Soda companies Coca Cola Co., PepsiCo. And Dr. Pepper Snapple Group pledge to reduce calories in their products to encourage Americans to stop drinking too much sugary drinks.
Beverage giants Coca Cola Co., PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group announced their plan at the Clinton Global Initiative their efforts to improve public health by reducing the number of calories in their beverages by 20 percent before 2025.
However, the drink makers' plan would not involve changing their sugary drinks themselves. Instead, they want to materialize their plan by applying savvy marketing strategies.
The soda companies will reportedly promote and boost their offerings of lower-calorie sodas and bottled water, cutting portion sizes and increasing awareness on the amount of sugar present in the regular sodas by adding calorie information in vending machines and self-serve fountain equipment.
The move is part of the companies' pledge when they joined the CEO-led Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation back in 2009 which aimed at reducing obesity in America.
Aside from that, Coca Cola and PepsiCo committed to reduce a total of 1 trillion calories from the U.S. market by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015.
These efforts will "help transform the beverage landscape in America," according to Susan Neely, chief executive of the American Beverage Association
"This is the single largest effort by an industry to help fight obesity and leverages our companies' greatest strengths in marketing, innovation and distribution," Neely stated.
Increasing awareness of health and obesity in America resulted in falling sales of full-calorie sodas in the U.S.
This event pushed the beverage giants to innovate and find ways to conquer the market.
Soda sales in the U.S. have been declining for the past 9 years. Total sales went down 3 percent to 8.9 billion cases in 2013 compared to 2012, according to Beverage Digest.
Analysts from the University of North Carolina are still weary of these efforts because according to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, total calories from packaged goods sold to households with children by the beverage giants remained the same 2011 to 2012.
