The Decline of ‘Big Soda’ • Hacker News Board

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#61

Post by hippich » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:16 PM UTC

klenwell wrote: post #25

When Mr. Nutter was fighting the soda tax battle, he kept a bottle of Mountain Dew and a container with 17 teaspoons of sugar — the amount in the bottle — on the table in the center of his office. It was a good “conversation piece,” he said, about the surprising number of calories in a typical soda. I think this is key. Better information and transparency is having an effect. I'm glad to hear we're approaching a poin…

I hope people will also lay down sugar amount of apple, bagel, etc food next to these coke/dew/etc bottles of soda drinks. =)

Thing is - most of products in US has label stating clearly amount of calories and major contributors. It is SUPER easy to find approximate amount to which you need to stick. But people still over do it two/three/more times.

As much as I hate it, I think only high food costs will work. Problem is - how to keep it high enough to prevent abuse, but at the same time, keep lower income people access to enough nutrients.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#62

Post by lfjmfkekdk » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:18 PM UTC

kachnuv_ocasek wrote: post #24

lfjmfkekdk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will certainly not pass the first amendment test.

Two clicks from the 'First amendment' Wikipedia article led me to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech_in_the_Unite... So yeah, it might pass.

Well, not exactly. Tobacco advertising bans, aside from TV and radio, were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92990&page=1

You can ban it from TV and radio if there's a compelling government interest but even the head medical chied of the ADA says there is no definitive proof that sugar causes diabetes. (See my link above)

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#63

Post by yincrash » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:21 PM UTC

littletimmy wrote: post #37

yincrash wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where do you draw the line? should all food be sold in white boxes with plain lettering?

We'll have to draw, as in most things, an arbitrary line by consensus. Spinach is on one side, sugar on another, Milk is on spinach's side, tobacco on sugar's, and so on. This is stuff that we should decide as a society to keep ourselves safe from corporate psychopaths.

I suspect consensus will be very very hard when it comes to food.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#64

Post by littletimmy » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:24 PM UTC

PKop wrote: post #34

kachnuv_ocasek wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids can buy whatever they want if they have money. And surely, they'll buy the shiny thing thing they saw on TV or the internet when they encounter it in the shop and see it's cheap.

Again, kids won't do "whatever they want" if their parents do their job and instill proper discipline, education, and consequences for behavior that they don't want. If you want the government to do your parenting for you, I don't know what to tell you. Not my idea of good parenting, and I think the results will be disappointing. We can agree to disagree on that.

The government is not doing "parenting". It is protecting from manipulation. Big difference.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#65

Post by paulpauper » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:27 PM UTC

brandonmenc wrote: post #20

lfjmfkekdk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a large bowl of cereal every morning. Yes, I eat those kids' sugary cereals. My BMI is below 20.

I was a cereal addict as a kid. Killed a couple boxes of the stuff a week. And I was super skinny, probably because we played outside to the point of exhaustion every single day.

probably due to metabolism more so than activity

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#66

Post by Scoundreller » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:30 PM UTC

dingaling wrote: post #46

lemevi wrote: post #5

Just take some time next time you're in a supermarket and walk down the cereal aisle, it's just incredible. It's all sugar and carbohydrates in colorful cartoony boxes meant to appeal to children. Just a cup of cereal has many calories and people and children eat huge bowls of this stuff. So I think an anti-cereal campaign might also help. I often wonder what would happen to national obesity rates if cereal aisles in…

Even Kelloggs Corn Flakes are packed with sugar. Why?

People are more likely to re-purchase a product if they like how it tastes. Sweeter = tastier.

Some will make comparisons based on labels and change, but most will re-purchase and not consider alternatives.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#67

Post by andhess » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:32 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #4

I would like to see a decline of "Big water". It astonishes me that bottled water is consistently sold for more than sugar water and not one bottler breaks from the pack and sells it for less. That can only happen with industry wide collusion to fix prices and yet no one in the government does anything about it.

I don't really mind if "big water" is a thing, but I'd like to see better packaging for it. It's amazing how many people regularly drink bottled water instead of tap water.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#68

Post by pkaye » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:33 PM UTC

klenwell wrote: post #25

When Mr. Nutter was fighting the soda tax battle, he kept a bottle of Mountain Dew and a container with 17 teaspoons of sugar — the amount in the bottle — on the table in the center of his office. It was a good “conversation piece,” he said, about the surprising number of calories in a typical soda. I think this is key. Better information and transparency is having an effect. I'm glad to hear we're approaching a poin…

I never understood how soda doesn't feel like it has 17 teaspoons of sugar in it because I've made lemonade with 2-3 teaspoons of sugar and it feels just as sweet.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#69

Post by ghaff » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:34 PM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #4

I would like to see a decline of "Big water". It astonishes me that bottled water is consistently sold for more than sugar water and not one bottler breaks from the pack and sells it for less. That can only happen with industry wide collusion to fix prices and yet no one in the government does anything about it.

Well, you don't always have a water bottle and a place to fill it up from. That said, I agree that general societal pressure to reduce the number of pint/quart-size throwaway bottles is desirable in the same vein as reducing the use of throwaway plastic grocery bags. At the same time, given the choice between people buying bottles of water and bottles of soda, the former counts as progress in general and I'm not sure we want to discourage it.

Re: The Decline of ‘Big Soda’

#70

Post by lfjmfkekdk » Sat, Oct 03, 2015, 6:43 PM UTC

ScottWhigham wrote: post #26

lfjmfkekdk wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will certainly not pass the first amendment test.

I'm not sure what the 'first amendment test' is when it comes to corporate advertising but our government already limits how alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and marijuana can be advertised. We also limit what and how things can be advertised to children. So I'm not really sure your sentence is correct.

Well if you wanted a ban on advertising sugary cereal to kids, you would have to pass the "Central Hudson" test. You would have to prove a compelling government interest to ban the ads to children. The ADA chief medical scientist has already said there is no conclusive proof that sugary food causes diabetes. Also I don't know if you've seen any kids cereal commercials recently, but they're not making deceptive claims (like "eating this cereal will make you healthier").

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/commerc...