An Urban's Rural View

As recently as five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the Coca-Cola company putting together a slick two-minute video urging Americans to "come together" to fight obesity. That it has now done so is a tribute to the progress anti-obesity advocates have made in their campaign against sugary sodas.

And from the early reaction to the video, it's clear Coke's critics aren't going to let up.

Rather than deny that there's an obesity problem, or deny that sugary sodas are part of it, Coke is positioning itself as part of the solution, while tap-dancing around its contribution to the problem. The video (http://tiny.cc/…) stresses the "important role" Coke says it's playing in the fight against obesity.

Because "the long-term health of our families and the country is at stake," Coke says it now has 180 no-cal or low-cal offerings in its 650-beverage line. It says it is producing its most popular drinks in "smaller portion-controlled sizes" that will be available in 90% of our country later this year. The video shows a can smaller than the 12-ounce norm labeled "Coke Mini."

The video also stresses that the beverage industry has "voluntarily" changed what it makes available in schools, from sugary drinks to water, juices and other more healthful products. It says the calorie count in school offerings is down 90% since 2004.

The video ends with the assertion that "all calories count, no matter where they come from, including Coca-Cola," and reminds viewers that if you eat more calories than you burn you'll gain weight.

Whatever public-relations benefit the video yields for the company in the long run -- and it could be considerable, for the video, as you might expect, is slickly done and filled with appealing images and soothing messages -- some of the immediate reaction has been critical.

"This video is sheer manipulation, calculated to confuse, obscure and deny," wrote New York Times food critic Mark Bittman. He went on to quote a pediatric endocrinologist as saying, "A calorie is NOT a calorie. Different calories have different metabolic fates in the body. Those from fructose overwhelm the liver, forcing the pancreas to make more insulin and driving more energy into fat cells. And soda is nothing but a fructose delivery system."

In AdAge, an advertising-industry publication, marketing consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin wrote: "If Coke wanted to make its acknowledgment of the obesity issue seem insincere, it couldn't have done a better job." Baskin says the company should just say what the video implies, and say it early and often: Drink less soda.

Baskin isn't anti-soda. He just thinks Coke is making a mistake by portraying itself as it has in the video. The company, he says, "needs to get off the idea that Coke is just another source of calories, like broccoli or rice cakes. It's not. Coke is tasty, refreshing and delivers a little jolt, all of which are wonderful things, but they're not nutrition. Coke is to our tastebuds what action films and pop music are to our minds: junk. Good ol' fashioned entertainment. And just as nobody would insist that every media experience have educational value, why should everything we drink or eat be good for us?"

Over to Coke. Back to the old drawing board? Or full speed ahead? Stay tuned.

Urban Lehner

urbanity@hotmail.com