Big Soda Companies Aim, Expand, Use, Cover, and Control

Soda Makers Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Join in Effort to Cut Americans’ Drink Calories. (The New York Times, 9/23/2014)

Here's the plan.

The companies aim to reduce each American’s calorie consumption in sugary drinks by 20 percent on average by 2025. They will expand the presence of low- and no-calorie drinks, as well as drinks sold in smaller portions, and use their promotional skills to educate consumers and encourage them to reduce the calories they are drinking. Photo A Pepsi-Cola drink comes in a smaller-portion 7.5-ounce can.

The program will cover company-owned vending machines and coolers in convenience stores, as well as fountain soda dispensers like those found in fast-food restaurants and movie theaters. The companies control almost all of those machines, in addition to about one-third of vending machines and 80 percent of coolers.

Related reading:
Consumption of Sugar Drinks in the United States, 2005–2008.  (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
Sugary Drink Supersizing the the Obesity Epidemic.  (Harvard School of Public Health, June 2012)