Maya Rockeymoore argues in a piece for the Huffington Post that it's in our collective best interest to tune out the singer's Pepsi endorsement, for the sake of health and that of our children.
You would have to be living in a bubble to have missed the news that Beyonce cut a reported $50 million, multi-year deal with PepsiCo. Although the deal may meet Beyonce's and Pepsi's mutually-beneficial marketing needs, it does not serve the best interests of the U.S. public, which is in the midst of working to combat an obesity epidemic.
While the marketing tactics of soda companies are not new -- after all, Beyonce, Sofia Vergara and so many other superstars past and present have been used by soda companies to encourage people to consume unhealthy beverages for decades -- what is new is that this deal comes during a time of increased public concern about the role that sugar-sweetened beverages play in contributing to weight gain.
Researchers have determined that 43 percent of the increase in daily calories that Americans consumed between 1977 and 2001, a time period during which obesity almost tripled among segments of the U.S. population -- could be attributed to sugar-sweetened beverages. Scientists have also estimated that every additional daily serving of soda consumed by a child increases their risk for obesity by 60 percent.
And, it is widely known that obesity is related to preventable chronic diseases -- such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease -- that not only undermine the quality and length of a person's life but also help to drive America's skyrocketing health care costs.
Read Maya Rockeymoore's entire piece at the Huffington Post. [5]
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