After reading Arsh Basi‘s blog post regarding the implementation of a calorie reader on vending machines, I could not agree more with Arsh in the sense that stating calorie counts of different products will not help shape a healthier America.
When one is thirsty and is looking to quench that thirst with a cold beverage, most people would not stop to consider whether or not they are making a healthy decision, they will simply find the nearest vendor, be it a store or machine, and purchase the first tastey cool beverage they see. In this case, people would not care to see the calories displayed on the screen of the vending machine they are purchasing from, instead, they are more interested in the feeling of a cool fizzy liquid sliding down their parched throat. On a different note, I disagree with Arsh when he states that by displaying these numbers, companies are trying to promote the sale of their other products in the machine. This does not make sense to me because why would a company attempt to harm the sales of one of its products only to increase sales of another one of its products? If a company truly wanted to increase the sales of its other products, they would work harder at promoting and advertising the certain product through ways which did not harm the sales of the other existing products it owns.
In the end, a fizzy drink is satisfying and a calorie count on a vending machine would not stop someone from quenching their thirst.
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