Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Canadian Beverage Association Poised to Take Credit for Existing Consumer Trend

Did you hear about the "Balance Calories" initiative launched by the Canadian Beverage Association, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Motts?

The strap line for their press release is,
"Industry aims to reduce beverage calories in the Canadian diet by 20% over the next 10 years"
But beverage calorie reduction is an existing trend. Between soda taxes and news like yesterday's which saw Applebee's restaurants removing soda from their kids' menus, change is here, and it's much to the chagrin of the soda industry, not consequent to its good behaviour.

I think a more accurate strap line would be,
"Industry aims to take credit for ongoing reduction of beverage calories in the Canadian diet over the next 10 years in a bid to try to forestall industry unfriendly legislation like sugar sweetened beverage taxes."
And it's already paying off for them. On their website are quotes of praise from the Ontario's Minister of Health Promotion, the Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs, the managing director of EPODE Canada and director of the EPODE International Network, the President of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, and the Mayor of Toronto.