Rapid Response Media Network: Dialogue on Food and Activity
As evidence linking sugar-sweetened beverages to chronic disease and other negative health effects continues to mount, efforts to reduce beverage marketing and consumption are gaining momentum. Now, a new online resource is available to help advocates make the case for sugar-sweetened beverage policies. Kick The Can, launched yesterday by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, is a one-stop-shop compiling the latest data and news on the topic. The new site:
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Provides up-to-date research and data about sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and marketing
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Links to key reports, studies, and media coverage
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Maps out beverage policies and campaigns throughout the country
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Sheds light on beverage industry arguments and tactics to push back on this growing health advocacy movement
Whether you’d like to speak out in support of a campaign or policy underway in your community, or make the case for action, Kick the Can will help you bolster your media advocacy efforts. Use the data to write an op-ed or letter to the editor, pitch a story to a local reporter, or respond to news coverage to elevate this issue – and the policy and environmental solutions that can address it – in the media.
Today in California, over 60% of adolescents and 40% of young kids drink one or more sodas a day – an unsurprising statistic considering the beverage industry spent over $948 million in 2010 marketing their products on television, online, in schools, and throughout communities. Resources like Kick the Can put invaluable data and strategies at advocates’ fingertips, as we work together to promote policies that will reverse these trends.
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