Why Coke is a Joke—New Ad Campaign Defends Aspartame
August 28, 2013
Story at-a-glance
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Coca-Cola Co. has launched a new ad campaign to assure consumers
that its no- or low-calorie beverages containing the artificial
sweetener aspartame are a safe alternative
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There are no studies showing the use of diet drinks for foods
lowers ones weight. In fact, calorie counting as a weight loss
strategy has been firmly debunked by research.
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It is far more important to look at the source of the calories
than counting them. You get fat because you eat the wrong kind
of calories, and artificial sweeteners cannot fool your body
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Despite being promoted for weight loss, foods and beverages with
artificial sweeteners have never been proven to help weight
loss. In fact studies that look at this actually find artificial
sweeteners promote weight gain
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Research has also demonstrated that aspartame worsens insulin
sensitivity to a greater degree than sugar, which is quite the
blow for diabetics who obediently follow the recommendation to
switch to diet sodas to manage their condition
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Aspartame has also been found to cause cancer, such as leukemia,
lymphoma, and other tumors, in laboratory animals
By Dr. Mercola
Earlier this year, Coca-Cola Company rolled out an ad campaign
encouraging people to unite in the fight against obesity. The irony
of the situation was not lost on most people however, and the ads
drew fire from consumers, consumer advocates and obesity experts1,2
alike.
After all, there’s no doubt that soda is one of the primary
beverages responsible for skyrocketing obesity rates, and Coke’s
campaign was seen as little more than an effort in damage control.
Soda sales are down, and Coca-Cola should be applauding this fact as
it is matched by some small improvements with our childhood obesity
rates. Instead, they are marketing sodas harder than ever to make up
for lost sales.
Coca-Cola believes a calorie is just a calorie, and if you consume
more than you burn - that's why you become obese. In other words,
their products and marketing to children are not to blame - the
problem is that Americans just don't
exercise enough.
Now, Coca-Cola Co. has launched another ad campaign—this time to
assure consumers that its no- or low-calorie beverages containing
the artificial sweetener aspartame are a safe alternative.
As reported in the featured article by AdWeek3:
“It's Coca-Cola's first ad explicitly defending its use
of artificial sweeteners in an ad, but the print execution is an
extension of the company's campaign, launched this January, to
combat detractors who blame it for contributing to obesity, by
pointing to the host of diet and other beverages it sells beyond
traditional, sugary cola.”
According to the ad, aspartame is a “safe, high-quality
alternative to sugar." Clearly they’ve not reviewed the hundreds of
studies on this artificial sweetener demonstrating its harmful
effects... Center for Science in the Public Interest’s (CSPI)
Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson issued the following
statement in response to Coca-Cola’s new ad4:
“Aspartame has been found to cause cancer5
—
leukemia, lymphoma, and other tumors—in laboratory animals,
and it shouldn’t be in the food supply.
We certainly want Coca-Cola to shift its product mix
toward lower- and no-calorie drinks, but aspartame’s reputation
isn’t worth rehabilitating with this propaganda campaign. The
company would be better off phasing out its use of aspartame and
accelerating its research into safer, natural sweeteners such as
those extracted from the stevia plant.”
Sweet Beverages Linked to Skyrocketing Childhood Obesity Rates
As recently reported in the Guardian Express6,
kids are 40 percent heavier today compared to just 25 years ago, and
a growing number of studies have linked rising childhood obesity
rates to increased consumption of sugary beverages—including
those sweetened with no- or low-cal sweeteners:
“Aspartame has arguably been found to have the effects of
increasing the appetite, fat storage stimulation, carbohydrate
cravings and weight gain.
In addition to aspartame, one cup of your child’s
favorite sugary drink contains nearly 11 teaspoons of sugar, at
128 calories per serving. If you equate that to a child having,
on average, one cup of any soft drink containing these
ingredients with each meal that is an additional 384 calories or
more each day just in beverages,” the Guardian Express
writes.
As a general rule, the beverage industry has denied or strongly
downplayed its role in the childhood obesity epidemic, despite the
fact that beverage companies spend over $1 billion annually on
youth-targeted marketing—especially in school settings. According to
the Guardian Express, 80 percent of American schools have
contracts with Coke or Pepsi to stock their products in school
vending machines.
It’s an untenable position, really. Clearly, marketing WORKS, or
else they wouldn’t be doing it, and when ads target an audience of 2
to 17-year olds, it’s hardly an accident that kids in that age range
opt for soda whenever they’re given a chance!
Americans currently get a majority of their daily calories from
sugar, primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in
soda and other sweetened beverages.
Half of the US population over the age of two consumes sugary
drinks on a daily basis7,
and this figure does not even include 100% fruit juices, flavored
milk or sweetened teas, all of which are sugary too, which means the
figure is actually even higher.
Yet this is only one side of the equation. On the other, you have
artificially sweetened beverages (and other “diet” foods),
which, contrary to popular belief, carry just as much responsibility
for the stubborn rise in obesity. Your body simply isn’t fooled by
the lack of calories in these sweetened products, and studies have
repeatedly confirmed that artificial sweeteners appear to cause even
greater weight gain than calorie-laden sweeteners.
Falling for Flawed Calorie-Counting Advice Is a Costly Mistake
Coca-Cola’s multi-million dollar “anti-obesity” campaign focuses
on the outdated idea that all calories are equal, regardless of
where they come from, and that consuming more calories than you burn
off results in weight gain8.
It’s well worth noting that this “conventional wisdom” has been
firmly debunked by science. It is in fact FAR more important to look
at the source of the calories than counting them. Even
Weight Watchers, the world’s largest diet company, finally
recognized this two years ago.
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