Coca-Cola confronts the Aussie obesity question in national TV announcement airing tonight
Coca-Cola South Pacific will air a television announcement tonight outlining commitments for for its pack sizes, products, labelling and community initiatives the first time on major networks across the country.
The announcement will address the issue of obesity and the actions the company is taking as well as highlight that all kilojoules count in managing weight, including those in Coca-Cola. This will be supported by advertising in print and online media.
The announcement is part of a global initiative that launched in the US earlier this year and has now been extended to Australia. Coca-Cola South Pacific is taking further action in Australia to help be part of the solution to obesity. These actions are focused on the following four areas:
• Increasing the availability of smaller portion sizes;
• Offering a wider selection of low-kilojoule beverage options and raising awareness of
low-kilojoule alternatives;
• Providing transparent nutritional information in more places, including vending machines;
• Helping inspire Australians to get moving, by partnering with the Bicycle Network, a not-for-
profit organisation in supplying bicycles to local communities.
“Overcoming obesity will take action from all stakeholders working together, including Coca-Cola,” said Phil Roberts, Commercial and Franchise Director of Coca-Cola South Pacific.
The actions announced today build on Coca-Cola South Pacific’s existing commitments in this area and their pledge to meet a collective target of a 12.5% reduction in energy by 2015 as part of their founding membership of the ‘Healthier Australia Commitment’*.
“We know moderation is a key component of an active, healthy and balanced lifestyle – and that we all need to make sensible choices to meet our individual nutrition and kilojoule needs,” said Roberts. “We believe Coca-Cola has an important role in providing more beverage choices, including more choice in serve sizes and low-kilojoule options, clearly communicating the kilojoule content of our products and supporting community-based physical activity programs.
“We believe these initiatives, as well as our existing policies and involvement in the ‘Healthier Australia Commitment’, demonstrate how serious we are about being part of the solution to obesity,” said Roberts.
22 Comments
Sounds like a big ad.
‘hey kids, coke is ok”
What about addressing the pollution issue.
Coke’s been around since well before I was a kid but obesity hasn’t.
Blame Coke all you want, but our lifestyles are very different to back then. We eat shit, don’t get enough exercise or sleep and chain ourselves to desks all day and night thinking it will lead to a better life – while missing the one we have now.
More pertinent, as a society we blame binge drinking (alcohol companies) for violence, fast food and soft drink companies for obesity, the energy companies for the environment, a lack of money for a lack of happiness while we put our future in the hands of increasingly mollycoddling Government legislation and doctors prescriptions.
Never once do we ever take responsibility for our own fat selves and admit that maybe they’re not the problem. We are.
If it were possible to solve a problem by boring it to death with corporate platitudes, then this ad would solve the obesity problem overnight.
bwahahahahahaha
Will they be making a vending machine that allows you to ‘share the fat’ or maybe one where you can connect with someone in another country who is also a bit on the tubby side and that way you can both connect over a coke and be happy.
What a load of crap!
@Wake up:
So true. I don’t know what business Coke, or any other food/beverage company has “addressing the issue” – they offer Coke Zero. They offer diet Coke. Those of us who know sugar makes you fat reach for the black can. Those of us who exercise know we can enjoy a bit of sugar now and then. FFS people. “overcoming obesity” will not “take action from all stakeholders”. There are no stakeholders in my life, or anyone’s life. Get off your fat arse and move around.
Lean-washing?
Hey @ Wake up,
You are absolutely right and it really is time we all took more responsibility for our own actions and stopped blaming everybody else for the way we end up in life. If you don’t want to be a fat fuck stop eating donuts by the dozen and maybe think about not washing them down with a bucket of Coke.
When I’m using it to clear the drain from the kitchen sink I don’t care how much sugar is in it because it works so well.
@wakeup great post.
Such is their commitment to obesity that they threw about $5k into making this spot.
The only low budget Coke ad i’ve seen.
Very dedicated to the cause. Thanks.
Not sure what they’re worried about? They solved the India Pakistan issue over night with a vending machine. They have karma points up the ass now!
I – and many others – got this brief over my desk about 4 -5 years ago in Singapore. The ‘brief’ was pretty much a corporate video one of their design agencies did for internal use. The task was to turn that into ‘impactful’ advertising.
Obviously, I failed, despite throwing 15 – 20 scripts and other ideas at it. Some ideas got all the way to Atlanta before being nixed. In the end, no one in Coke could agree on what they were saying, or how they wanted to say it.
