What Soda Does For Marketing

I was disgusted to learn in a recent report just how hard the soda industry is working to push its products, especially to children. Berkeley Media Studies Group and Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments unveiled a host of provocative discoveries including:

Soda is Heavily Marketed to Children and Adolescents

• In 2006, carbonated beverages accounted for the greatest marketing expenditure directed at children (ages 2-11) and adolescents (ages 12-17) by major food and beverage companies ($492 million spent on soda marketing, compared to $294 million for restaurant foods, the next highest category).


• Of the $492 million, $117 million was spent marketing carbonated beverages using traditional promotional activities such as product placement ads appearing before or within a video game; ads preceding a home video of theatre movie; sponsorships of sports teams and athletes; celebrity endorsements; or philanthropy.
  

Digital Advertising is Soda’s New Frontier

• Since the 2006 launch of MyCokeRewards.com, nearly six million rewards have been redeemed by the more than nine million members. Members of MyCokeRewards.com average over nine minutes per visit on the site.
  
• Globally, Coca-Cola has 19 million consumers registered in its databases, of which over 40% are under the age of 25.
  
• Pepsi Cola partnered with MTV to reach audiences aged 12 to 34 who are comfortable in MTV’s digital world, including the virtual reality paired with its hit TV-show “The Hills.” There, users created their own characters, or avatars, who can pump their virtual coins to buy a drink to quench their virtual thirst. Pepsi was the top-selling virtual product in 2007, selling more than 110,000 cans that were virtually recycled and used more than 650,000 times.

Visit www.eatbettermovemore.org to download the full report.

~ Nicole