When soda companies target minorities, is it exploitation?

*This is worth reading. An excerpt from a book that asks if sugary drink ad targeting to Latinos is exploitation. It explores the issue with more historical depth and frames it in a different way. VL


Bwashingtonposty Marion Nestle, Washington Post

WP Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from “Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning)” (Oxford University Press, 2015), edited for length.

In 2013, the Hispanic Institute issued a report about how sugary drinks affect the health of its community. The institute, based in Washington, urged its constituents to stop collaborating with soda companies. Its report called the community to action: “The negative effects of sugary drinks, other bad food choices and lack of regular exercise on the health of the fastest-growing group in America will continue until Hispanics use their considerable political clout to influence public policymaking and their economic strength to influence purveyors of those products.”

[pullquote]Although 55 percent of whites say they routinely drink regular (sugar-sweetened) sodas, nearly 70 percent of African and Hispanic Americans report doing so.[/pullquote]

In an interview, institute president Gus West said, “Of course, we’re responsible for what we eat and drink . . . but we’re also subject to the effects of massive advertising and misleading promotional campaigns — especially on our children and the poor.” Community organizations, he said, need “to walk away from funding by the processed-food and big sugary-drink companies.” Hispanic organizations “broke with tobacco companies” in the 1990s, he said, and now need to do the same with soda companies.

Obesity changes the game. It forces Hispanic and African Americans to reexamine their relationships with soda companies.

Click HERE to read the full story.


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