While Kool-Aid first debuted 96 years ago, it wasn’t until 1954 that the beloved powdered drink brand would introduce a mascot.

Now known as the Kool-Aid Man, the brash anthropomorphized soft drink pitcher with a total disregard for drywall has in many ways surpassed his original role as pitch(er) man with a story of his own. The Kool-Aid Man is a part of popular culture that has evolved and changed over time faster than the beverages—full of dyes and sugar—he peddles.