Sodas & Advertising in Schools

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 12:35:50 PM PDT

...in May 2006, the American Beverage Association, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, and Cadbury Schweppes (now the Dr Pepper/Snapple Group) teamed up with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation (a joint initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association) to develop new School Beverage Guidelines that significantly reduce the calories available from beverages during the school day...

In just two years since we began implementing the national School Beverage Guidelines, there has been a 58 percent decrease in beverage calories shipped to schools and nearly 80 percent of schools under contract with bottlers are in full compliance - exceeding the 75 percent two-year standard called for in the MOU.

Is that better? Is that good enough? There are two questions that I think we need to address here: 1) Are their standards good enough based on the most up to date knowledge of nutrition and 2) What about the issue of commercialism and marketing within schools, which is entirely ignored by the agreement. (Perhaps three - the third being that there is no independent review of the ABA's own estimation of the job they are doing, nor any enforcement mechanism if they don't do what they have promised.)
 

- Bottled water
- Up to 8 ounce servings of milk and 100% juice
- Low fat and non fat regular and flavored milk and nutritionally equivalent (per USDA) milk alternatives with up to 150 calories/8 ounces
- 100% juice with no added sweeteners, up to 120 calories/8 ounces, and with at least 10% daily value of three or more vitamins and minerals

Additionally, middle schools can sell juices and milk in 10 ounce sizes. Also, when middle schools and high schools share a building or campus, the middle school can adopt the high school's guidelines.

High school guidelines are:

• Bottled water
• No or low calorie beverages with up to 10 calories/8 ounces (e.g. diet soft drinks, diet and unsweetened teas, fitness waters, low calorie sports drinks, flavored waters, seltzers)
• Up to 12 ounce servings of milk, light juice, 100% juice and "certain other drinks"
• Low fat and no fat regular and flavored milk and nutritionally equivalent (per USDA) milk alternatives with up to 150 calories/8 ounces
• 100% juice with no added sweeteners, up to 120 calories/8 ounces, and at least 10% daily value of three or more vitamins and minerals
• Other drinks with no more than 66 calories/8 ounces (e.g. light juices and sports drinks)
• At least 50 percent of beverages must be water and no or low calorie options

According to the ABA's testimony:

When asked to choose between the School Beverage Guidelines and a policy that provided only bottled water, 100 percent juice and low-fat milk to all students from K-12, parents supported our guidelines by a margin of 56 to 42 percent.  And when asked whether they preferred our guidelines or a complete vending ban in schools, they chose
the guidelines by a margin of 82 to 14 percent.

I've got a problem with this. They were asking parents to choose between two things that they, the ABA, picked out. This doesn't say to us that the parents chose ABA's guidelines as their first choice. It only says that the parents preferred ABA's guidelines to the two other options offered here. But what would be parents' first choice? Not that the options listed here as alternatives to the ABA's guidelines lump all kids ages K-12 together and assume that the only source of beverages in schools will be vending machines. What would parents prefer if they were asked to choose between free, filtered water at a water fountain and a vending machine selling their child branded bottled water? The ABA doesn't tell us.

The end result? Kids are drinking branded beverages in schools. Whether they are drinking low calorie sodas or water, the money all goes to the same place. A 2007 report by ASU's Commercialism in Education Research Unit entitled "ADRIFT: SCHOOLS IN A TOTAL MARKETING ENVIRONMENT: THE TENTH ANNUAL REPORT ON SCHOOLHOUSE COMMERCIALISM TRENDS: 2006-2007" said:

Overall marketing trends establish the context for marketing activities in school.  They legitimize marketing content as a source of
information and encourage consumers to trust that information provided by marketers will be reliable.  In other words, these trends suggest that the presence of marketers in venues previously off limits is coming to be considered "normal." As noted, there have been limited efforts to curtail in-school marketing programs, but chiefly under the narrowly drawn rationale of improving nutrition and combating childhood obesity.

Should kids really be subjected to vending machines with Dole brand fruit or Dasani brand water while they are in school? Or should they instead be offered a safe place for learning that offers them brand-free water and fruit and other healthy foods? Furthermore, and I think this is the most important implication of having branded products (however healthy) in school, if a child learns that his or her school endorses a certain brand's products by seeing only the low calorie and small serving size forms at school, then will that child learn to choose that brand outside of school - including higher calorie versions or larger serving sizes available outside of school?

Last, I wanted to see how valid the guidelines of the ABA actually are. A quick look around the internet finds the following advice:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends children between the ages of one and six drink no more than 4-6 ounces a day. Recommendations for children between seven and 18 should drink no more than 8-12 ounces a day.  In addition, any juice kids drink should always be 100% fruit juice as opposed to juice "drinks", ades, punches or other sugar-based fruit-flavored beverages.

Health concerns of drinking too much juice

The main concern with drinking too much juice is that although 100% juice contains vitamins and minerals, it also contains sugar. Fruit naturally contains a sugar called fructose.  Because of the sugar content, juice can provide a good deal of calories when consumed in large amounts.

Many juices are good sources of vitamin C, potassium, or other nutrients.  However, once your child starts drinking more juice than the recommended amounts, the sugar and calorie content outweighs the nutritional benefits.  This can increase your child's risk of developing a weight problem or dental caries.  Too much juice can also fill small children's bellies so they aren't as hungry at meal or snack time. This will prevent them from getting all the other nutrients their growing bodies need.

The vending machines might be selling smaller sizes but they certainly don't prevent kids from drinking more than 1 juice in a day. Quite the opposite, actually - they allow the kids to drink as much as they want, so long as they have enough spare change. And what about the sugary flavored milks available in schools (including elementary school)? It's obvious why milk is a healthy choice to provide to children in schools, but once you add artificial coloring and flavoring and added sugars, I'm not sure sure I think that's a healthy drink for small children anymore.

But honestly, I think the health of ANY brand name product offered in schools is almost beside the point. You could have only the most healthy drinks possible in that school but if they are branded, you are teaching children loyalty to those brands - inside AND outside of school. And the drinks outside of school certainly do not abide by any such voluntary nutrition guidelines.

Take Action: If your Congresscritters are on the committees considering childhood obesity and/or the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, now would be a VERY appropriate time to drop them a line about this.

That includes: the Senate Ag committee, the Senate HELP committee, the House Ag committee, and the House Education & Labor committee.