New Anti-Obesity Ad Campaign Draws Criticism from Beverage Association

A new anti-obesity ad unveiled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene depicts globs of human fat gushing from a soda bottle and asks the question: “Are you pouring on the pounds? Don’t drink yourself fat.” The ad urges viewers to choose water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead of high-calorie sodas and juice drinks.

The $277,000 ad, which will run in 1,500 subways subway cars for three months, was apparently denounced by the American Beverage Association as “counterproductive to serious efforts to address a complex issues such as obesity.” ABA spokesperson Kevin Keane said the ad campaign is “over the top and unfortunately is going to undermine meaningful efforts to educate people about how to maintain a healthy weight by balancing calories consumed from all foods and beverages with calories burned through exercise.”

But Cathy Nonas, a dietitian for the city’s health and mental hygiene department, told a news source that focus-group testing concluded that such a graphic approach would work. “We are hoping that the biggest effect is, first of all, shock, and that the understanding is that when you drink extra calories, they will be stored as fat,” she was quoted as saying. See American Beverage Association News Release, August 31, 2009; The New York Times, September 1, 2009.