried to smoke a couple of times when I was out with my friends, but I didn’t like the feeling. I later watched my father at 57 die of lung cancer and he was asking for a cigarette on his death bed. Yes I think companies target our children with a lot of things.
[Reply]
RBT
FRIENDS
[Reply]
Reply to “Hoodsnacks™”
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