According to the article “Pepsi and Coke to Post Calories of Drinks Sold in Vending Machines” featured in The New York Times on October 8, 2012, obesity is recognized as a crisis escalated in America during the last few years. The article covers all the aspects of debates on the issue of reducing obesity by calorie management basing on calorie count disclosure, consumer education, and taxation by government. The beverage companies proposed the ways of regulating calories intake through creating awareness of the amount of calories in their drinks. Besides the beverage association’s effort, cities also plan to tax sodas to discourage consumption (Strom).
Coca-Cola and Pepsi beverage company’s marketers focused on the consumer’s need of dealing with obesity. However, introduction of calorie count in beverages as a way of customer protection can be ineffective for changing the customer’s preferred beverage choice. The better approach is the process of teaching consumers about the danger of sugary foods like it is in Seattle and Philadelphia. The public in Philadelphia and Seattle are taught about the number of calories gained from sugary drinks and sodas. The inclusion of calories count to vending machines may be an ineffective way to regulate the amount of calories consumed because many people do not use such vending machines. The percentage of vending machines owned by Pepsi and Coke is only 35 while the rest are owned by food vending companies (Strom).
It is wrong to state that this approach can be effective since the public have their minds preconditioned to think that this is just but another marketing strategy aimed at increasing the companies’ sales (Strom). This approach may not bring about much difference in reduction of the obesity cases. Moreover, the move of authorities in cities to tax the beverages may also not bear positive results because people are not necessarily discouraged by high prices of products, and consumers usually highly value their desired brands.
Work Cited
Strom, Stephanie. “Pepsi and Coke to Post Calories of Drinks Sold in Vending Machines”. The New York Times. 2012. Web.