The Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA) has filed an amicus brief in a case challenging San Francisco’s health code provisions requiring advertisements on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to notify the public of alleged health risks associated with SSB consumption. Am. Beverage Ass’n v. City of San Francisco, No. 15-3415 (N.D. Cal., San Francisco Div., amicus brief filed January 22, 2016). The brief focuses on First Amendment arguments against requiring private parties to include government speech on their product labels. “The City of San Francisco’s imposition of the Warning Mandate in reaction to potential over-consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by its citizens, whatever the merits of that concern, takes regulatory Nannyism to new levels and is wholly incompatible with First Amendment protections afforded to commercial speech,” the brief argues. “If this Court were to uphold the Board of Supervisors’ conscription of sugar-sweetened beverage ads to convey government views on health issues there…
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A new study suggests that warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) could dissuade parents from purchasing these products for children. Christina A. Roberto, et al., “The Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Health Warning Labels on Parents’ Choices,” Pediatrics, February 2016. Based on research involving tobacco warning labels, the study aimed to determine if SSB warning labels could (i) educate consumers about potential “health harms” “above and beyond” existing calorie declarations; (ii) “influence parents’ intentions to buy SSBs for their children”; and (iii) “influence parents’ perceptions and intentions toward nonlabeled beverages.” It also evaluated warning label phrasing and “parents’ beliefs about proposals to put warning labels on SSBs.” Surveying 2,381 primary caregivers of children ages 6 to 11, researchers randomly assigned parents to one of six conditions: “(1) no warning label (control); (2) calorie label; or (3–6) 1 of 4 text versions of a warning label (eg, Safety Warning: Drinking beverages with…
Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby (D) has introduced legislation that would require health warnings for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in certain advertisements, menus, menu boards and point-of-sale signage. “The beverage industry specifically targets youth and communities of color with its marketing efforts, spending $395 million in marketing directed at youth and $28.6 million on marketing campaigns specifically targeting African-American and Hispanic youth,” according to Council Bill 16-0617. The draft ordinance further asserts, among other things, that some 25 percent of school-age Baltimore City children drink one or more soda daily. The proposed health notice would state: “Warning: Drinking beverages with added sugar contributes to tooth decay, obesity, and diabetes. This message is from the Baltimore City Health Department.” Violators of the ordinance would face misdemeanor fines as high as $1,000. The proposal has been referred to the Department of Health. See The Baltimore Sun, January 11, 2016. Issue 590
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has reportedly voted to repeal an ordinance prohibiting advertisements for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on city property in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., that struck down a comparable initiative restricting advertising on public property. The ordinance was one of three passed by the municipal lawmakers in June 2015. The others (i) mandate health warnings on most billboards and ads for SSBs with 25 or more calories and (ii) prevent city departments and contractors from using city funds to purchase SSBs. “We may have lost this particular battle, but the war rages on,” Supervisor Malia Cohen was quoted as saying. “We didn’t take down Big Tobacco overnight—we’re not going to take down Big Soda overnight either.” The American Beverage Association filed suit against both advertising ordinances on First Amendment grounds, and its challenge of the mandated health…
Public Health England (PHE) has issued an October 2015 evidence review urging the U.K. government to reduce sugar consumption. Building on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s (SACN’s) conclusion that free sugar intake should constitute less than 5 percent of dietary energy, the report discusses food and beverage marketing, sugar accessibility and product composition, educational efforts, and local initiatives. PHE also addresses taxation schemes, noting that price increases “can influence purchasing of sugar-sweetened drinks and other high sugar products at least in the short-term.” The findings target retail promotions and marketing to children as two key aspects of the food environment that allegedly promote sugar consumption. Among other things, the report specifically recommends (i) restricting the number and type of price promotions across all retail outlets; (ii) reducing food and beverage marketing to children as well as adults; (iii) defining high-sugar foods according to Ofcom’s nutrient profiling model; (iv) instituting…
Former New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, who now leads The Public Good Projects, has authored a viewpoint in JAMA Internal Medicine that encourages the use of mass media advertising to promote healthy behaviors. Titled “Mass Diseases, Mass Exposures, and Mass Media,” the article highlights the success of mass media campaigns aimed at smoking cessation, noting that some of these advertisements were more valuable and cost-effective than routine one-on-one counseling, and calls for further research into the dose-response curve for advertising. As Farley explains, “[S]tudies suggest that smoking cessation or smoking prevalence rates can be changed populationwide by television ads shown at a dose of approximately 10,000 Gross Ratings Points (GRPs) per year,” meaning that “the average person is exposed to 100 ads.” The editorial also suggests that similar large-scale campaigns can be used to effectively counter sugar-sweetened beverage marketing. “Mass media messages, seen repeatedly by high percentages of…
The American Beverage Association (ABA) has partnered with California retail and advertising associations to challenge San Francisco ordinances requiring warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) advertisements and prohibiting advertisements of such products on city property. Am. Beverage Ass’n v. City of San Francisco, No. 15-3415 (N.D. Cal., filed July 24, 2015). ABA argues that the ordinances violate the First Amendment, which “forbids the City from conscripting private speakers to convey [the city’s viewpoint] while suppressing conflicting viewpoints on this controversial topic.” The complaint first details ad prohibition on city property, including transportation and parks, while it “explicitly permits advertisements that criticize sugar-sweetened beverages or encourage people to stop drinking them. The First Amendment flatly forbids such government-imposed viewpoint discrimination.” The second component of the ordinance prohibits all producers of SSBs “from using their names on any City property to promote any product or any non-charitable event, no matter whether commercial, athletic, musical,…
Tufts University researchers have purportedly implicated sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in 184,000 deaths worldwide each year after estimating the role of SSB consumption in adiposity-related cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers and diabetes. Gitanjali Singh, et al., “Estimated Global, Regional, and National Disease Burdens Related to Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption in 2010,” Circulation, July 2015. Relying on data from 611,971 individuals surveyed between 1980 and 2010, “along with data on national availability of sugar in 187 countries and other information,” the study estimates that SSB consumption allegedly contributed to 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 45,000 deaths from CVD, and 6,450 deaths from cancer. It also notes that among the most populous countries, Mexico had the largest absolute and proportional deaths from SSBs, with proportional mortality reaching 30 percent in Mexican adults younger than age 45. “The health impact of sugar-sweetened beverage intake on the young is important because younger adults form a large sector of…
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) report on Mexico’s sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax has concluded that “strong advocacy work, scientific evidence, and knowledge of the political context can be important facilitators to policy change that promotes obesity prevention and control.” The case study highlights the strategies used by civil society organizations, public interest lobbyists, health and government officials, and other SSB-tax proponents to (i) build coalitions, (ii) persuade legislators to support the initiative, (iii) generate media attention, and (iv) leverage the perspectives of national and international experts. In particular, it notes that successful advocacy campaigns must “understand the political context to capitalize on windows of opportunity.” “Overall, it is essential that policy proponents know the political context—the system’s structure and the needs of political actors—to act on opportunities that could promote public health goals within broader government pursuits and reforms,” notes the report. “Regardless of the underlying…
The Government of Barbados has announced a 10-percent excise tax on the purchase of locally produced and imported sugar-sweetened beverages as of August 1, 2015. The Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) lauded the action, citing consumption of sugary drinks as a major contributing factor to escalating rates of obesity and related health conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. See Open Letter to HCC Membership, June 16, 2015. Issue 570
