While "sportswashing" has drawn extra attention due to initiatives like the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf circuit, a global movement argues that one group has been doing it for almost a century — soda companies.
That's the focus of the "Kick Big Soda Out of Sport" campaign that targeted Coca-Cola and its longstanding sponsorship of the Olympics. Following the campaign, Health Policy Watch caught up with Trish Cotter, global lead for the Food Policy Program at Vital Strategies, to learn more.
Cotter explained the movement targets soda companies due to their sugary drinks' link to serious health conditions like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, as the Global Food Research Program documented.
Moreover, Cotter pointed to the environmental toll of Big Soda. That includes some disturbing incidents like hoarding water in drought-ridden communities, as World Crunch documented.
Soda companies use an exorbitant amount of plastic that frequently doesn't get recycled or reused. This can result in the dangerous spread of microplastics, long stays in methane-producing landfills, dirty energy reliance in plastic production, and associated pollution from plastic production. That plastic production also helps to prop up the oil industry, as plastic is made from petroleum.
The "Kick Big Soda Out" campaign aimed to showcase the negatives of soda companies associating themselves with health and fitness via the Olympics. Cotter said the social media content was aimed at kids and teens, whom the coalition of nearly 100 organizations feels are being intentionally marketed to.
While the International Olympic Committee rejected the petition to dissociate from Coca-Cola, the campaign was a hit.
Cotter told Health Policy Watch, "The response has been truly remarkable." She noted they reached 31 million people, garnered over 430 mentions in media, and attained over 255,000 signatures. Coca-Cola certainly deserves that sort of scrutiny for its missteps and false promises.
Los Angeles County has taken Coca-Cola and rival Pepsi to task with a massive lawsuit for their plastic pollution. At the Olympics, observers questioned Coca-Cola's eco-friendly promises after bizarre and wasteful plastic use in some venues. Other negative recent moments were Coca-Cola's disturbing AI-generated Christmas ad and broken promises on reusable bottles.
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There are a few moments of hope, like both Pepsi and Coke's use of electric truck fleets, as well as Coke's advances in bottling technology and environmental justice contributions.
As for the campaign, Cotter said, "This is only the beginning." It's hoped more pressure can be applied to sports governing bodies to move them away from unhealthy items that target kids and at-risk people.
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