Cookie Plug, a multi-state cookie shop, is currently under fire after opening a franchise location in Indianapolis, Indiana, where locals are now accusing them of cultural appropriation with their Hip-Hop and drug-referenced menu items.
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According to WISH-TV, several locals in Indianapolis are calling out the California-based cookie shop for misappropriating Black culture in their marketing strategy for their menu items that reference Hip-Hop and drugs. WISH-TV reports that the owners of the new Indianapolis shop at 646 Massachusetts Avenue, Doreen Walters and her husband Michael Walters, just opened up their location in late May.
Since the grand opening, the owners say they have been getting a steady flow of diverse and curious customers wanting to learn more about the new dessert eatery and their Hip-Hop theme. As part of said theme, inside the shop, customers can view graffiti along the walls, a boombox hanging from the ceiling, and what’s causing all the buzz, several Hip-Hop and drug-related menu items.
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Also, some of the phrases and slang used by the shop include boxes for the cookies that are covered in images of cash and references like, “Thank you for supporting your neighborhood doughp dealer.” Meanwhile, the shop’s cookies are called “phatties,” a term known for packed marijuana joints, and some of their cookie flavors include: “Purple Haze,” “Good Luv,” and “O.G.”
The shop also has a purple lemonade drink called “purple drank,’ a direct reference to the deadly drug mix some rappers are known to drink. The description calls the drink “a smooth blend of zesty lemons, with a hit of that royal purple vibe, giving you a taste that’s straight outta the hood.”
One local Indianapolis resident, Feeray Phillips, who grew up in the culture and recalled “purple drank” being deadly and not a joke, reacted to the Cookie Plug’s theme and said, “When the franchise is not aware of what the terminology they’re dealing with and, to be honest, tropes as gimmicks to sell people lemonade and children lemonade, that’s a problem.”
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Phillips said he is part of the Black community and the Hip-Hop culture in Indianapolis and is speaking up because Hip-Hop is synonymous with Black people and Black culture. He urged the company to do better and clean up their act. He added, “Why is the entire theme of the organization (franchise) based on drug references terminology? You are painting the picture that drugs and Hip-Hop are synonymous, which is not the truth.”
Doreen Walters responded to the “hurtful” and critical comments accusing Cookie Plug of cultural appropriation with its Hip-Hop and drug-referenced menu items. She said, “I grew up at this time and I’ve never done drugs. ‘Purple drank’ is just that, ‘purple drank.’ It’s lemonade.” Additionally, Cookie Plug founder Erik Martinez, who is Puerto Rican, is reportedly not new to the controversy as he founded another cookie shop in Texas, where protestors called him out for using a slavery caricature.
Martinez, who said he grew up listening to Hip-Hop said, “That’s exactly my point. You can be a proud American and love Hip-Hop and love cookies and love graffiti, and you don’t have to fit in a box.” Referencing New York rapper 50 Cent while addressing the cultural appropriation claims, the Cookie Plug founder added, “America has a thing for this gangster [stuff] they do. That’s why I thought, ‘Let’s make this cookie shop gangster.’ That’s really all it is.”
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