That's Fit

With the nation's waistline expanding, sugary soft drinks have taken a direct hit in the blame game, and Coke is working diligently to take the target of their backs. With the introduction of their new Coke Zero, vitamin infused Diet Coke, and the controversial Enviga, the company is trying to edge their way into the booming health food business. But because the label "soft drink" is notorious in the public eye, Coke's wants to call its new drinks "sparkling beverages" and have them included into the same market as sparkling waters and teas.

Trying to shift a little attention away from themselves, Coke also wants to get people talking more about activity and less about their choice of snack food. Coke's CEO recently told reporters, "Video games are a major part of the problem." (Does anyone want to tell him about this?) Claiming that even a full calorie soft drink...um, I mean sparkling beverage...can be an appropriate choice if someone exercises regularly, Coke wants people to start feeling good about their products again.

I'm not a soft drink consumer, so I don't really know what to make of all this. On one hand, he's right. A soft drink -- full calorie or not -- once in a while won't hurt you. But trying to tell consumers that soft drinks are any kind of "health food" instead of a snack food -- especially when essentially the product hasn't changed -- smacks of smoke and mirrors to me. What do you think?