Opinion: It Only Takes One Death Cult to Tarnish Your Brand Forever

"Drink the Kool-Aid." Fifty years later, those three words that define me.

To all the aspiring young brands out there, let me share a pearl of wisdom I learned the hard way: it takes years to build your reputation, but only moments, and one death cult, to destroy it.

Yes, you can do a thousand things right. You can make millions of kids smile. You can become a quintessential part of that perfect summer day. You can create a rainbow of new flavors, each better than the last.

And yet.

And yet, all anyone remembers is that time a death cult used your product to commit mass suicide.

I know what you're thinking: this couldn't happen to me. My beloved product would never be connected to such an atrocity.

I used to think the same. I went to bed one evening in 1978 dreaming of bursting through a wall and delighting a diverse group of children with my signature catch phrase, only to wake up to a nightmare as I read the morning paper.

Let my experience be a warning to all.