A simple response to Darren Powell’s scathing blog post in reaction to Coca-Cola’s new anti-obesity initiative would be:
What more can you ask for?
A billion dollar company taking the initiative to sit down and basically say, “Hey, our products can make you fat and possibly kill you”, is not necessarily a trend-setting move, but it is a step. A labored, pain-staking step (much like one an obese person would take).
Here’s a look at the ad in question:
Clearly, it’s not perfect. You’ve got all the signs of buggery in advertisement; the man in the lab coat kneeling in the magic science field, hip twenty-somethings partying hearty with… Coke, and the always puzzling quick cutaways of diverse, but always smiling faces.
Powell questions Coke’s tactic of oversimplifying the obesity issue, and to his credit Coke’s explanation of “consuming more calories than you burn” = “you’re obese” is about as nuanced as “salt is salty”.
But once again, I will stress the point that it’s a start. It’s enough to restart the conversation, or at least push it another direction, because the scientific mumbo-jumbo that actual doctors have been reciting for the past decade seemed to have gone out one ear through the other.
The fact is, Coke have walked their walk, giving consumers healthy choices and smaller portion options while clearly labeling the caloric content of their products. You’ve got to give them the benefit of the doubt when Coke toots their own horn in their own advertisements, offering the olive branch that while Coke is part of the problem they are also part “of the solution”.
And that’s a refreshing change.