A controversial ad from Coca-cola has given the role of soft drinks in the obesity epidemic the type of attention the company had hoped to deflect. The new ad tries to improve public opinion of Coca-Cola by showing concern about the future health of the nation. Since the campaign kicked off, nutrition experts have been reminding the public about how scientific research debunks Coca-Cola?s cynical claims.
Coke and cigarettes
Last year government officials, most notably the mayor of New York, started imposing strict regulations on the portion size of sugar-sweetened beverages. Growing public awareness of their health risks is leading to comparisons of products such as Coke with cigarettes in terms of health impact.
Fearing the damage to profits from an emerging marketing and public relations debacle, Coca-Cola has produced an ad intended to obfuscate scientific research confirming that Coke and other sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a major contributor to obesity and that their products have absolutely no nutritional value.
Coke sounds the alarm
The spin of the company?s new ad campaign, ?Coming Together,? is that Coca-Cola is working hard to make its beverages healthier. It begins with a sincerely earnest tone:
?For over 125 years, we?ve been bringing people together. Today we?d like people to come together on something that concerns all of us: obesity. The long-term health of our families and the country is at stake.?
Healthier choices?
The narrator uses statistics to create the impression that Coca-Cola is leading people who drink sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks to a thinner, healthier tomorrow:
?Across our portfolio of more than 650 beverages, we now offer over 180 low- and no-calorie choices,? the ad says, ?Over the last 15 years, this helped reduce the average calories per serving across our industry?s products in the U.S. by 22 percent.?
Many people have been led to believe that so-called diet drinks with no- or low-calories are a healthier choice. However, numerous studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can distort biochemistry in ways that lead to significant weight gain and higher blood sugar levels, as well as disrupt the body?s ability to control calorie intake.
A calorie is a calorie?
According to most critics of the campaign, the company goes too far when the narrator tries to shift blame for obesity from the company to the consumer?with the implication that all calories, including soda calories, are created equal:
??beating obesity will take action by all of us, based on one simple, common-sense fact: All calories count, no matter where they come from. ?And if you eat and drink more calories than you burn off, you?ll gain weight.?
Scientific research in the past few years has proven that in human metabolism, all calories are not created equal, in particular those from fructose, the main sweetener in Coke. Fructose, which can only be metabolized in the liver, overwhelms the organ, where fat accumulates. Fructose also forces the pancreas to make more insulin, which can eventually lead to a prediabetic condition. Both effects send a body on the road to metabolic syndrome.
Shameless
Even the advertising industry has responded to Coca-Cola?s campaign with derision. Adweek, called the video ?shameless? in an article titled ?The soda giant makes an awkward first stab at addressing obesity.?
So we can expect to hear more from Coca-Cola about obesity. But properly translated the company?s message is an attempt to maintain profits, not take action for the health of consumers.
Source: New York Times, Medill Reports, Dr. Mercola
Source: http://www.themedifastplan.com/main/cokes-new-ad-about-protecting-profit-not-fighting-obesity/
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