The Wall Street Journal
Companies Pledge to Market Water, Smaller Sizes, Diet Drinks; Pledge 20% Calorie Cut by 2025
Smaller containers, such as these mini cans, shown next to full-size cans, would be part of the calorie-cutting effort, as would heavier promotion of low-cal drinks.
Coca-Cola Co. KO -1.16% , PepsiCo Inc. PEP -0.89% and Dr Pepper Snapple GroupInc. DPS -1.52% will work to cut beverage calories in the American diet 20% by 2025 through promoting bottled water, low-calorie drinks and smaller portions.
The pledge marks a rare commitment by beverage makers in the fight against obesity at a time when the industry is under increasing scrutiny of its products. Drink-makers opposed a cap on sugary drink portions in New York City, and are trying to stop a new tax on sugary drinks that San Francisco residents will vote on in November.
Under the voluntary agreement announced Tuesday, the companies said they would market and distribute their drinks in a way that should help steer consumers to smaller portions and zero- or low-calorie drinks. They also have committed to providing calorie counts on more than 3 million vending machines, self-serve fountain dispensers and retail coolers in stores, restaurants and other points of sale.
Americans already have scaled back on soda as consumers get more health conscious about diseases like diabetes, eroding the industry's bottom line. U.S. per capita soda consumption has fallen since peaking in 1998 and calories from soda contracted 23% between 2000 and 2013, industry tracker Beverage Digest estimates.
The move is an implicit acknowledgment by the soda industry that longtime staples like Coke, Pepsi-Cola and Dr Pepper have played a role in rising obesity rates.
Atlanta-based Coke has said in the past that Americans should exercise more, not drink less sugary soda.
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