ATLANTA -- A man swallows pack after pack after pack of sugar as two people sitting next to him watch incredulously. Enjoying their lunch with 20-ounce bottles of soda, they can't believe their eyes and shake their heads in disbelief. A tagline flashes on the screen: "You'd never eat 16 packs of sugar. Why would you drink 16 packs of sugar?"
The ad, an anti-soft drink spot from the New York City Department of Health, is the latest salvo in the decades-long war between critics of sugary beverages and the companies that produce them, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, as well as the American Beverage Association (ABA), said an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report.
The pressure from critics hit new heights in May when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a proposed ban on the sale of sodas and other sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, movie theaters and street carts. The measure is expected to go into effect as soon as next March in the nation's largest metro area. Diet sodas, fruit juices, alcohol or drinks such as milkshakes are not included in the proposed ban. Grocery and convenience store sales also are excluded.
Also, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has waged a national campaign to tax sugary drinks, will have a first-ever "national soda summit" (click here for details) in Washington this week to discuss the issue. A former Coca-Cola executive, whom the group declined to identify, promises to "tell the truth about 'Big Soda's' marketing strategies," the group said. A Coca-Cola spokesperson told the newspaper that he did not know who it might be.
The association, feeling the pressure ratcheting up, already has created a recent national "Delivering Choices" campaign, including a TV spot pointing to the low- or no-calorie options most brands have added to vending machines across the nation.
The brands point to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found, between 1999 and 2010, sugar consumption from sodas decreased 39%, while obesity rose 7%. In addition, they tout the millions they have donated to children's activities, the creation of parks and education programs on healthy lifestyles.
The battle could prove pivotal, said the report. U.S. sales of soft drinks--the bread and butter of the nonalcoholic refreshment segment --have been sliding since their peak in 1998, industry data cited by the paper shows. A driving force has been Americans' concern about their sugar intake, which has led many to switch to water, juices, teas, coffees and milk as replacements.
Pepsi said 49% of their drinks are juices, low-calorie, diet or sports drinks, while Coca-Cola puts its number at about 41%.
Soda sales, while declining, still make up the lion's share of the industry's income. About 75% of the nonalcoholic beverage industry is made up of megabrands--those trademarked drinks with sales of 100 million 192-ounce cases, said the report, citing Beverage Digest. Of those, almost half are carbonated soft drinks.
"Over the last decade, the calories Americans consumed in soft drinks have dropped substantially--about 21%," John Sicher, Beverage Digest's editor and publisher, told the newspaper. "If you look at this realistically, the biggest problem is lifestyles. Americans are more sedentary."
Still, the drumbeat for the nation to slim down has been loudest when the discussion turns to ridding Americans of sugary drinks. While reducing consumption of fast food, salty chips and sugar-laden cereals has been offered as a solution to the nation's weight problem, none has galvanized as much support as soft-drink bans.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics reported last August that consumption of sugary drinks--a category that includes all beverages, not just carbonated--has increased in the United States for both children and adults over the past 30 years. The report said on any given day, about half of the population over the age of two consumes a sugary drink.
George Hacker, senior policy adviser for health promotion for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said the beverage industry has made strides in reducing the calories in its drinks overall. But it still focuses most of its U.S. marketing muscle on best-sellers such as Coke, Pepsi and Mountain Dew.
Because the full-calorie drinks are among their best-sellers and where they make the most money, the companies also spend more money promoting them.
That is most evident, he told the paper, on grocery and c-store shelves, where the full-sugared soft drinks command the largest percentage and most prominent positions--at eye level, where most purchases occur.
"Even when they promote their diet sodas or their intermediate sodas, they are still promoting the brand name and normalizing the consumption of their drinks," he said.
Coca-Cola leaders disagreed. They said two of their best-sellers in the United States--Diet Coke and Coke Zero--reduce calories and offer consumers an option that many are taking. Diet Coke became the nation's No. 2 best-selling soft drink (behind Coke) last year--surpassing full-flavored Pepsi--and Coke Zero has been a hit for Coke, growing 12.4% in 2011.
Dave DeCecco, a spokesperson for Pepsi, said there is no agenda on store shelves to guide consumers to one drink or another. The company puts all its best-selling products--full sugar or reduced--where consumers can get them because of demand.
"That's a factor of consumers making a choice of what they want," he told the Journal-Constitution. "It is just as easy to find a Diet Pepsi in stores as it is to find Pepsi."
Both companies also are working on mid-calorie sodas that mimic the full flavor of their brands while eliminating much of the sugar. Pepsi introduced Pepsi Next earlier this year, while Coke is testing mid-calorie Fanta and Sprite in a handful of cities.
Industry leaders said part of the problem is a lack of open dialogue. They point out that the Center for Science in the Public Interest has rebuffed their request to speak at its "soda summit" this week.
Jeff Cronin, a spokesperson for the group, acknowledged that the meeting is closed to the beverage companies and their allies. "The soda industry was purposefully excluded from this conference," he told the paper.
Rhona Applebaum, a vice president and chief scientific and regulatory officer at Coca-Cola, said she welcomes a discussion about obesity and the role that everyone plays in it, including Coca-Cola. But she said it has to be realistic and the focus put on how to improve health, not pointing fingers.
"To me, this is just another ploy to try to demonize a product and create a scapegoat when what we should be doing is coming up with solutions," she told the paper.
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