A little bit more on the School-Soda removal deal

Business Week wrote a small piece about the decision to pull sodas out of school entirely. The reason I'm putting this article up is some of the explanation it gives for why this is happening. I'll just let it speak for itself:

PR BENEFITS? The current agreement clearly looks like a blow to Coke and other beverage makers, who are losing the opportunity to groom future soda drinkers. But their expulsion from schools may be more the result of their loss in stature, rather than its cause. Already, some parents have grown increasingly concerned about the health impact of Coke and other sodas, and consumers have been turning to alternatives, from energy drinks to juices. Experts say the deal with Clinton and the AMA looks like an opportunity for good PR, with little actual financial cost.

"This makes pure business sense -- these companies are clearly seeing that they're taking heat for a product that's not their future anyway," says Brian Wansink, professor of food marketing at Cornell University.

The drum beat of reports linking fast-food, snack and soda companies to childhood obesity has gotten louder even in the past few weeks. Recently, the AMA has estimated that 17% of children between ages 6 and 19 are obese. And last week, the Connecticut Senate approved legislation banning the sale of soda in its schools.

Then, on May 2, the Federal Trade Commission and the Health & Human Services Dept. issued a report urging food companies to develop products that are more nutritious and to "review and revise" their marketing practices. The report also suggests that the Children's Advertising Review Unit, which was set up by the industry, consider creating minimum nutrition standards for foods advertised to children.

And then to sum up the rest real quickly, it says that soda sales actually dropped last year for the first time in 20 years. People are buying more water, juice, and sports drinks (which, even though sugary, are less so than sodas).

I find it heartening to think that as slowly as it's happening, people are becoming just that much more health-conscious than they have been. Kids who grow up not drinking sodas may just not develop a taste for them later on. We may be seeing a trend towards a smaller and smaller soda-drinking population. If so, good for us. The soda companies are, after all, developing more and more diet drinks (which would be great if most of them didn't taste like crap), and Coca-Cola and Pepsi both own major water-bottling operations, so that perhaps in twenty years full-calorie drinks are a rarity.

As Business Week says, "The handwriting is on the chalkboard. Soda makers are scrambling to come up with new products. Now, fast-food and snack companies need to think up innovative alternatives, too. "

That they do.