California faces a health crisis. Consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages contributes to a variety of health problems, including tooth decay, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity - conditions disproportionately affecting low-income communities. Like the tobacco industry before them, Big Soda companies, like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, deploy strategic marketing tactics targeting kids and low-income communities to drive up the consumption of soda and as a result, health care costs.
Not So Sweet Facts
About Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
Make Soda Consumption Go Flat
Policies to Address the Health Crisis
Limiting access to soda and stopping Big Soda's predatory marketing schemes can help lower consumption, raise awareness, and improve health outcomes. Policy proposals include:
Promotional Pricing Limits
Prohibit Big Soda from offering manufacturer's coupons to their manufacturer, distributor and retailer partners. These coupons result in lower prices of unhealthy products and drives consumption.
Warning Labels on Sugary Drinks
Require a warning label on sugar-sweetened beverages so consumers can make informed decisions about their consumption.
Healthy Checkouts
Prohibit placement of sugar-sweetened beverages near the check-out counter at supermarkets, larger grocery stores, supercenters and warehouse clubs.
Portion Caps
Ban the sale of unsealed beverages larger than 16 ounces at food service establishments, including restaurants with self-service soda fountains.
Fees on Soda Manufacturers
Place a fee on sodas and other sugary beverages and use the new revenue to offset health and economic costs associated with overconsumption of sugar.
Pop Quiz
Soda’s Effects on California Communities
News
Why health crisis requires soda bills
California faces a public health crisis. Over half of Californians already have diabetes or are likely to develop Type 2 diabetes during their lives. Twenty-five percent of Californians are obese and 38 percent of children are obese or overweight.
Read More
How Big Tobacco Hooked Children on Sugary Drinks
Researchers combing through archives discovered that cigarette makers had applied their marketing wizardry to sweetened beverages and turned generations of children into loyal customers.
Read More
Coca-Cola tried to influence CDC on research and policy, new report states
The Coca-Cola Company tried to influence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on diet and obesity issues by encouraging the agency to shift attention and blame away from sugar-sweetened beverages, according to a new report.
Read More
Why we're endorsing tax hikes and other ways to limit sugary drinks for kids
Every child in every community deserves to grow up healthy. That’s why our respective organizations, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, just released ...
Read More