Coca-Cola confronts the Aussie obesity question in national TV announcement airing tonight
Australia: Coca-Cola South Pacific will air a television announcement tonight outlining commitments for for its pack sizes, products, labelling and community initiatives the first time on major networks across the country.
The announcement will address the issue of obesity and the actions the company is taking as well as highlight that all kilojoules count in managing weight, including those in Coca-Cola. This will be supported by advertising in print and online media.
The announcement is part of a global initiative that launched in the US earlier this year and has now been extended to Australia. Coca-Cola South Pacific is taking further action in Australia to help be part of the solution to obesity. These actions are focused on the following four areas:
• Increasing the availability of smaller portion sizes;
• Offering a wider selection of low-kilojoule beverage options and raising awareness of
low-kilojoule alternatives;
• Providing transparent nutritional information in more places, including vending machines;
• Helping inspire Australians to get moving, by partnering with the Bicycle Network, a not-for-
profit organisation in supplying bicycles to local communities.
“Overcoming obesity will take action from all stakeholders working together, including Coca-Cola,” said Phil Roberts, Commercial and Franchise Director of Coca-Cola South Pacific.
The actions announced today build on Coca-Cola South Pacific’s existing commitments in this area and their pledge to meet a collective target of a 12.5% reduction in energy by 2015 as part of their founding membership of the ‘Healthier Australia Commitment’*.
“We know moderation is a key component of an active, healthy and balanced lifestyle – and that we all need to make sensible choices to meet our individual nutrition and kilojoule needs,” said Roberts. “We believe Coca-Cola has an important role in providing more beverage choices, including more choice in serve sizes and low-kilojoule options, clearly communicating the kilojoule content of our products and supporting community-based physical activity programs.
“We believe these initiatives, as well as our existing policies and involvement in the ‘Healthier Australia Commitment’, demonstrate how serious we are about being part of the solution to obesity,” said Roberts.
5 Comments
Not sure what they’re worried about? They solved the India Pakistan issue over night with a vending machine. They have karma points up the ass now!
Coke’s been around since well before I was a kid but obesity hasn’t.
Blame Coke all you want, but our lifestyles are very different to back then. We eat shit, don’t get enough exercise or sleep and chain ourselves to desks all day and night thinking it will lead to a better life – while missing the one we have now.
More pertinent, as a society we blame binge drinking (alcohol companies) for violence, fast food and soft drink companies for obesity, the energy companies for the environment, a lack of money for a lack of happiness while we put our future in the hands of increasingly mollycoddling Government legislation and doctors prescriptions.
Never once do we ever take responsibility for our own fat selves and admit that maybe they’re not the problem. We are.
So true. I don’t know what business Coke, or any other food/beverage company has “addressing the issue” – they offer Coke Zero. They offer diet Coke. Those of us who know sugar makes you fat reach for the black can. Those of us who exercise know we can enjoy a bit of sugar now and then. FFS people. “overcoming obesity” will not “take action from all stakeholders”. There are no stakeholders in my life, or anyone’s life. Get off your fat arse and move around.
Such is their commitment to obesity that they threw about $5k into making this spot.
The only low budget Coke ad i’ve seen.
Very dedicated to the cause. Thanks.
I – and many others – got this brief over my desk about 4 -5 years ago in Singapore. The ‘brief’ was pretty much a corporate video one of their design agencies did for internal use. The task was to turn that into ‘impactful’ advertising.
Obviously, I failed, despite throwing 15 – 20 scripts and other ideas at it. Some ideas got all the way to Atlanta before being nixed. In the end, no one in Coke could agree on what they were saying, or how they wanted to say it.
Equally obviously from this, everyone else failed as well. This ad IS the corporate video and v/o we were shown as a brief, with a few shots changed.
I think Coca Cola probably agrees with ‘Wake up’ btw. They are just sick of all the bad PR and feel compelled to do … something. Anything. No matter how pointless. Just so they can say, ‘We are taking this issue seriously.’
The videos and other stuff about recycling apparently went down quite well internally. It allegedly makes employees feel better about their company. The campaign should have stayed internal.