Hey, you know it’s been a little while since we checked in on the world of Big Soda…
… looks like they’ve been busy trying to trademark the colour green.
With soft drink sales dropping year-on-year, it’s increasingly dire straits for our lolly-water manufacturers.
From the U.S. to Scotland to Down Under, there are some crazy stories causing quite a fizz in soft drink land right now. Let’s check in.
Coca-corruption in the U.S. Center for Disease Control?
In June, a high-level official left the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) after it came out she was in regular communication with Coca-Cola. Now it’s come to light that another CDC veteran has a history of promoting Coca-Cola research projects. Any more friends at the CDC you want to tell us about, Coke?
Bottled water outsells pop for the first time.
And we can see why Coke might resort to foul play. For the very first time, bottled water is expected to outsell soft drink in the U.S.
Experts reckon that lead contamination and decaying pipes are driving more consumers to buy more bottled water (let’s just hope they’re recycling!). But don’t worry – Bloomberg reports that the water system should be completely fixed by 2290… wait?
Irn-Bru’s in a wee spot of trouble.
Across the pond, A.G. Barr – the Scottish manufacturer of Irn-Bru soft drinks – is experiencing a sales slump. It’s now launching Irn-Bru Xtra, a new sugar-free version of the industrial-strength pop, to try and get consumers back on board. But maybe people just aren’t that excited by a drink with 32 different flavouring agents anymore.
Monster and V fight over the colour green.
Down Under, Big Soda is also grasping at straws to stay on top of pop. The colour green, previously owned by nature, is the subject of a heated legal battle between Monster and V energy drinks. They both claim that the particular shade is associated with their products. (In other news, Coca-Cola will sue tomatoes over their use of the famous “Coke red”.)
And we may have found the secret to stopping soft drink consumption!
Meanwhile, the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne has seen a 28 per cent drop in soft drink sales after it placed the sweetened beverages under the counter, hiked up the price and introduced a “traffic light” classification system. Yep, that’ll do it!
We’d love to see more initiatives like this bubbling up. Not only because they’ll lead to a reduction in how much sugar we’re eating, but also so we can see what other crazy tactics Big Soda will resort to!
Do you think this marks the end for Big Soda? Or do they have some more tricks up their sleeves?
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