The Board of Health aims to do a better job of convincing the public that a big soda ban is good for them, hoping to reframe their efforts as “giving consumers the option” to drink more reasonably sized beverages. But why not spend that money and energy – and political and cultural capital – on convincing people not to consume too much soda? To buy less soda?
A ban on big sodas would eliminate big sodas from the market, but so, too, would a sudden collapse of market demand.
In fact, convincing the public to drink less soda has already proven effective. Consumption of soda has declined precipitously over the last nine years. It’s no wonder the beverage industry fought the New York City soda ban so vigorously. Consumers are realizing that excessive soda consumption may lead to obesity and diabetes, and they are cutting back in response.
Unfortunately for our collective health, the decline in soda consumption has been counteracted by increased consumption of equally sugary sports drinks and sweetened fruit juices. A soda ban would do little to combat this trend.
What would probably help more is to extend the public health message to say that overconsumption of sugary drinks – all sugary drinks – may lead to diabetes, obesity, and related medical conditions.
It is clear from the attempts of New York City Board of health and numerous other administrative bodies across the nation that banning or taxing a product like soda is difficult, expensive, and often fruitless. Such efforts also seem to presume that consumers will not modify their behavior – that no productive cultural shift will occur.
Why not, instead, faith in the common sense and self-preservation instincts of the general public? That is not to say, as many have, that the government should not get involved in food choices. Existing education and advocacy programs empower consumers by providing them the knowledge they need to make healthy choices. Michelle Obama is doing it with her Let’s Move campaign. Tools like the Nutrition Facts label, which the FDA is redesigning for the first time in 20 years to reflect advances in our understanding of nutrition, increase transparency of food information.
These successes (such as the existence of a Nutrition Facts label) and failures (such as the misperception that some sugary drinks are healthier than soda) can guide our next steps. With what may be naïve optimism, I predict that sugary drink sales will flag as consumers sour on the products that are so damaging to our public health. If such a cultural shift does not occur, a ban, tax, or some such form of market intervention will be needed to reduce consumption of sugary drinks. I’m not yet convinced the situation is so hopeless.