A recent interview conducted with Coca-Cola CEO Neville Isdell, who was brought out of retirement to get the company back on track, shows that it takes someone with little regard to the health of the citizens of (any) country to improve sales and revenues. While there is certainly no shortage of studies and research showing the ill-effects of artificial sweeteners, not to mention the obvious damage that regular soft drinks and juice drinks do, the company that is the largest single contributor to the overweight and obesity epidemic is back on track, infecting other countries with its poison to stimulate growth and revenues. Most of the citizens in places like India are not completely aware of the health problems caused from the consumption of Coca-Cola soft drinks and juice drinks, plus their marketing efforts and money spent will keep them from knowing that truth, at least for some time. Thank God for the Internet where the message can be spread around the world before it's too late. Or maybe the addiction for the drinks will overshadow any message of truth. (Oh, wait, that did happen here in the US).
This part of the interview (from MoneyControl.com India) was of interest as Isdell comments on the growth of the company, its products, and especially the calorie-laden drinks --
Q: Despite all this adverse talk against carbonated soft drinks, they continue to remain the mainstay. How soon do you expect the center of gravity to shift to non-carbonated or so-called functional drinks?
A: I actually see it as two legs of a pillar. One of the questions I got asked, when I came back, was while sparkling soft drinks are not growing. With all the pressure around it, are you going to need to replace them? I said no at that time. There is tremendous growth left for sparkling and our growth rate last year was 4%. So, by putting the marketing and the stimulation behind it, we have been able to grow them again.
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When people say that there is a problem with calories in Coca-Cola, we have got a wonderful example in terms of Coke like Diet Coke and now Coke Zero, the most successful launch we have had in 25 years. We give you a zero calorie offering. It is about consumer choice. So, that big leg of our business is growing and growing very strongly. Now, there is a major opportunity in the ‘still’ area and we are investing in that. We grew our ‘still’ beverages by 12% last year overall against 4% for sparkling, smaller base.
We have made some major acquisitions as well as the organic growth from Minute Maid Pulpy. We just acquired last year the largest juice manufacturer in Latin America. We are now number one in juice in Latin America, with Jugos del Valle.
In fact, people wouldn’t believe this, but we are number one in the world with juice. With our brands and the aggregate, we are the largest supplier of ready-to-drink juice around the world.
Comment: Wow! I didn't know you were #1 in ready-to-drink juice around the world. How many calories is that supplying? And how many other chemicals are added to your drinks to make them unhealthy, addictive, and potentially lethal? What was that slogan you used once upon a time -- 'Drink Choose Live' ? Thankfully, you forgot to BUY the domain name so we could blow the whistle on the damage that the #1 soft drink seller does to society. (The site contained the lawsuit about the injustice of the MyCokeRewards campaign because of the quantity of Coke that would have to be purchased - oh, but NOT necessarily consumed - per day to win prizes. It would have literally killed you! That site exists here: http://www.drinkchooselive.com/ and is now used to promote Medifast meals for those who have trouble getting a healthy meal plan together.)
The bottom line is that the first step toward a healthier society is ridding the world of soft drinks - they're filled with high fructose corn syrup, lots of calories, artificial ___ (lots goes here)___, and aren't benefitting the health of anyone!
The Health & Wellness Institute, DC PC
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