derby Predicts: The 2014 "Soda Summit" means more profit for them while you get "canned"

[derby378]

Coca-Cola (KO 0.50%), PepsiCo (PEP 0.82%), and Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS 0.67%) pledged on Tuesday to cut beverage calories consumed per person in the United States by 20% by 2025, through a mix of marketing, distribution and packaging, in tacit recognition of their role in the American obesity crisis.

The voluntary plan, announced at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, at the national level entails the three major soda makers widening the availability of low- and zero-calorie beverages and with drinks sold in smaller format. The agreement will also apply to 3 million company-owned vending machines and coolers in convenience stores, as well as fountain soda dispensers at fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s (MCD 0.82%). Each beverage company will also provide calorie counts, and promote calorie awareness.

...

At the local level, the companies committed to putting more effort in communities where there has been less interest in, or access to, ways in which consumers can reduce their drink calorie consumption. To do that, they will more heavily promote their bottled water products. The companies are being encouraged to introduce and expand new lower-calorie products and smaller-portion formats, among other endeavors.

http://fortune.com/2014/09/23/coke-pepsi-snapple-sugar/

So what does this mean for the American consumer? Here's why the CGI soda accord is so much belching of stale fizz:

The price of an ounce of soda is about to go up, up, up. "Smaller format" sodas mean that the 12-ounce can of soda you and I are familiar with may be an endangered species. The current standard soda can in the UK measures up at 330ml compared to the American 355ml (12 ounces, dig?), so this may be a logical approach for the "Big Three" soda manufacturers to take. However, retooling all of the canning machinery in the United States from 355ml cans to 330ml cans isn't going to be cheap. First rule of company retooling: why pay for it yourself when you can make the consumer pay for it? Expect the new 330ml can to cost just as much - if not more - than the old 355ml can did. And that's just one format...

No pledge to reduce the use of high-fructose corn syrup. If this campaign was really about reducing obesity, HFCS would have a glowing bullseye target slapped on its chemically-altered butt. So please don't pay any attention to the industry rep in the Brioni suit from the Corn Growers Association, because baby needs a new pair of Jimmy Choos. Besides, your body can't tell the difference between sugar and HFCS, right? Right? Anyone? Bueller?

More fossil fuels will be utilized to package and ship product that you can get out of your kitchen faucet. Granted, the convenience of having a bottle of water handy while jogging, powerlifting, or inputting production figures into spreadsheets cannot be overstated, but instead of promoting better municipal water supplies and the use of durable water bottles from SIGG or Klean Kanteen (made without BPA, okay, guys?), instead, soda companies are going use more petroleum to produce more plastic water bottles that will be shipped using more gasoline or CNG to transport it around the country. Lest we forget, gas is still abysmally expensive. And what was it I said earlier about corporations passing the costs onto customers...?

In other words, people, the soda summit smells like BULLSHIT. It's just another revolution of the corporate circle of life as it rolls over America's ever-expanding gut. How does it feel?

[upaloopa]

1. I think carbs are a better target than calories

when it comes to what to cut to reduce obesity.

[DJ13]

2. We used to have laws regarding collusion

Such a quaint idea, eh?

[derby378]

3. At least with Jolt Cola, you had truth in advertising

"All the Sugar and Twice the Caffeine." C.J. Rapp might have been in it for the money, but he didn't bullshit you about portion control or counting carbs - he offered a product and he delivered.

[DJ13]

4. I used to love that stuff when I worked graveyard shifts

[derby378]

7. Don't think this was a real Jolt ad...

...but huzzah!!

[AndyTiedye]

5. My Fave is Mountain Dew Throwback

I'll take my soda with real sugar, not HFCS frankenfood, thank you.

[DJ13]

11. Thats what Im drinking right this moment

Good stuff!

[AndyTiedye]

6. Coconut Water

Did the big beverage companies completely miss the boat on coconut water?

I'm surprised we aren't seeing coconut soda by now, and other sodas being sweetened with coconut.

Mixing Mountain Dew and coconut water tastes quite good btw.

[Cheap_Trick]

10. Mt. Dew Kickstart is going to be doing

a coconut version soon. Our plant is going to start probably late October. We have to undergo some training since the coconut is an allergen (new sanitation procedures)

[CBGLuthier]

8. I have not had a soda in 378 days and hope to never have one again

Quite possibly the single worst thing in the world that humans place into their bodies is soda.

[Cheap_Trick]

9. As for the "retooling"

The Pepsi plant in Wichita produces 7.5 oz, 8 oz., 12 oz., 12 oz. "sleek", 16 oz., and 24 oz. cans. There will be no "retooling" necessary. The new cans would most likely be the same width, just shorter. All we'd have to do is raise the bottom of the filler to compensate.

[KurtNYC]

12. sales os soda have declined steadily for 8 years

and are now below 1980 sales levels. Consumers are seeking healthier foods and better values. For the less health conscious, Red Bull and other energy drinks have taken share from soda. "20% calorie cut" is not going to reverse things.