Why Coca-Cola's New Ad Campaign May Be Dangerous to Your Health

[Jefferson23]

Coke has rolled out an ad campaign, disguised as public service announcements. Here's what you should know.

August 29, 2013 |





It was laughable when Coca-Cola launched a campaign to fight obesity. And even more laughable when the king of soda’s anti-obesity campaign shifted all the blame for those extra pounds to lack of exercise and chairs (yes, chairs).

But now, the company that donated $1.7 million to defeat last year’s GMO labeling initiative in California has gone from laughable to dangerous. In the wake of declining sales of its Diet Coke brand, Coke has rolled out an ad campaign carefully and deceptively crafted to convince consumers that aspartame, the artificial sweetener (whose patent was at one time owned by Monsanto) in Diet Coke, is a “healthy alternative” to sugar.

The new campaign, being tested in the Atlanta and Chicago markets, takes the form of full-page advertisements disguised as public service announcements. The message? Don’t believe all that bad stuff you’ve heard about aspartame. Aspartame is perfectly safe. It’s better for you than sugar. Drinking Diet Coke will help you stay thin and healthy.

It’s a sweet story, concocted by the marketing wizards at Coke who are desperate to keep the diet soda money train rolling. But it’s not true. Multiple studies, including one published in 2010 by the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine have concluded just the opposite. Aspartame, they say, actually contributes to weight gain by stimulating your appetite. Other studies have revealed that aspartame increases carbohydrate cravings and stimulates fat storage and weight gain.

in full: http://www.alternet.org/food/why-coca-colas-new-ad-campaign-may-be-dangerous-your-health

[Scuba]

1. How to make your advertising costs tax deductible. Call them "PSA's".

[Atman]

2. My wife is into Truvia now.

Supposedly it's a natural plant extract. I'm waiting for that to be declared dangerous next.

[Jefferson23]

4. I never heard of that, hopefully it is not harmful. n/t

[Nay]

8. The stevia part of Truvia is derived from the stevia plant, which has been used for a

thousand years in Japan as a sweetener.

Erythritol, Truvia's other ingredient, is a sugar alcohol produced from plain glucose by fermentation with a yeast. It does not raise blood glucose in diabetics at all and is a very benign substance compared to, say, Splenda. Erythritol is the carrier for stevia, which is extremely sweet but has a bitter aftertaste by itself. Erythritol gives Truvia a sugar-like appearance and mellows out the taste, and allows Truvia to be used as a true sugar substitute in baking. I like the stuff!

[RC]

3. This has been known for decades.

Aspartame, they say, actually contributes to weight gain by stimulating your appetite.

I refuse to partake of anything containing aspartame and shy away of anything I think may be diet.

And speaking of diet, they have finally figured out skim milk is not all that good you. 2% and even whole milk is better. The fat in it helps make you feel full, so you stop eating. Skim milk does not give you that full feeling and so you grab another cookie or two, or whatever snacks are available when you have that glass of milk.

[Jefferson23]

5. Are pediatricans advising parents to offer low fat for children I wonder..I had always

thought the young needed the whole milk to grow healthy. But what you suggest is interesting,
would make sense, but I'm not a nutritionist. Seems that organic fresh produce, whole grains etc
and removing all soda would be a good start. Organic beef, chicken etc, too.

[RC]

6. Children need a certain amount of fat in their diet for proper brain development and growth.

So many people are fat because of too many carbohydrates. As you stated, fresh is best, but pasta is cheap and it keeps. Also high fructose corn syrup needs to be outlawed in food. It is a sugar, has calories, but the body food regulators do not recolonize it and the liver treats it like an alcohol.
There needs to be a campaign to pass out magnifying glasses to read the labels on the stuff we buy. There is so much unneeded salt and high fructose corn syrup in so many things you would not expect. We need to start reading the labels closer and leaving more stuff on the shelf.

[Jefferson23]

7. Agreed, and the sodium content on all soda is off the charts. The print is so small

it should be more pronounced.

[kliker]

9. Coca Cola

Coca Cola chemical reaction

[link:

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[gopiscrap]

10. welcome to DU