Is Coca-Cola a solution to obesity

This week, Coca-Cola’s television campaign made headlines. The voiceover begins: “We want people to unite around something that is important to us all – obesity”. The ad lists the many ways Coca-Cola plays “an important part” in preventing weight gain.

As the New York Times reported, this Coca-Cola strategy is not “novel” or new. Since a few years, teachers and school principals have welcomed Coca-Cola into their classrooms. Coca-Cola’s message to the public is clear: Coca-Cola does not contribute to obesity but is “part of a solution”.

Coca-Cola campaigns, far from helping to solve the obesity problem, are exploiting the education of children for their own financial gain.

Coca-Cola’s new ad says that the company is part of the solution for obesity.

A Trojan horse

Many schools are grateful for Coke’s “free gifts” of educational resources, lesson plans, websites, and events to fight childhood obesity. Lack of funds, resources, knowledge, and time are all contributing factors.

These programs are part and parcel of the global corporate social responsibility strategy of the company, and they act as a form of reputation insurance. These programs divert attention from controversial topics, like the effect of marketing foods and beverages to children. They also profit from the “halo” effect of helping teachers and children prevent getting fat.

These programs offer social branding opportunities. Coke’s “obesity policy” says: “We believe that commercial-free classes for children”. However, some programs such as Step With It (r), Singapore! brand workbooks for children, resources for teachers on hydration, and even the teachers and the children themselves.

Coca-Cola has a business strategy that includes building brand loyalty and trust through philanthropy and public relations, and with a captive market.

Coke’s goal remains unchanged. Brent is SeeMidTN com.

The company has also developed goodwill with another group of important people – policymakers. It continues to avoid more stringent regulatory controls, such as food labelling, legislation, and restrictions on marketing to children.

Self-regulation is the mainstay of the food and beverage industry. The proliferation of “partnerships” between Coke and public health, education, and charity organisations, as well as private sector companies, is a major factor in this.

What’s the issue?

The schools are places for critical and democratic citizenship. They should not be used to indoctrinate the views of multinational corporations on what a healthy person is or what a healthy physique looks like.

The health and obesity of people are affected by many factors, including historical, environmental, and social, as well as genetic, political, and economic ones. Coca-Cola acknowledges’s complexity but its “commonsense solutions” for schools are oversimplified. It is based on the old mantra “burn more calories and eat less calories”.

These Coke programs tend to promote a narrow definition of health (a healthy weight) and how it can be achieved (individual lifestyle choices that are healthy). They also ignore other factors affecting children’s health, such as government policy and advertising by corporations.

Flickr/woodleywonderworks

The fatness of a child is attributed to the child making “wrong choices” (such as being greedy or lazy). Coke’s message (and that of the teachers who teach Coke’s programs without question) is clear: If you are fat or unhealthy, it’s your fault – or the fault of your parents.

It is unhealthy that obese children receive excessive monitoring and are blamed, stigmatised or even bullied because they were fat “on purpose”.

Coca-Cola is continuing to promote itself as socially-responsible in the fight against obesity. However, the company is shifting the responsibility of the politics surrounding health and obesity on the children. There is some confusion, both amongst children and educators, about the reason why one of the biggest food and beverage corporations in the World teaches them about food.

What can you do?

The Coca-Cola advertisements are not likely to appear on our TV screens. The company is , according to reports, evaluating “the impact of the campaign” in the US as well as its relevance for the local markets.

Coca-Cola has made it clear that they will continue to “teach”, through schools, that Coca-Cola promotes health, that its products are healthy, and that the best way to be healthy is to make healthy choices and avoid being overweight.

One way to stop the commercialization of schools is to push for new regulations that restrict marketing. As corporations like Coca-Cola continue using stealthy marketing tactics to capture children’s attention, loyalty, and identity, I propose an alternative strategy.

Coca-Cola’s new advertisement ends with this line: “we believe that people can make a difference when they come together”. I agree. 

Through discussions and debates we can question Coke’s views on obesity, challenge the assumption that “fat=lazy=unhealthy”, learn how others view health, and even take action to improve those wider influences on children’s health.

Here’s a way that school communities can make a real impact on the health of children, instead of doing what Coke wants: buying their products and blaming ourselves.