Coca adds life

In 1998, Coca-Cola ran a competition in American schools to see who could come up with the best marketing strategy for distributing Coke coupons: one school staged an official Coke day, and when a rebel turned up in a Pepsi T-shirt, he was suspended. This is from No Logo, ofcourse.

Wrote about 15 letters in August to the press, here was one of the few that didn't get published.

Dear Editor,
Did I just dream about Jamie Oliver's campaign to improve our children's diets? The obscenity of fast food companies exploiting the Olympics is only matched by some of the practical absurdities. During the 2000 Olympics in Australia, also sponsored by Coca Cola, security guards actually searched and barred spectators carrying cans of Pepsi. Equally any participant who drinks Coca Cole is likely to be thrown out of the games under anti-doping regulations. Indeed, during the 1988 Seoul Olympics Australian pentathlete Alexander Watson was banned after tests showed he had high levels of caffeine in his urine. Will other sportsmen and women be stripped of medals for drinking Coke or will the company pay an extra £billion to change the list of banned substances? What is good for business is invariably bad for sport and our children's health.

Yours,

Dr Derek Wall


Coca cola is susubject of boycott because of its association with anti-union repression in Columbia.

Useful stuff here on the health ill effects

Marion Nestle
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition (see related ebook
on nutrition) and Health (California Studies in Food and Culture)

"Soft drinks are the single greatest source of caffeine in children's
diets; a 12-ounce can of cola contains about 45 milligrams but the amounts
in more potent soft drinks can exceed 100 milligrams< a level approaching
that found in coffee."

"Soft drinks have replaced milk in the diets of many American children as
well as adults. School purchases reflect such trends. From 1985 to 1997,
school districts decreased the amounts of milk they bought by nearly 30% and
increased their purchases of carbonated sodas."

"The relationship between soft drink consumption and body weight is so
strong that researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed,
the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times."

"Adolescents who consume soft drinks display a risk of bone fractures three
to four-fold higher than those who do not."

"Sugar and acid in soft drinks so easily dissolve tooth enamel."

"Americans drink 13.15 billion gallons of carbonated drinks every year."