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Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

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Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#101

Post by mellosouls »

abaldwin7302 wrote: post #83
mellosouls wrote: post #7

I'm not opposed to this but it strikes me as somewhat weak - if you think something is bad enough to ban visibility of it, why not just go all the way and ban the thing itself. Same with smoking, alcohol, etc. Of course, prohibition doesn't have a terribly successful history but the whole approach seems odd and inconsistent to me. I guess the rationale is a pragmatic de-normalising of toxic and addictive but currentl…

Banning outright vs removing ads is an entirely different ballpark. Adults should have autonomy over their body so long as it does not infringe on others. It's not up to authorities to decide whether individuals trade long term health for short term enjoyment.

It certainly infringes on others in any country with a publicly funded health care system. The individual's bodily abuse is paid for by everybody else.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#102

Post by bad_user »

xhruso00 wrote: post #43

"In addition to an ad ban, the ministry announced that sugary drinks would also be required to display a color-coded, front-of-pack nutrition label to list nutritional quality and sugar content." I like Japanese/Taiwanese approach which list percentage of fruit juice (front-of-pack). And manufacturers can't cheat with substitutes like apple cause it doesn't count. This is way more useful for consumers to decide what…

There's no difference between "fruit juice" and regular soda.

The fiber is gone so "fruit juice" will be as easily absorbed as regular juice and the sugar in it is just as potent.

You could argue that "fruit juice" has some vitamins in it, but due to processing much of that is gone, plus you can fortify soda with vitamins as well.

"Fruit juice" doesn't protect you from overeating calories, which is the primary problem with sugary drinks. Think of how it's some work to eat an apple and you'll fill fuller. A glass of apple juice however is the equivalent of 6 apples and you can drink it in a matter of seconds without doing anything to curb your hunger.

If you want fruits, just eat the damn fruits, or otherwise take a vitamin C pill.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#104

Post by easytiger »

Uhuhreally wrote: post #100
dennisgorelik wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banning all ads is wrong. Ads help promoting good products and services. If you ban all ads -- less people will be using good products and services, and that will make our economy less effective.

No. Everything we see advertised is crap. All of it. The more it's advertised the worse the product.

That's just ridiculous.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#106

Post by blub »

dennisgorelik wrote: post #84
Uhuhreally wrote: post #76

I would like to see a ban on all ads. I am sick of them. I resent with all my heart that wherever I go I'm bombared with propaganda for products. Nobody should have the right to hijack other peoples attention.

Banning all ads is wrong. Ads help promoting good products and services. If you ban all ads -- less people will be using good products and services, and that will make our economy less effective.

"If you ban all ads -- less people will be using good products and services, and that will make our economy less effective."

That's a strange conclusion, since all products, including terrible ones are advertised. In fact ads are essentially content-free and don't help people decide if a product is good or not. They have zero correlation with the quality of a product.

Some countries like France and Germany have independent organizations that buy almost anything that one can think of, test it and make a list of quality products. That ensures people buy good products and services.

You've made me see once again that ads are essentially worthless for individuals.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#107

Post by CameronNemo »

nitrogen wrote: post #92
undefined3840 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In SF sugary drinks are taxed extra. There are signs that demand for sugary drinks are on the decline naturally e.g. demand for sparking water has increased as people look for alternatives to drinking a coke. And there was a recent article on how juice consumption has dropped to new lows...

One of the unfortunate side effects of the SF tax though is that an $8 canister of sports drink powder (essential to provide calories and minerals during longer periods of exertion) has a $7 tax. I don't think a tax approaching 90% is in any way just.

> I don't think a tax approaching 90% is in any way just.

For this specific case, or in general? Because there are certainly externalities that are larger than the internalized cost of a good.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#108

Post by blub »

easytiger wrote: post #105
kaffeemitsahne wrote: post #97

Just ban all ads and be done with it. Really don't understand why it's taking us (collectively) so long to get there.

The site you are commenting on is effectively an Ad for yc. Should that be banned?

It's not "effectively" an ad for anything, it's a discussion forum. The fact that it also offers some publicity to YC's business is an additional aspect, but not the main one.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#109

Post by rorykoehler »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #2

Usually I am for freedom to do anything you want as long as it does not impact other people. I am OK though with banning ads for sugary drinks because society pays a high medical cost for damage due to excess sugar addiction/use. This is like forcing motor cycle riders to wear helmets. BTW, I worked in Singapore for a while in 2016. Wonderful place! People just seemed happy there, from business people to laborers. If…

I like Singapore too and have lived there. Other countries could learn a lot from how Singapore is run but it has it's own worts. It's very dystopian in certain regards. It's a really good example of the trade off between freedom and safety.

Re: Singapore to become first country banning ads on sugary drinks

#110

Post by Lunatic666 »

greggman2 wrote: post #85

In 2010-11 Singapore there used to be close to zero non-sugary drinks at convenience stores. Even all the teas used to be sweet. Lately they started carrying Japanese brands of non-sweetened tea but for a while if you wanted non-sweet tea you had to make it yourself. Which of course is probably better for the planet but if you're just out and about and wanted a drink from a 7/11 your options were pretty slim. The big…

You won't find many non-sugared drinks in 2019 in Singapore either. I only know canned Oolong Tea which has no added sugar, the rest in e.g. a 7Eleven is overly sweet. It's next to impossible to get unsweetened yoghurt in a convenience store.

The brown-sugar tea is all over the place and if you order some green-tea with 0% sugar they look at you like you're an alien and tell you it will be too sour and not taste good.

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