"Big Soda Politics: A Call to Advocacy", 14 Oct 2015

Sales of sodas...have fallen in the United States for a decade, with no sign of reversal...Soda companies attribute these trends to the effects of health advocacy...In response, soda companies are redoubling marketing efforts, especially in developing countries...Researchers find overwhelming evidence that habitual soda drinkers run high risks for gaining weight, becoming obese, and developing consequences of obesity such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease...

For years, [soda companies] have dismissed concerns about the health effects of their products as trivial...But...the press is [increasingly] exposing soda company practices that recall those used by the tobacco industry when its products come under attack...to distract people from the harm caused by cigarette smoking. First, discredit the science, then use philanthropy and form partnerships to silence critics, lobby Congress for protection, and pour fortunes into fighting anything that might increase costs to discourage sales...

Advocacy against [sodas], in the United States at least, has reached a tipping point. For health advocates, sodas are "low-hanging fruit," easy targets for intervention... Health advocates, with far fewer resources than soda companies, have been using their democratic rights as citizens—and time-honored methods for promoting social change—to counter soda industry marketing, lobbying, and public relations... Now is the time to build on this success and encourage everyone who cares about health...[to] advocate even more forcefully for food systems...that are healthier for people and for the planet.  This, however, means taking on greater challenges...[such as] building a movement to stop food companies from marketing junk foods to kids and using their political power to influence local elections and regulations...[and making it] possible to elect representatives who are more concerned about public health than corporate health.

[refers to Coca-Cola, PepsiCo]