“Don’t Drink Yourself Fat” - - Campaign War Against Soda and Other Sweetened Drinks in NYC by Health Department

In New York, there is a campaign war against soda and other sweetened drinks. The city’s health department has launched ‘a public-awareness campaign, which includes posters in the subway system and a multilingual Health Bulletin’ that began on the end of August and will run for three months.

The new campaign asks New Yorkers if they’re “Pouring On the Pounds.” Highlighting the health impact of sweetened drinks, this is the Health Department’s tactic ‘to encourage consumers to choose beverages with less sugar.’

Says New York City Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, “Sugary drinks shouldn’t be a part of our everyday diet. Drinking beverages loaded with sugars increases the risk of obesity and associated problems, particularly diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, arthritis and cancer.”

This war on soda is explosive since soft drinks are part of everyday life in metropolitan areas such as New York. The situation must be really bad for the city to slam head on against the soda industry. The health and diet statistics may have been enough reason to launch such a campaign: ‘On average, Americans now consume 200 to 300 more calories each day than we did 30 years ago. Nearly half of these extra calories come from sugar-sweetened drinks. When Health Department researchers surveyed adult New Yorkers about their consumption of soda and other sweetened drinks, the findings showed that more than 2 million drink at least one sugar-sweetened soda or other sweetened beverage each day – at as much as 250 calories a pop. Daily consumption was highest among Bronx residents, followed by residents of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. Sweetened-beverage consumption is higher among men than among women, and especially prevalent among 18- to 44-year-olds and among adult blacks and Hispanics.’

Desperate times need desperate measures, hence.

The citizens of New York are confronted with a visual of a soda, cola, sports and energy drink, or sweetened iced tea being poured into a glass. What gets poured are gooey, yucky blobs of fat, the kind that is suctioned off during a liposuction procedure, thereby evoking images of obesity. The cautionary reminder goes: “Don’t drink yourself fat” with these high-calorie beverages.