Equally obviously from this, everyone else failed as well. This ad IS the corporate video and v/o we were shown as a brief, with a few shots changed.
I think Coca Cola probably agrees with ‘Wake up’ btw. They are just sick of all the bad PR and feel compelled to do … something. Anything. No matter how pointless. Just so they can say, ‘We are taking this issue seriously.’
The videos and other stuff about recycling apparently went down quite well internally. It allegedly makes employees feel better about their company. The campaign should have stayed internal.
Coca-Cola, a beverage filled with sugar, marketed to children, and capable of dissolving metal is committed to your health.
And wolverines make great house pets.
To the Coke social media team telling us ‘Coke offers a range of alternatives’ (hey guys!) I have one thing to say. The ‘alternatives’ used instead of sugar are so bad for you that you’re better off consuming the original beverage. They don’t break down in the body, are carcinogenic and trigger a range of reactions in the brain that are mildly addictive, that has even led to deaths recently.
I don’t drink any syrupy shit but I don’t exercise much either. I wasn’t defending Coke, I was simply stating that as a society we give our power over to corporations and government to make decisions for us because we’re constantly blaming external sources beyond our control for our own pathetic selves. Ooh it’s the big bad companies making us fat. No it’s not. It’s your absolute inability to make a decision not to swallow their horseshit that’s making you far and your own self pity that keeps you there. Take it from a fat man himself.
Alcohol doesn’t cause violence, dickheads do. Video games don’t cause school shootings, dickheads do. Coke doesn’t cause obesity, irresponsible people inflict it on themselves and their children through poor self esteem, laziness and an absolute unwillingness to take responsibility for what they put in their mouth.
If we took an inch of responsibility for our own well being instead of waiting for the companies that destroy it to do so, products like this wouldn’t exist, and the government would take notice and stop trying to regulate when you can and can’t fart, breathe or die.
End rant.
One thing I forgot to add is when you finally realise it’s you doing all the bad shit to your body you realise you can take the power back and change it. Coke aren’t going to let you think it’s because of you for a second. They got you baby. They want you to believe your power is limited to their range of healthy alternatives like aspartame and Phenylalanine. Mm mmm, yummy. Or plastic infused water for $6.50 a litre. And all funds raised are going toward bridging the divide between Pakistan and India. Right on, beatniks.
@Wake up well put. To those though who say that we do it to ourselves consider this; While drinking sugary soft drinks is really dumb and we should know better Coke’s relentless millions validate it and enable the less discerning viewer, and those whose capacity for judgement is yet to develop a convenient rationalisation for consumption. To doubt this is to doubt that advertising works, And it does, doesn’t it?
As someone who has previously worked on Coca-Cola campaigns – the ‘smaller’ can sizes they are spruiking are the most expensive ways to buy coke – so really they’re just angling to make more money off less product.
maybe they should stop targeting the western suburbs and trying to convince parents to buy it for their children? more rubbish from Coca-Cola.
maybe coke can’t help our unhealthy lifestyles but they can sure as hell be more ethical about who they target.
Let’s reconfigure the Coke peace machine so that all the fat bastards in the world can share their obesity with the millions who are starving.
There. Sorted.
@Wake up:
The same deceptive playbook of ‘victim blaming’ and ‘factoids’ used by smoking from 1950-present is being repeated with junk food and soft drinks. Unfortunately we have less rational control over our actions than we believe, and here’s why:
1. Control is finite, meaning that you have limited reserves (proven scientific fact). If you spend time trying to control other aspects of your life (work + family challenges, ridiculously high mortgage, cost of living) then you are at significant risk of losing control with food, drugs, alcohol. Stress depletes control.
2. Temptation is high. Junk food knows their audience. Wherever there’s a low income community or vulnerable population (like anyone <25, because they haven’t fully developed the brain regions associated with overcoming temptation) – there’s a junk food option available. The odds of choosing healthy options over immediate gratification are stacked against many vulnerable individuals.
3. Unhealthy behavior is contagious (again proven scientific fact). Having one unhealthy person in your close friendship/family circle will reduce your healthy behavior by up to 20%. The more unhealthy people and behavior you’re surrounded with, the worse you will act.
Taken all together, unless society acts to regulate junk food marketing / products, individuals don’t stand a chance, and continuing to blame the victim is exactly what junk food companies want you to do – we need to wake up.
Not only obesity these soda drinks also triggers other health problems like blood pressure, teething problems, caffeine addiction, kidney failure, and more.
source : http://www.healthy-drinks.net/6-harmful-effects-of-drinking-coca-cola-coke-or-pepsi/