The World Health Organization has called for limiting soda marketing to kids, and the authors describe the holiday truck as a item that needs to go.
In the latest salvo in the soda wars, public health experts writing in BMJ have called for a ban on a Coca-Cola marketing icon in Great Britain: the Happy Holidays truck tour.
The World Health Organization and other experts have singled out marketing to children as one of the key ways that unhealthy food and drink find their way into diets—and stay there. The WHO has previously called on nations to set limits on marketing soda to kids, and the authors of the BMJ piece, “Happy corporate holidays from Coca-Cola,” pull no punches, saying the truck is so embedded in the soda giant’s British campaigns that it has become “a holiday brand” almost as big as Santa Claus himself.
They note that Coca-Cola opened an office next door to the country’s Royal Society of Medicine—a move that evokes what the cigarette industry did in the United States generations ago, when it bought up advertising in leading medical journals like JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine.
But the authors say the stakes for the health of Britons are too high to allow the holiday truck to continue. They cite a report in October 2015 by Public Health England that shows school-age children consume a particularly high amount of sugary beverages, especially if they are poor. In response the United Kingdom has adopted a soda tax that will begin in 2018.
Of note, the article states that the truck tour generates substantial free publicity across cities in England’s northwest cities, where more than one-third of children are overweight or suffer tooth decay. Children can pose for a free photo with the truck and get a free can of soda. The authors note that publicity in the local papers for the holiday truck offered no alternate viewpoints about drinking soda, drowning out poorly financed public health campaigns against it.
“Apparently, Coca-Cola’s voice counts more than those of the directors of public health,” they wrote, in calling on Public Health England to ban the marketing campaign.
Reference
Ireland R, Ashton JR. Happy corporate holidays from Coca-Cola. BMJ. 2017;356. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6833.
Exclusive Telemedicine Use Linked to Less Favorable Glycemic Outcomes for T2D Endocrinology Care
December 6th 2023Adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) undergoing endocrinology care are more likely to experience less favorable hemoglobin A1c improvements if they only use telemedicine compared with patients using in-person care or a mix of both.
Read More
How Can Employers Leverage the DPP to Improve Diabetes Rates?
February 15th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Jill Hutt, vice president of member services at the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health, explains the Coalition’s efforts to reduce diabetes rates through the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).
Listen
Study Reveals Factors That Further Increase Colorectal Cancer Risk for Adults With T2D
November 14th 2023The strongest associations between diabetes and colorectal cancer risk were observed in participants with a recent diabetes diagnosis and those who had not undergone recent colonoscopy, underscoring the significance of cancer screening.
Read More
Balancing Care Access and Fragmentation for Better Outcomes in Veterans With Diabetes
April 22nd 2021The authors of a study in the April 2021 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® discuss the possible reasons behind the link between care fragmentation and hospitalizations in veterans with diabetes, as well as potential opportunities to address disjointed care in the context of the widespread telehealth uptake seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen