tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/coca-cola-54314/articlesCoca-Cola – The Conversation2024-02-09T16:50:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225482024-02-09T16:50:30Z2024-02-09T16:50:30ZSuper Bowl: events like this are perfect for brand storytelling – unless companies get their messaging wrong<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/Super-Bowl">Super Bowl</a> – the championship game of America’s <a href="https://www.nfl.com/">National Football League</a> (NFL) – stands as one of the most lucrative annual showcases for big brands. With <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/216526/super-bowl-us-tv-viewership/#:%7E:text=The%202023%20edition%20of%20the,the%20U.S.%20Second%20most%20watched">115m viewers</a> watching the game last year in the US, 30-second ad spots go for a reported <a href="https://www.brandvm.com/post/super-bowl-2024-marketing#:%7E:text=The%2520highly%2520coveted%252030%252Dsecond,enthusiastic%2520about%2520the%2520Super%2520Bowl.">$7m</a> (£5.5m). These days, “Super Bowl ads” are highly anticipated in terms of creative, memorable storytelling that hits home.</p>
<p>For major corporations, getting the creative and messaging right is essential. Successful ads leverage the massive platform not just to grab eyeballs, but to reinforce brand values through authentic, engaging stories.</p>
<p>Goals range from sparking viral conversations to initiating loyal customer relationships to unveiling innovative offerings. Looking back, all-time great Super Bowl ads like Jeep’s iconic 2020 <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/216526/super-bowl-us-tv-viewership/#:%7E:text=The%202023%20edition%20of%20the,the%20U.S.%20Second%20most%20watched">Groundhog Day remake with Bill Murray</a>, cleverly appealed to audiences’ nostalgia while also pivoting towards the brand’s eco-friendly direction.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/03/15/how-and-why-to-build-brand-authenticity/?sh=7a35bac455b5">Brand authenticity</a> has become ever more important in our digitally connected world. Recent uproar involving brands like Peloton, whose <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/04/peloton-backlash-sexist-dystopian-exercise-bike-christmas-advert">much-derided Christmas ad</a> appeared to show a husband gift his very thin, nervy wife an exercise bike for which, a year later, she thanks him profusely for “changing her life”. </p>
<p>Media-literate audiences are adept at sensing falsehoods and can become cynical, diminishing brand trust and <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EUM0000000006475/full/html">affecting loyalty</a>. </p>
<p>But it’s not just consumers; once employees lose trust, this can further damage the brand. Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13162-018-0110-6">research</a> showed that employees who believe in the brand will go out of their way to do good. So when brands appear to “bang the social justice drum” publicly, but employees experience a lack of equality on the inside, this can lead to distrust.</p>
<p>This was the case with Wholefoods which, while telling the world they cared about black voices, was <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/07/woke-washing-your-company-wont-cut-it">accused of ignoring those very voices</a> among their own employees. </p>
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<h2>When brands don’t read the room</h2>
<p>Consumers prefer brands whose <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0148296321009462?fr=RR-2&ref=pdf_download&rr=84eacf091a6476ed">values align with their own</a>. Reducing environmental harm and standing up for social issues are two <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/people-prefer-brands-with-aligned-corporate-purpose-and-values/">examples of consumer expectations</a> of favoured brands, some of which may be tempted to jump on the bandwagon.</p>
<p>The widespread scorn over Kendall Jenner’s farcical <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/business/kendall-jenner-pepsi-ad.html">Pepsi ad</a> – which not only downplayed violence against black people but also glamourised it – should have been a salutary lesson for the sector.</p>
<p>But soon after, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlesrtaylor/2019/01/15/why-gillettes-new-ad-campaign-is-toxic/?sh=6847bf725bc9">Gillette</a>, in its attempt to play the social activist card, launched its “is this the best a man can get?” campaign. In a dramatic two-minute ad, aspects of toxic masculinity, including bullying, sexism and sexual harassment post-#MeToo were addressed.</p>
<p>This fuelled anger amongst consumers sceptical of the brand’s motives. Others felt the ad was suggesting the majority of men engage in toxic behaviours, leading to significant backlash across social media, with pundits claiming offence at stereotyping and perceived virtue signalling.</p>
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<p>In April 2023, <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/06/07/brands-caught-up-iculture-wars-retail-customers-internet-richard-torrenzano/">Budweiser</a> turned the adage “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” on its head. Sales of Bud Light <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/14/bud-light-loses-top-us-beer-spot-after-promotion-with-transgender-influencer">plunged 25%</a> in response to its promotion featuring transgender influencer/actress Dylan Mulvaney. This led to a boycott by angry conservative consumers accusing the brand of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66398296">going “woke”</a>.</p>
<p>Before the boycott, Bud Light marketing director Alissa Heinerscheid <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/bud-light-boycott.html#:%7E:text=Before%20the%20boycott%2C%20Alissa%20Heinerscheid,for%20a%20really%20long%20time.">said in an interview</a> that the brand was in decline and needed to be more inclusive. After the backlash, CEO Brendan Whitworth <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85zvTMFv9Ck">said</a>: “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people – we’re in the business of bringing people together over a beer.” </p>
<p>When brands fail to align their behaviours with their espoused values, this can wreak havoc with a brand’s reputation. The consumer base ends up feeling alienated by the brand’s perceived hypocrisy and inauthenticity.</p>
<h2>Evolving narratives</h2>
<p>As the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII approaches, brands want to make sure they don’t go down as yet another big corporation chasing social causes to look good. Rather than disingenuously espousing values, or grasping at emotional connections without context, brands should use the power of <a href="https://hbr.org/podcast/2022/02/the-positives-and-perils-of-storytelling">storytelling</a> to convince viewers of their underlying purpose in a way that connects to their lives.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-63614-2_6#:%7E:text=Although%2520transportation%2520is%2520distinct%2520from,or%2520actions%2520of%2520such%2520characters.">Research shows</a> that storytelling increases reader identification with characters, shifts attitudes and beliefs and creates more lasting memorability than straightforward delivery of information. Unlike explicit messaging which can feel inauthentic, getting lost in a story can inspire emotions and shape beliefs in a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ct/article-abstract/14/4/311/4110790?redirectedFrom=PDF&casa_token=nueJDJ37xvEAAAAA:YDFDq8Dfqsr7BUGQ__E-dKX8NGQ7Sdz8Rd6uqu_aKNLEQloAHaklVqO0KIDccJqfE_0O5veQCsKwiQ">subtle, organic way</a>.</p>
<p>Look at <a href="https://youtu.be/2zfqw8nhUwA?si=rB1CVqNaIG5vZFwv">Apple’s 1984 commercial</a> introducing the Macintosh – it didn’t talk about the actual product, but rather created a hero narrative against conformity and totalitarianism. Or Coca-Cola’s famous 1971 “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” ad that united people at a time when America was <a href="https://www.historyoasis.com/post/things-go-better-with-coke">experiencing a dark period</a> during the Vietnam War. These are the storytelling ads that resonate rather than force-feed a supposed values-based message.</p>
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<h2>Digital immersive storytelling</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://dosrhul.org/2024/01/26/meeting-net-zero-zero-sum-or-win-win-for-smes-a-novel-approach-to-marketing-a-brands-purpose-through-immersive-digital-storytelling/">research</a>, we go further. We propose using immersive digital storytelling techniques for brands to craft and validate the authenticity of their messaging. </p>
<p>Interactive digital media enables more participatory story experiences between brands and audiences. Working with a company to showcase their sustainability efforts, we created an immersive storytelling experience using extended reality technology. In this case, the founder of the company takes the audience on a walk through a forest purchased to help offset the operation’s carbon emissions.</p>
<p>This visceral storytelling immerses the viewers via a VR headset in the experience, emotionally engaging consumers with a positive real-life story, thus <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60248830">avoiding the allegations of greenwashing</a> that plague major brands like Google and Amazon.</p>
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<p>By showing rather than telling, this gives consumers a deeply authentic experience of the brand’s causes. They can see for themselves what the company is doing as opposed to being fed messages from traditional advertising.</p>
<p>Rather than indulging in virtue signalling to distinguish themselves, brands may find greater resonance in adopting more immersive and transparent approaches to connect their mission with real-world impact. Such strategies may prove more effective than preachy commercials that lack authenticity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Preachy commercials do not go down well when big brands are suspected of disingenuous motives and virtue signalling.Lucy Gill-Simmen, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, School of Business and Management Marketing, Royal Holloway University of LondonLing Xiao, Senior Lecturer in Finance, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2159232024-01-02T07:10:47Z2024-01-02T07:10:47ZCoca-Cola in Africa: a long history full of unexpected twists and turns<p><em>A new book called <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/bottled/#:%7E:text=Sara%20Byala%20charts%20the%20company%27s,but%20rather%20of%20a%20company">Bottled: How Coca-Cola Became African</a> tells the story of how the world’s most famous carbonated drink conquered the continent. It’s a tale of marketing gumption and high politics and is the product of years of research by critical writing lecturer <a href="https://www.sarabyala.com">Sara Byala</a>, who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=sara+byala&btnG=">researches</a> histories of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226030449/html">heritage</a>, <a href="https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Water-Waste-Energy_sm-1.pdf">sustainability</a> and the ways in which capitalist systems intersect with social and cultural forces in Africa. We asked her some questions about the book.</em></p>
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<h2>What do you hope readers will take away?</h2>
<p>There are three main takeaways. The first is that while Africa is largely absent from books on Coca-Cola, the company’s imprint on the continent is enormous. It is present in every nation. Most estimates put Coke as one of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/africa/coca-cola-africa-mpa-feat/index.html">largest private employers</a> in Africa, if not the largest. Beyond official jobs, the company has been shown to have <a href="https://docplayer.net/11916251-The-economic-impact-of-the-coca-cola-system-on-south-africa.html">a multiplier effect</a> that means that for each official job, upwards of 10 other people are supported. </p>
<p>The second takeaway is that Coke’s story in Africa is an old one. It starts with its use of the west African <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160922-the-nut-that-helped-to-build-a-global-empire">kola nut</a>, from which it takes its name (if no longer <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/pop-quiz-whats-in-a-coca-cola-if-its-not-coca-or-the-kola-nut/">its source of caffeine</a>). Arriving in Africa in the early 1900s, it’s a story that is deeply and, often surprisingly, entangled with key moments in African history. This includes the end of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> in South Africa and the advent of postcolonial African nations.</p>
<p>Third, I want readers to see that while we may assume that a multinational company selling carbonated, sugary water is inherently a force for ill, both the history of Coke in Africa and my fieldwork suggest a far more complicated story. Coca-Cola is what it is today in Africa, I argue, because it became local. It bent to the will of Africans in everything from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@GlobalCopaCocaCola/about">sport</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/cokestudioAfrica">music</a> to <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/social/project-last-mile">healthcare</a>. Its ubiquity thus tells us something about African engagement with a consumer product as well as the many ways in which ordinary people wield power. </p>
<h2>How did Coca-Cola first arrive in Africa?</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola doesn’t export a finished product from its corporate headquarters in the US. It sells a <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/about-us/coca-cola-system">concentrate</a>, which comes from a handful of locations around the globe, including Egypt and Eswatini. This concentrate is sold to licensed bottlers who then mix it with local forms of sugar and water before carbonating and bottling or canning it. </p>
<p>Coca-Cola <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/xe/en/media-center/95-years-operations-community-impact">lore</a> says that the company first secured local bottlers for its concentrate in South Africa in 1928, its first stop on the African continent. By combing through old newspapers, archival documents, and pharmaceutical publications, however, I found evidence to suggest that Coke may in fact have been sold in 1909 in Cape Town as a short-lived soda fountain endeavour. This is just 23 years after the product was invented in Atlanta, Georgia. </p>
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<p>It was neither easy nor assured that Coca-Cola would take off anywhere in the world upon its arrival. The early chapters of my book detail the often ingenious lengths that bottlers had to go to to get Coke off the ground. This included creating a new line of sodas to support the fledgling product called <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/za/en/brands/sparletta">Sparletta</a>. This includes <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/ng/en/brands/sparletta">green Creme Soda</a> and <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/ng/en/brands/Stoney">Stoney ginger beer</a>, both still available for purchase. Later chapters explore the routes by which the product spread across the continent, by detailing everything from the co-branding of petrol stations with Coca-Cola, to the rise of Coke beauty pageants, the birth of local forms of Coke advertising, the proliferation of Coca-Cola signage, and much more. </p>
<h2>What role did it play in apartheid South Africa?</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola was entrenched in South Africa before the advent of the racist, white minority <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> state in 1948. While the company largely attempted to stay out of politics in South Africa, much as it did elsewhere in the world, it resisted certain “petty apartheid” rules. For example, the washrooms and lunchrooms in its plants were open to all ethnic groups, unlike the “whites only” facilities established under apartheid. A turning point came in the 1980s when, in tandem with <a href="https://blackamericaweb.com/2014/08/10/little-known-black-history-fact-operation-push-boycotts/">activism in the US</a> calling on the company to redress racial imbalances in America, the company was forced to reexamine its racial politics in South Africa as well.</p>
<p>What followed was perhaps the most interesting chapter in the story of Coca-Cola in Africa. Breaking with established precedent, the company took a stance against the apartheid state. Coca-Cola executive Carl Ware led the way here. Under his <a href="https://www.carlwareauthor.com/">direction</a>, the company crafted a unique form of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-18-mn-11241-story.html">disinvestment</a> that enabled it to do what no other company managed: keep the products in the country while depriving the apartheid state of tax revenue. To do this, the company <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/09/18/coke-to-sell-all-holdings-in-s-africa/495f0069-2682-4d67-8769-506f4fbd2d83/">sold all its holdings</a> to a separate business that continued to sell Cokes. It then moved its concentrate plant to neighbouring Eswatini, leaving Coca-Cola with no assets or employees in South Africa.</p>
<p>In part, this was possible because the company aligned itself with the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/06/17/mandelas-stops-during-us-tour-reflect-anc-political-concerns/f41a84a3-4aa5-462f-abc3-fc2a9213bb58/">African National Congress (ANC)</a>, making a host of moves to help to end apartheid. These included meeting in secret with ANC leadership, funding clandestine meetings between the ANC and businesspeople, and setting up <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/24/us/coca-cola-giving-10-million-to-help-south-africa-blacks.html">a charitable fund</a> headed by <a href="https://saportareport.com/atlanta-leaders-to-pay-special-tribute-to-desmond-tutu-sept-28/sections/reports/maria_saporta/">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</a> to support Black educational empowerment. In the book, I document these activities for the first time with extensive interviews and archival material.</p>
<p>It was during this era of disinvestment that Coca-Cola exploded within densely populated and remote parts of the country, providing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/26/business/putting-africa-coke-s-map-pushing-soft-drinks-continent-that-has-seen-hard-hard.html">on-ramps to economic participation</a> for scores of South Africans that were later replicated with its global <a href="https://www.coca-cola.com/pk/en/about-us/faq/what-is-5by20-0">5x20 project</a> to empower women in business. </p>
<p>This spread in turn drove the consumption of liquid sugar to new heights, causing a host of other problems such as <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1573448/sugar-tax-pits-jobs-versus-health-diabetes-in-south-africa">diabetes and dental cavities</a>, which both the company and my book tackle too. </p>
<p>What I demonstrate in the book is that Coca-Cola’s shrewd positioning at the end of apartheid allowed it to emerge, in the post-apartheid landscape, ready not only to renew business in South Africa, but also to reinvigorate its presence on the continent at large. The question is how to weigh this spread (and its attendant benefits) against the costs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Byala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coca-Cola has often been entangled with key political moments in Africa since its arrival in the early 1900s.Sara Byala, Senior Lecturer in Critical Writing, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2047252023-05-23T12:26:34Z2023-05-23T12:26:34ZCoca-Cola’s biggest challenge in greening its operations is its own global marketing strategy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527279/original/file-20230519-21-55l4xo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C2041%2C1257&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Egyptian workers push Coca-Cola branded refrigerators, provided free to grocers, through a Cairo street.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/egyptian-workers-push-coca-cola-refrigerators-through-a-news-photo/140974398">Mohammed Al-Sehiti/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most widely recognized brands. Its global reach, spanning <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-coca-cola-2011-6">more than 200 countries</a>, was the theme of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUMQeNw2QDA&t=22s">2020 commercial</a> that showed families drinking Coke with their meals in cities from Orlando, Florida, to Shanghai, London, Mexico City and Mumbai, India. </p>
<p>Operating on that scale creates a big carbon footprint. The company uses <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Citizen_Coke_The_Making_of_Coca_Cola_Cap/NhJ0AwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=citizen+coke+200,000&pg=PT244&printsec=frontcover&bshm=ncc/1">over 200,000 vehicles</a> to distribute its products every day and runs <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/coca-cola-system">hundreds of bottling plants and syrup factories</a> across the globe. </p>
<p>But Coke’s single largest contribution to climate change comes from its refrigeration equipment. </p>
<p>Running refrigerators uses a lot of electricity, and some coolants in these systems are greenhouse gases that <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-china-commit-to-phase-down-climate-warming-hfcs-from-refrigerators-and-air-conditioners-but-what-will-replace-them-this-time-160241">trap heat in the atmosphere</a>. Almost two-thirds of the climate impact of refrigeration comes from electricity consumption, and refrigerants account for the rest. As of 2020, refrigeration produced <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abe3692">nearly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white image of a small country store with a 'Drink Coca-Cola' sign over the door." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=767&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527277/original/file-20230519-23-7bk1q8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy emphasizes that a cold Coke should always be within reach. It started with outlets throughout the rural U.S. South, like this gas station and post office in Sprott, Alabama, photographed in 1935.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/locals-gather-on-the-porch-of-the-southern-cross-road-news-photo/514884972">Bettman via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>History suggests that the most effective way to shrink Coca-Cola’s refrigeration emissions may be to question whether the company needs that cooling equipment running around the clock at convenience stores on street corners worldwide. That’s a heretical notion for a company obsessed with making sure Coca-Cola is always within “<a href="https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/robert-w-woodruff-1889-1985/">an arm’s reach of desire</a>,” as one Coke president put it. </p>
<p>As I show in my new book, “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469673332/country-capitalism/">Country Capitalism: How Corporations from the American South Remade Our Economy and the Planet</a>,” major companies like Coca-Cola have profited handsomely by making their products readily available worldwide. In doing so, they have created a fast-paced, long-distance form of commerce that is a major driver of our planet’s current ecological crisis.</p>
<h2>Wanted: An ideal refrigerant</h2>
<p>Refrigerants first became an environmental issue because of concerns about ozone loss, not climate change. Before the 1980s, the primary coolants used in refrigerators were chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. Discovered in the 1920s by a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/15/magazine/cfcs-inventor.html">chemist at General Motors</a>, these compounds were odorless, nonflammable and seemingly nontoxic – all properties that made them useful to industry. In the following decades, CFCs became the chief refrigerant used to keep things cool.</p>
<p>Then, in the 1970s, researchers at the University of California found that CFCs could <a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/mario-molina#">destroy stratospheric ozone</a>, a gas in the atmosphere that protects life on Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Nations ultimately moved to ban use of CFCs through the 1987 <a href="https://www.unep.org/ozonaction/who-we-are/about-montreal-protocol">Montreal Protocol</a>, one of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-earths-ozone-layer-still-at-risk-5-questions-answered-91470">most successful environmental treaties on record</a>. </p>
<p>Chemical companies such as DuPont led the way in promoting <a href="https://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2020/learning-success-lessons-in-science-and-diplomacy-montreal-protocol">new chlorine-free refrigerants</a>, called hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs, that would not deplete the ozone layer. Like CFCs, HFCs appealed to industry because they were odorless, nonflammable and posed no serious threats to human health.</p>
<p>But HFCs had a big drawback: They were powerful <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/greenhouse-gas">greenhouse gases</a> that trapped heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, warming the planet’s surface. Some HFCs had warming impacts <a href="https://unfccc.int/process/transparency-and-reporting/greenhouse-gas-data/greenhouse-gas-data-unfccc/global-warming-potentials">more than 1,000 times greater than carbon dioxide</a>, the most abundant greenhouse gas. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How refrigerants work and why they’re bad for the climate.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>HFC politics</h2>
<p>Companies like Coca-Cola knew about HFCs’ climate-warming effects when they began transitioning to this new refrigerant in the 1990s. Bryan Jacobs, a Coca-Cola engineer who worked on this transition, <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469673332/country-capitalism/">told me in an interview</a> that early on, refrigeration technicians in Europe recommended another promising path instead. </p>
<p>Greenpeace advocates in Germany had worked closely with refrigeration engineers to develop what came to be known as <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/15323/how-greenpeace-changed-an-industry-25-years-of-greenfreeze-to-cool-the-planet/">Greenfreeze cooling equipment</a>: machines that used hydrocarbons, including isobutane and propane, as refrigerants. These refrigerants, which had a global warming impact <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/documents/transitioning_to_low-gwp_alternatives_in_domestic_refrigeration.pdf">radically lower than HFCs</a>, offered the prospect of protecting both the ozone layer and the climate.</p>
<p>Jacobs told me that Coca-Cola was “pretty dismissive,” largely because his team feared that these refrigeration units filled with flammable material might explode – especially in rural areas lacking technical support. Instead, Coca-Cola shifted to HFCs.</p>
<p>In response, Greenpeace launched a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/greenpeace-unveils-global-camp/">major campaign at the 2000 Sydney Olympics</a> to expose how Coca-Cola’s HFC units were warming the planet. Doug Daft, an Australian who was Coke’s CEO at the time, committed the company to eliminating HFC refrigeration from its systems in the years ahead. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1220572008683098112"}"></div></p>
<h2>Always within arm’s reach</h2>
<p>Since 2000, Coca-Cola has become a world leader in developing HFC-free refrigeration equipment. At first it invested heavily in a novel type of refrigerator that used <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/cocacola-environment/corrected-coke-to-move-to-climate-friendlier-vending-machines-idUSN0310795820091203">carbon dioxide</a> as the key refrigerant. Soon, however, the company recognized that hydrocarbon refrigerants posed fewer safety risks than they had initially feared, and began adopting these units as well. </p>
<p>Coca-Cola also convinced other companies to shift away from HFCs. Partnering with Unilever, Pepsi, Red Bull and other big firms, the company launched <a href="https://www.refrigerantsnaturally.com/">Refrigerants, Naturally!</a>, an organization committed to transitioning major food and beverage companies toward HFC-free refrigeration. In 2010, Coke CEO Muhtar Kent persuaded <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bh-hfc-retailers/global-retailers-to-phase-out-harmful-fridge-gases-idUSTRE6AT2ZH20101130">some 400 consumer goods companies</a> to commit to eliminating HFCs from their refrigeration systems. </p>
<p>By 2016, Coke reported that <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/reports/coca-cola-business-and-sustainability-report-2022.pdf">61% of all new cooling equipment it purchased</a> was HFC-free. Four years later, that figure <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/reports/coca-cola-business-and-sustainability-report-2022.pdf">reached 83%</a>. </p>
<p>Still, as of 2022, more than 10% of Coke’s new refrigeration units <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/reports/coca-cola-business-and-sustainability-report-2022.pdf">contained HFCs</a>, and refrigeration remained its <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/reports/coca-cola-business-and-sustainability-report-2022.pdf">single largest greenhouse gas emissions source</a>. Part of the problem is that all of these units run on electricity, much of which is generated by burning fossil fuels. With Coca-Cola selling <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company">roughly 2.2 billion drinks every day</a>, keeping Coke cold still has an enormous carbon footprint. The same is true for Coke’s competitors. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nrwtnncuu7Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Coca-Cola sells hundreds of beverage brands worldwide, reflecting its strategy for dominating the beverage market.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an interview with Coca-Cola’s former chief sustainability officer, Jeff Seabright, I asked him whether the company had ever considered thinking more broadly about the necessity of cooling all those Cokes around the clock. Seabright’s response was an emphatic “No,” and that the company was still driven by the mantra of making Coke available for immediate consumption at the point of sale. </p>
<p>Despite the resources that Coca-Cola has invested in changing refrigerants, its cooling equipment is still warming our planet. As I see it, perhaps it’s time for Coke to question whether it needs all those machines in the first place – and for consumers to consider whether their have-it-now expectations are worth the environmental costs they impose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bart Elmore received development funding from The University of North Carolina Press in support of the book discussed in this article. Based on his past work, including his 2015 book "Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism," he was a recipient of the Dan David Prize in 2022. He was a fellow at the New America Foundation in 2017-2018.
</span></em></p>Coca-Cola has made ambitions climate and sustainability pledges, but marketing its products worldwide will always be a top priority.Bart Elmore, Professor of History, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1835662022-05-27T10:57:17Z2022-05-27T10:57:17ZThe ‘carbon footprint’ was co-opted by fossil fuel companies to shift climate blame – here’s how it can serve us again<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465492/original/file-20220526-17-asq0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Carbon footprints have a complex history.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bare-feet-walking-along-forest-path-1643903440">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“You can’t manage what you can’t measure”, according to a famous business <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/you-can-t-manage-what-you-don-t-measure">mantra</a> often attributed to management guru <a href="https://www.bl.uk/people/peter-drucker">Peter Drucker</a>. This can help explain why carbon emissions are under more scrutiny than ever as we ramp up our efforts to avoid the <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-no-end-to-the-damage-humans-can-wreak-on-the-climate-this-is-how-bad-its-likely-to-get-166031">catastrophic effects</a> of climate change. </p>
<p>For example, the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-footprints-are-hard-to-understand-heres-what-you-need-to-know-144317">carbon footprint</a>” – a way of measuring the amount of <a href="https://theconversation.com/countries-may-be-under-reporting-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions-thats-why-accurate-monitoring-is-crucial-171645">greenhouse gases</a> (mostly carbon) emitted during a product’s creation, use and disposal – has become a household term. With a plethora of carbon footprint calculators now available online, you can find data on the footprint of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1233409/carbon-footprint-of-cars-by-type-uk/">cars</a>, <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/post/postpn_383-carbon-footprint-electricity-generation.pdf">electricity generation</a>, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-021-02180-2">education</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uks-carbon-footprint">countries</a>, and just about <a href="https://mossy.earth/guides/lifestyle/pet-carbon-footprint">anything else</a> besides. </p>
<p>Although this might seem to benefit our efforts to tread more lightly on the planet, the reality is less clear. Last year, an article in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook">the Guardian</a> highlighted the influence oil companies have had on the carbon footprint’s growing popularity. Its main message was that the idea of measuring personal carbon footprints – in other words, calculating the emissions we’re responsible for as individuals – was originally promoted by oil giant BP to shift the burden of action (and blame) from fossil fuel companies to consumers.</p>
<p>In many respects, this tactic worked. Free carbon footprinting tools became common, and people even began to rank them for ease, accuracy and reliability. For example, <a href="https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/">this calculator</a> by the World Wildlife Fund tells me my footprint in tonnes, as well as which parts of my lifestyle are the main contributors to it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful chart showing different factors contributing to total carbon footprint" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465494/original/file-20220526-24-rqlu22.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Here’s the breakdown of my own carbon footprint.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/">WWF</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compared with others in the UK, my footprint is relatively low. This is partly because I work in sustainability for a living, so I keep my heating down low, I use <a href="https://theconversation.com/solar-panels-on-half-the-worlds-roofs-could-meet-its-entire-electricity-demand-new-research-169302">solar panels</a> to generate electricity and I try to walk as much as I can. In global terms, however, my footprint is pretty big, and to avoid the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-carbon-capture-and-storage-is-key-to-avoiding-the-worst-effects-of-the-climate-emergency-171454">worst effects</a> of climate change it needs to get smaller quickly. At least, that’s the <a href="https://europa.eu/youth/get-involved/sustainable-development/how-reduce-my-carbon-footprint_en">message</a> being sent by many NGOs, politicians and climate activists – among others.</p>
<p>Here lies the <a href="https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham">problem</a>: it may no longer be in anyone’s personal capacity to make changes great enough to reverse the damage already done. In a world where just <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change">100 companies</a> are responsible for 71% of global emissions, we need a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a8884d9f-d9d8-4b88-b34b-c59c97408629">total overhaul</a> of the carbon-intensive systems around us instead. </p>
<h2>History</h2>
<p>The idea of the carbon footprint developed from an environmental management methodology known as the “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/life-cycle-assessment#:%7E:text=Life%20cycle%20assessment%20is%20a,manufacture%2C%20distribution%2C%20and%20use.">life cycle assessment</a>”. It was one of the first ways to measure the impact of a product or system over its entire lifetime, helping companies manage their spending on materials and energy. </p>
<p>Tools like these were first developed by companies such as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-accounting-for-companies-looms-with-all-its-complexities-11628608324">Coca-Cola</a> in the 1970s to help them <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0961953415001609">cut energy use</a> during the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-oil-embargo">energy crisis</a> caused by unrest in the Middle East. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person in Coca Cola uniform stands in front of drinks crates on a truck" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465522/original/file-20220526-22-w3wrth.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca Cola have used carbon footprinting to calculate their energy emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/minsk-belarus-nov-2018-lorry-boxes-1227141541">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But as <a href="https://theconversation.com/minutes-on-the-lips-a-lifetime-on-the-tip-the-coffee-cup-waste-mountain-63164">disposable products</a> became more common, and <a href="https://mashable.com/feature/carbon-footprint-pr-campaign-sham">litter</a> became an associated, growing problem, company marketing began to focus on using footprints to allocate personal responsibility rather than taking <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/waste/eu_guidance/introduction.html">producer responsibility</a> – an approach more common in <a href="https://www.oecd.org/env/tools-evaluation/extendedproducerresponsibility.htm#:%7E:text=Extended%20Producer%20Responsibility%20(EPR)%20is,disposal%20of%20post%2Dconsumer%20products.">EU legislation</a> and policy.</p>
<p>These tools aren’t bad in themselves. In fact, <a href="https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/starting-life-cycle-thinking/what-is-life-cycle-thinking/">life cycle thinking</a> is key to making good design choices when building technology. It’s increasingly used to help ensure we don’t create <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.12954">new problems</a> while trying to solve climate change through innovation. The problem is that when these tools are applied to individuals, it takes the heat off the companies who have been driving the climate crisis for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200618-climate-change-who-is-to-blame-and-why-does-it-matter">decades</a>.</p>
<h2>Making change</h2>
<p>Instead, these tools can be used to develop <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13068-021-01911-3">more sustainable fuels</a> by identifying and addressing “<a href="https://www.bsigroup.com/LocalFiles/en-GB/standards/BSI-sustainability-guide-product-carbon-footprinting-for-beginners-UK-EN.pdf">hot spots</a>” of carbon emission in the fuel production process. They can also be used to show where we can most effectively reduce the negative effects of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652621003838?casa_token=fBtmxdFcWb4AAAAA:o-WKT3EhAkyFXNpZBMe-rrVdWd3MzdFhb7zBWuYrphiLOvMAYpWASkIrJlQ1lsLKLN31CHQ">plastic</a> proliferation through increasing recycling in those areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign reading 'Best gift to our children is a lower carbon footprint'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465518/original/file-20220526-22-b3khp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Individuals, businesses and companies all have identifiable carbon footprints.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/doucy/14156474185/in/photostream/">Chris Yakimov/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Carbon footprint analysis can equally be used on global businesses to show where their carbon outputs are really coming from. For example, a <a href="https://qz.com/2166046/googles-real-carbon-footprint-is-hidden-in-its-bank-account/">recent report</a> shows how the footprints of ten of the largest tech companies including Google and PayPal are largely caused by their investments supporting the fossil fuel industry, leading to <a href="https://twitter.com/R_BrooksStand/status/1526568395327561729">calls</a> for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/half-of-uk-universities-have-committed-to-divest-from-fossil-fuel">divestment</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, we shouldn’t totally dissociate ourselves from responsibility. Carbon footprints can still be used to assess our own purchase, investment and leisure choices to great effect. But on top of this, carbon footprint calculations should be used by industries and governments to prove they’re making the necessary changes to cut <a href="https://wtsonline.com/embedded-emissions/">embedded emissions</a> and keep more carbon in the ground. Making footprints public could also put financial and legislative pressure on companies and systems with the greatest climate influence. The carbon footprint has real power: let’s aim it where it’ll be most effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcelle McManus receives funding from UKRI, Innovate UK and BEIS for work in bioenergy, industrial decarbonisation, life cycle assessment and renewable technology research. </span></em></p>The concept of the carbon footprint can do more than just make us feel guilty about the climate cost of our everyday lives.Marcelle McManus, Professor of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1586842021-04-12T12:26:22Z2021-04-12T12:26:22ZMLB’s decision to drop Atlanta highlights the economic power companies can wield over lawmakers – when they choose to<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394383/original/file-20210411-23-144w1vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=226%2C40%2C3650%2C2139&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The logos may have been printed too soon.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BravesRaysSpringBaseball/6c97f19ba096459d8e8201c9ce22deee/photo?Query=atlanta%20AND%20braves&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=70594&currentItemNo=41">AP Photo/John Bazemore</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Major League Baseball knows how to exert leverage over local lawmakers. </p>
<p>Over 100 companies, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/business/delta-coca-cola-georgia-voting-law.html">Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/business/voting-restrictions-ceo-letter/index.html">reacted to Georgia’s new restrictive voting law</a> by publicly denouncing it. While <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/11/companies-voting-bills-states/">some executives are discussing doing more</a> – such as halting donations or delaying investments, MLB is among the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/business/will-smith-emancipation-georgia.html">few organizations</a> to go beyond words: It immediately said it was going to move the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.</p>
<p>Both MLB’s decision to relocate the July 13 game and the many corporate press releases issued about the voting law drew a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/01/business/stock-market-today">swift rebuke from Republicans</a>, who vowed boycotts of baseball and the products these companies produce. The Senate minority leader even threatened retribution if companies didn’t stay out of politics – with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-warns-corporate-america-stay-out-politics-says-donations-are-n1263173">an exception for campaign contributions</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CvMhCIgAAAAJ&hl=en">corporate governance scholar</a>, I have studied how corporations <a href="https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=vlr">use their economic power to get what they want</a> from lawmakers. I believe Republicans’ angry reactions signal just how deeply concerned they are that other companies might follow MLB’s lead.</p>
<h2>The nature of corporate power</h2>
<p>To help understand why, consider this: MLB’s decision <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/03/us/mlb-all-star-game-relocation-lost-money-economic-impact/index.html">is estimated to cost</a> Georgia as much as US$100 million in lost economic activity. </p>
<p>Corporations understand that the jobs and tax revenue they can provide – or withhold – give them power at the negotiating table. Other <a href="https://www.georgia.org/international/investment">states are all competing</a> for the same investments. Tesla, for example, agreed to build a factory near Reno, Nevada, in 2014 in exchange for <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/inside-elon-musks-billion-dollar-gigafactory/">$1.4 billion</a> in state benefits after a bidding war. </p>
<p>National Football League teams have been <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-la-leverage-city-20150107-story.html">especially ruthless</a> in their negotiations with cities and states and have demanded hefty taxpayer subsidies for new stadiums. By threatening to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/sports-stadiums-can-be-bad-cities/576334/">move to another city</a>, team owners can extract hundreds of millions of dollars in new benefits. </p>
<p>The dynamic is easy to understand. State lawmakers usually <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-American-Democracy-Automobile-Industry/dp/0521631734">cater to corporations</a> because they want to attract business investment and keep it. </p>
<p>When corporations leave, <a href="https://slate.com/business/2017/06/something-is-wrong-with-connecticut.html">they can cause property values to stagnate</a> and tax revenue to plunge – as happened to Hartford, Connecticut, a few years ago after several large insurance companies abandoned the city.</p>
<p>How corporations use their leverage is up to them. They can seek to feed their bottom lines or to advance social causes. Traditionally it’s the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190215514.001.0001">former</a>. For example, many U.S. companies <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2020/01/03/how-corporate-lobbying-changed-the-2017-tax-overhaul/">lobbied for a $1 trillion corporate tax cut</a> in 2017. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-corporate-ceos-found-their-political-voice-83127">increasingly it’s the latter too</a>.</p>
<h2>A rise in corporate social activism</h2>
<p>In 2015, the threat of corporate boycotts caused then-Gov. Mike Pence to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/indiana-republicans-were-warned-about-their-anti-gay-bill">support changing</a> an Indiana law that would otherwise have allowed <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/03/29/396131254/indiana-governor-lawmakers-to-clarify-anti-gay-law">anti-gay discrimination</a> in the name of religious freedom. </p>
<p>Something similar happened in 2016 when Georgia’s governor bowed to corporate pressure and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/03/28/georgia-governor-to-veto-religious-freedom-bill-criticized-as-anti-gay/">vetoed a bill</a> that would have legalized discrimination against same-sex couples on religious grounds.</p>
<p>And again in 2017, North Carolina <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/30/522009335/north-carolina-lawmakers-governor-announce-compromise-to-repeal-bathroom-bill">partially repealed</a> a law that targeted transgender people over concerns that boycotts – such as by PayPal, the NCAA and former Beatle Ringo Starr – <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html">would cost the state $3.76 billion</a> over a dozen years. </p>
<p>Those boycotts, of course, did not <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/the-problem-with-boycotting-georgia.html">end efforts</a> to restrict LGBTQ rights at the state level, but they demonstrated that when corporations band together, they are capable of exerting enormous economic and political pressure to advance social causes. </p>
<p>And that possibility is likely on the minds of Georgia lawmakers following the MLB’s All-Star Game decision. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Rain falls onto Truist Park in Atlanta Georgia, where the Braves play baseball, as a tarp covers the infield" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394387/original/file-20210411-17-kj4t79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca-Cola and Delta, their corporate logos seen here overlooking Truist Park in Atlanta, are major employers in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MarlinsBravesBaseball/3f0f083745064124b374c5608441b5dd/photo?Query=Truist%20AND%20Park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=250&currentItemNo=17">AP Photo/John Bazemore</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Words and deeds</h2>
<p>Despite the apparent leverage companies yield, it’s not simple for most companies to just get up and leave.</p>
<p>For example, Delta – whose largest hub is in Atlanta – benefits from a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/01/politics/georgia-voting-law-house-delta-tax-breaks/index.html">tax break</a> on jet fuel. And Coca-Cola’s <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company/history">ties to Georgia are deep and long-standing</a>, dating back to a soda fountain in Atlanta in 1886. Companies don’t sever such ties or give up generous tax breaks easily – and neither Delta nor Coke has even suggested that it might.</p>
