A recent blog post by Larry Cohen in the internet newspaper “The Huffington Post,” sheds light what beverage companies are trying to do with their advertising: “drive more ounces in more bodies more often.” Doesn’t sound like they really care about your health.
Mr. Cohen highlights the how much sugary beverages we as a country are consuming and how others are combating sugary beverages by advertising a healthier alternative we in VT’s WaterINTERface continually recommend: WATER! Also mentioned is how The California Endowment placed billboards in Sacramento’s airport calling attention to the lack of free drinking water in schools with the hopes that political leaders were made aware of how dire the current situation truly is.
Do you feel that the beverage companies have a hidden agenda? Do advertisements you see guide your beverage choice? Would you be more willing to choose water if it was advertised as a healthier alternative to a sugary beverage?
I’m glad that you brought this point up Shaun.
I think that sometimes we don’t realize just how much advertising we’re exposed to all the time. There are billboards, magazine ads, commercials…the list goes on. And if you think about it, it’s not difficult to come up with the “tag lines” of several different food products or brands, especially sugary drinks. I’m sure that if someone said, “open happiness” you’d think of Coke or “it gives you wings” you’d know they were talking about Red Bull. We are constantly bombarded by media messages about sugary beverages, but I can think of only one commercial that promotes water as a beverage choice. Sugary drink companies spend so much on advertising because they do want to “drive more ounces in more bodies more often”. They don’t really care about our health at all – just about the money that they can make off of us. Maybe if water was advertised as often as sugary beverages, more people would choose water.
Thanks for commenting, Grace! You bring up a point that I have thought about…how can water be marketed better? Which populations are best to target? Would it be better to focus on schools and allow children to bring home the info?