Originally, the drink mixes were sweetened primarily with cyclamate, an artificial sweetener that became extremely popular during the 1960s because it provided sweetness without the calories of sugar.
Funny Face Drink Mix was one of the most recognizable powdered soft drink brands of the 1960s and early 1970s, remembered for its brightly colored flavors, whimsical advertising, and memorable cartoon mascots. Introduced by the Pillsbury in 1964, the product entered a rapidly growing market for inexpensive powdered beverage mixes that could be prepared at home by simply adding water.
The myth began in 1966 with a satirical article in the Berkeley Barb titled “The Great Banana Hoax”.
Banana peel smoking is a strange and memorable episode from the 1960s counterculture, rooted in satire, misinformation, and the youthful pursuit of altered consciousness. The myth began in 1966 with a satirical article in the Berkeley Barb 1titled “The Great Banana Hoax,” which claimed that the fibrous inner lining of banana peels contained a hallucinogenic compound named “bananadine.”
