Soda Makers Coca
The three largest soda companies - Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group - have pledged to cut the number of sugary drink calories that Americans consume by one-fifth in about a decade, through a combination of marketing, distribution and packaging.
The commitment, made at the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative, taking place this week in New York, was an acknowledgment by the companies of the role that their products play in the country's obesity crisis and the escalating rates of diabetes and heart disease that accompany it.
'This is huge,' former President Bill Clinton said in a telephone interview. 'I've heard it could mean a couple of pounds of weight lost each year in some cases.'
Mr. Clinton said that in low-income communities, sugary sodas may account for a half or more of the calories a child consumes each day. Sugary soft drinks account for about 6 percent of the average consumer's daily calories.
Using their enviable marketing and distribution clout, the companies aim to reduce each American's calorie consumption in sugary drinks by 20 percent on average by 2025.
They will expand the presence of low- and no-calorie drinks, as well as drinks sold in smaller portions, and use their promotional skills to educate and encourage consumers to reduce the calories they are drinking.
The program will cover company-owned vending machines and coolers in convenience stores, as well as fountain soda dispensers like those found in fast-food restaurants and movie theaters. The companies control almost all of those machines, in addition to about one-third of vending machines and 80 percent of coolers.
It also will spill into grocery stores in end-of-aisle promotions and other marketing. 'We'll use the most critical levers we have at our disposal, and the focus really will be on transforming the beverage landscape in the U.S. over the next 10 years,' said Susan Neely, chief executive of the American Beverage Association, the industry trade group.
Ms. Neely called the commitment a 'stretch goal' and said it had been hotly debated in executive suites at the three companies.
It builds on a previous commitment they made to reduce the calories in the drinks they sell on school campuses and will incorporate lessons learned in Chicago and San Antonio, where they worked with mayors to improve the health of municipal employees by reducing calories in the sodas sold in vending machines in public buildings.
An assessment of the schools commitment made by Keybridge Research, an independent research firm hired to determine how much progress the companies had made, found that in six years, by the end of 2010, they had reduced the amount of calories shipped to school vending machines by 90 percent. Full-calorie drinks have all but disappeared in schools from machines controlled by the beverage companies, replaced with waters, low-fat milk, juices and juices mixed with water.
While advocates quibbled over the study, published in 2012 in The American Journal of Public Health, most agree that the companies made a significant dent in sales of sugary sodas in schools.
The new commitment will be assessed similarly and at interim intervals, said Howell Wechsler, chief executive of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an organization founded by Mr. Clinton and the American Heart Association to fight childhood obesity.
'We're not just going to sit and wait 10 years to see what's happened because, frankly, we need that data to see what's going on,' Dr. Wechsler said.
Mr. Clinton said he had been somewhat skeptical that the companies would make good on the commitment.
'I was pretty candid when we were talking about it,' he said. 'I told them, if I were you, I'd be thinking about it like this: You want these kids to be your consumers when they grow into adults, but if a significant number of them develop diabetes and heart disease when they're older, their disposable income is going to be taken up with health care and medical bills.'
In Chicago and San Antonio, the beverage companies also changed the mix of drinks sold in their machines. They put up signs encouraging consumers to check the calories on the drinks they were considering buying and made calorie counts prominent on the packaging.
The new program, which will start in Little Rock, Ark., and Los Angeles, will use some of the same tactics, Ms. Neely said.
The companies have faced an onslaught of regulatory proposals over the last several years, ranging from a contentious effort by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in New York to curb calorie consumption by limiting the size of soda containers to a stalled bill in California that would require warning labels on such drinks.
Public health officials who are concerned about the strain that the increase in health problems associated with obesity has put on public coffers have urged food and beverage companies to improve the nutritional quality of their products.
Sales of sugary drinks have been declining for more than a decade, thanks to greater awareness among consumers about the link between their eating habits and their health. From 2000 to 2013, calories consumed through sugary drinks fell 12 percent, according to Beverage Digest, which was attributed to declining soda sales and increased consumption of water and low-calorie beverages.
Over that time, soda companies have expanded their portfolios to include waters, juices, and energy and sports drinks, and they continue to diversify. This year, Coca-Cola bought a minority stake in Monster, the energy drink company, and a similar investment in Keurig Green Mountain has led to the development of a machine that will make cold single-serve drinks, which will be introduced this fall to compete with SodaStream soda makers.
PepsiCo's empire includes Frito-Lay, the nation's largest snack food company, and Quaker, which gives it a toehold in the market for more nutritious food.
Mr. Clinton said he recognized how difficult it would be for consumers to change their habits. 'When I was in my freshman year in college trying to live on a dollar a day, I drank at least one and sometimes two 16-ounce bottles of Royal Crown Cola a day because they cost 15 cents,' he said.
But after a heart operation in 2004, Mr. Clinton, a well-known aficionado of greasy foods, drastically altered his diet. He said he now mostly drinks water or iced tea, though he likes Gatorade G2, a sports drink with 30 calories.
Asked if he had any advice for consumers hoping to change their habits similarly, Mr. Clinton said: 'If everyone drank an eight-ounce glass of water right before every meal, it would dramatically cut calorie intake and without hunger pangs. It's a simple strategy, but it works for me.'
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