Last December New York State had considered implementing a sales tax on sodas and juices to help offset the rising rate of obesity, but that proposal appears to have fallen through the cracks. Now New York City public health officials are taking the message to encourage people to give up soda and juices to the streets--literally. For a three month time period, 1,500 subway cars will carry an ad depicting fat being poured from a soda bottle into an overflowing glass with the phrase "Are You Pouring on the Pounds? Don't drink yourself fat" in hopes that this type of "in-your-face" ad campaign will encourage many people to give up their beloved sodas and juices. While the ad is quite disgusting, I am not too sure if it is worth the $277,000 price tag it cost to put this campaign together. How many years have we been told about the correlation between soda and juice consumption and obesity? And it may not just be enough to say NO! I do believe that food and beverage industry plays a huge role in forming our behavior with what we consume, therefore leading us into an almost addicted state when it comes to certain foods and drinks. In Dr. David Kessler's book, The end of overeating. Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite former Coca-Cola executive, Mike McCloud, admits that the company went into fast food giants, McDonald's and Burger King, and convinced them to upsize their cup sizes in order to increase company profits. So instead of the small 8 ounce drink that was sold years ago the average is now, 12 ounces. This may not seem like a big increase, after all we are only talking 4 ounces. However, with kids and adults being far less active these days, those 43 extra calories can add up over time--and that is if they stick with 12 ounces and not get the free refills that many restaurants make available to their customers. And sodas are not the only culprits. Energy drinks and other sugary drinks also contribute to our obesity epidemic. I believe the only way to wean Americans off sodas is for parents to stop buying them and definitely keep them out of the schools. Obesity is an issue that we must hit from all angles and certainly education is a start. As to what impact an ad campaign will have on people, I guess we shall see in the months ahead. Do you believe ads, such as the one mentioned above, have an impact on changing society's views on issues? Do you think shock advertising is an effective means of changing people's habits? What do you think of advertising as a tool for tackling the obesity issue?
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I'm not much of a soda drinker as it is, but that image is going to stay with me for a Very Long Time. I also don't drink much juice, but when I do it is 100% fruit juice and I usually dilute it 50 - 50 with water. Report
Let's work on educating in schools. Ever had a kid who has been learning something about recycling get in your face about your trash? It works on any subject. Pressure from others is also a great way to get people educated.
I had a friend who threw a wadded up wrapper on the sidewalk in downtown Seattle. I looked at it and thought, "What a pig!" Then I was suddenly Jack Lemon on the Odd Couple and I pointed at the offending wrapper and made him pick it up and throw it in the trash can only about 5 feet away. He heard about if for about 10 minutes from me. He never did it around me again. We can change others, regardless of being nice or going overboard, like I probably did. We can still changes others to the better side of life. Report
Also, long after cigarette ads were pulled from billboards and magazines, schoolkids were still seeing them in the subways and buses (as late as 1998, when I left NYC). So, subway ads as a healthy influence? I don't think so. Report
So thank god to the goverment over here I used to hate you at school but now I thank you.. Report
I think a noticeable tax on these kinds of items is a much better deterrent, but the ad drives the point home. It is SO easy to disregard the caloric impact of sodas and many sugar loaded juices if you have never been educated about them. Report
I am so proud of NYC's healthy organization for promoting this advertisement! Way to go! Report
I like the ad- thought provoking, but not directed at a 'person'- I'm glad they didn't show a person in it. Seems like this ad is not shaming, not finger pointing at a person, but informative.
Thinking = good.
Thanks, Spark! Report
So I have found that if I remember BITMAP then I have a good handle on this nutrition, diet, and health stuff:
BALANCE the food groups
monitor you INTAKE
track your TOTALS
everything in MODERATION
ACTIVITY is vital
PORTION your plate
What gets me most about this ad is that is asks about pouring on the pounds and shows fat coing from the soda bottle, but if you read the label of a can of Mountain Dew, for example, there is 0 fat. There are 170 calories and 46g of sugar mind you, but no fat. What really happens when you drink a soda is if you are inactive (or sitting in front of the tv playing video games) like most of the young people today are, then those sugars are just sitting around not being absorbed into the bloodstream to be used for energy and therefore turn into the fat and the calories do not get burned off. But the fat does not come directly from the soda, it comes from the inactivity. If we encouraged a more active lifestyle, and that goes for adults as well (and sitting at the desk multitasking papers and phones and meetings does not count, as I am guilty of this myself) then perhaps the sugars would get absorbed in our bloodstream properly to be used for energy and the calories would be burned during our activities. This would prevent the sodas and juices from becoming the horrible monsters that this ad wants to depict them as. Of course, I am not saying they are good for you, there are much healthier alternatives, but they are not going to immediately put a spare tire on your waist or add padding to your rump if you drink them in moderation and maintain an active lifestyle.
As far as the cost for the ad goes, it is relativey low considering the amount of money that is typically spent on an advertising campaign. However, I am sure there are better ways the city could have spent the money, particularly since this ad really isn't going to be as effective as they might hope it would be. What would have been more effective would have been to use the money in an effort to get people more physically active as that would be more healthy and have more lasting effects for everyone. Report
I think this will be effective in getting people to at least stop and think before they purchase/drink a soda whereas now many people tend to run on autopilot and don't even think before they make a decision. The real kicker will be after the 3 months when the ad ends, people will probably revert to the same habits - out of site, out of mind! But we will still have these commericals running by Coke and friends...
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