Soda Companies are Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

The idea to tax sugared drinks bubbled up last May when the Senate Finance Committee released their proposal to finance health care reform. The proposal included a federal tax on every 12 ounces of sweetened drinks sold (not including diet drinks or natural juices). Studies show that soda is a leading cause of obesity, and the tax would lower the amount Americans drink.

It remains unclear if the tax will ever be put in place, because soda companies do not want the tax. They tried to rally Americans against it with propaganda from Astroturf organizations (groups that seem to be grassroots, but are in fact backed by large industries).

One advertisement from Americans Against Food Taxes (“an industry organization whose board is made up of top executives from the major soft drink manufacturers”) features a family camping as a rustic voice over describes the proposed sugar tax “on simple pleasures we all enjoy, like juice drinks and soda, but that’s just what some people in Congress are talking about. We all want to improve health care, but taxes never made anyone healthy. Education, exercise, and balanced diets do that.”

The Center for Consumer Freedom (It should be noted that Coca-Cola is a contributor.) released a statement this week when the Obesity Society met in Washington. They wrote: “weight is an issue of personal responsibility and that it should be treated as such by the government and the public health community… The push for taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages is just the latest example of the disdainful belief that when it comes to matters of personal choices, the regulators know best.”

These propaganda groups appeal to American values, like the desire to have little government regulation. The idea that a tax on sugared drinks is a violation of free choice is full of faulty logic because a soda tax will not stop people from buying soda and juice, though it may dissuade them against their purchase. The behavior of the Astroturf groups is sneaky and unethical because they twist the truth and confuse their audience. This story shows appeals to individualism and anti-statism, however false they may be, can be a powerful tool to sway public opinion.