Drinks loaded with added sugars, such as juice, soda, and frappuccinos, are one of the leading sources of empty calories in the diet of both children and adults, and overconsumption of sugar is associated with obesity and an increased risk of heart disease.
In 2012, Howard County, Maryland activists went after sugary sodas, sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks and flavored water/teas. They used:
- Getting such drinks out of student-accessible vending machines and at school-day functions;
- A 2014 state law that prohibits licensed childcare centers from serving sugary drinks to children in their care;
- A 2015 local law making healthier food and drink more widely available on local government property; and
- convincing local community organizations to change the food and drink choices they offer at meetings and through vending machines.
The campaign also used:
- social marketing (e.g., TV ads, social media, online ad buys);
- direct consumer education (e.g., using a marketing team to engage consumers at pools, community events, sporting events, health fairs); and
- healthcare professional training to improve patient counseling on the dangers of sugary drinks and the diagnosis and treatment of childhood obesity.
Oddly, they didn't use taxes, which is what government employees prefer, since they get more money. To determine the impact of the overall campaign, researchers compared weekly beverage sales of top-selling brands from 15 supermarkets in Howard County with a matched set of 17 supermarkets in southeastern Pennsylvania, controlling for marketing influences such as product prices.
The study did not have sales data from non-supermarket vendors, such as convenience stores, and only included the top selling brands sold rather than all brands sold.
"This study shows that a public health campaign combining community-wide education, policy changes and culture-shifting efforts can significantly reduce sugary drink sales," said Marlene B. Schwartz, Ph.D., Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. "Through complementary strategies from advocating for changes to child care nutrition standards to creating TV ads, "Howard County Unsweetened" made a concerted effort to encourage families to switch their drinks."