I Agree with Cadbury, Sugar Taxes Insufficient to Overhaul Diets

Last week saw much debate in the UK about sugar taxes and for some reason The Guardian decided that it would be worth reporting on what Cadbury's UK President Mary Barnard thinks on the matter. Unsurprisingly, the head of the massive candy maker isn't fond of the idea of sugar taxes with the article's headline noting that a sugar tax would not change diets, and the story's first paragraph clarifying that by change, she means "overhaul".

And here we agree.

Sugar taxes, by way of simple economics, will certainly change the purchase frequency of those products taxed, but if the goal is a population based dietary "overhaul", many more changes are required, changes which from Cadbury could include:

• Withdrawing Cadbury's sponsorship of all sporting events (like the 2012 Olympics).
• Ending Cadbury's practice of advertisements that target children.
• Removing Cadbury products from vending machines - especially those in publicly funding institutions (schools, sporting arenas, government buildings, etc.)
• Shuttering Cadbury's junk food fundraising program.

And though these changes too wouldn't likely "overhaul" British diets either, had Barnard championed anything other than personal responsibility in the article, well then that would have been a story worth reporting rather than a not even remotely newsworthy piece that the sugar industry is opposed to sugar taxes.