Groups announce "Global Dump Soda" campaign

New campaign targets soft drinks and obesity

Posted: 01 November 2007

From The Age, 29th October 2007

A congress of world consumer rights advocates meeting in Sydney is calling for a ban on all soft drink marketing to children under 16.

Anti-soft drink campaigner Bruce Silverglade, from the US Centre for Science in the Public Interest, is spearheading the Global Dump Soda Campaign.

Soft drink makers had "flooded the global market with liquid candy" that was feeding childhood obesity worldwide, said Mr Silverglade, who is in Sydney for the Consumers International World Congress.

The Global Dump Soda Campaign has joined the congress in calling for a total media and merchandising ban on soft drinks to children aged under 16.

The congress wants soft drink companies to "cease the marketing of all sugar-laden beverages to children under 16, including print and broadcast advertising, product placement, the internet, mobile phones, athletic sponsorship, signage, packaging promotions, merchandising and other means".

The chief executive of the Australian Beverages Council, Tony Gentile, says the Dump Soda campaigners have missed the point.

"There has been a one per cent decrease in sugar-sweetened beverages for every year for the past seven years, and a one per cent increase for non-sugar sweetened beverages every year over the same time period," News Limited quoted Mr Gentile as saying.

He said companies were reacting to customer demands.

Mr Gentile said soft drinks had not been marketed to primary school aged children in Australia for 10 to 15 years.

"If you haven't taught your children to make rational decisions by the time they leave primary school, you have really lost the battle," he said.

To find out more about the 'Global Dump Soda Campaign', please visit their website Dump Soda.