<p>But if the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/01/983450176/based-on-a-lie-georgia-voting-law-faces-wave-of-corporate-backlash">many companies that publicly objected</a> to the law want to have an impact on policy – and see the law changed or repealed – money has to be at stake, as I learned in <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=3029506">my own research</a> on how North Carolina changed its 2015 law only after companies began boycotting the state. Delta and Coca-Cola employ <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2020/12/17/coca-cola-job-cuts-atlanta-restructuring.html">thousands of people</a> and generate <a href="https://news.delta.com/deltas-economic-impact-metro-atlanta-georgia">billions of dollars in economic activity</a> in the state. That’s serious leverage they could use if they felt the voting rights issue was important enough. </p>
<p>Words and press releases alone usually aren’t enough. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<h2>Making a difference</h2>
<p>Ultimately, this threat of lost business is what makes corporations a formidable adversary. The question, then, is what it would take for them to leave Georgia.</p>
<p>Without knowing MLB’s internal deliberations, I cannot say why the league dropped Atlanta with so little hesitation, but there are some likely possibilities. </p>
<p>First, just as a matter of timing, MLB may have been concerned about holding the All-Star game in the midst of a political controversy, drawing unfavorable attention, especially in light of its own <a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/statement-from-major-league-baseball">recent commitment</a> to have zero tolerance when faced with racial injustice. <a href="https://www.mlb.com/diversity-and-inclusion/social-justice">MLB may have</a> also taken an opportunity to show solidarity with <a href="https://theplayersalliance.com/">its players</a>, given the <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2020/1123/Athletes-have-taken-social-stands-before.-Why-this-time-is-different">high-profile advocacy for social causes</a> of many professional athletes. Research suggests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/corporate-activism-is-more-than-a-marketing-gimmick-141570">employee diversity</a> is an <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-and-politics/article/abs/why-do-corporations-engage-in-lgbt-rights-activism-lgbt-employee-groups-as-internal-pressure-groups/8A0D1F32974A1466B4384BE51DA4E318">important consideration</a> for corporations on matters of social justice. </p>
<p>Finally, just as a practical matter, moving the All-Star game may have offered MLB some public relations benefits at relatively low cost to itself.</p>
<p>And those same reasons are likely why other sports leagues – such as the NCAA in North Carolina and the NFL with the 2016 Georgia bill – are often out front on these types of social issues. Georgia should not count on any backlash subsiding soon; the NCAA withheld championship games from <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/article/2015-07-10/ncaa-lifts-ban-holding-championships-south-carolina">South Carolina</a> for 15 years until the state removed the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds. </p>
<p>For now, MLB’s decision has not prompted the kind of mass corporate revolt that could force change. On April 12, Will Smith’s production company said <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/12/business/will-smith-emancipation-georgia.html">it was pulling its upcoming slavery-era drama, “Emancipation,”</a> out of Georgia because of the voting law. </p>
<p>But it’s unclear, in particular, whether any Georgia-based corporations will follow MLB’s lead by removing business operations from the state. The voting law that passed is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/us/politics/georgia-voting-law-republicans.html">actually less restrictive</a> than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/politics/churches-black-voters-georgia.html">earlier versions</a> of the bill, suggesting that criticism – <a href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/voting-rights-advocates-plan-economic-boycott-to-pressure-georgia-firms/XNVL4QSSRBCMNA5BR6Y6M2F2YU/">including from companies</a> – likely had some impact. Lawmakers may have made some changes precisely to avoid sparking a stronger corporate response. </p>
<p>But if companies like Delta and Coca-Cola really want to make a difference and use their leverage on this issue, they will need to go beyond words. Their actions would speak much louder. </p>
<p><em>Article updated on April 12 to add references to production of “Emancipation” being moved out of Georgia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158684/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Means does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Usually, companies use this power to secure financial benefits for themselves, such as tax or regulation relief. But increasingly, they’re using it for social causes as well.Benjamin Means, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570232021-04-07T16:24:04Z2021-04-07T16:24:04ZSustainability rankings don’t always identify sustainable companies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393675/original/file-20210406-15-16ubkld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C155%2C5184%2C2762&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ESG rankings and lists aren't often entirely reliable for consumers or investors wanting to make decisions on companies they buy from or invest in.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Appolinary Kalashnikova/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bat.com/">British American Tobacco</a> (famous for cigarettes), <a href="https://www.coca-cola.ca/homepage">Coca-Cola</a> (world-renowned for its sugary soft drinks) and <a href="https://www.glencore.com/">Glencore</a> (a British/Swiss mining company) were recently ranked in the top five most environmentally and socially responsible companies <a href="https://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/ftse-100-the-5-highest-esg-rated-companies">on the FTSE 100</a>, the share index of the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>As consumers and investors, we often look at environmental, social and governance (ESG) rankings to guide our purchase, investment and employment decisions. But what should we make of this list, compiled by British investment services firm Hargreaves Lansdown?</p>
<p>As kids, we learned that smoking kills, yet British American Tobacco has a place at the top of the list, suggesting it’s a highly responsible company. </p>
<p>Obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are life-threatening diseases, yet Coca Cola, a leading sugar purveyor, also has a top ranking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign in May 2020, in Hollywood, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Glencore is being investigated for <a href="https://www.glencore.com/media-and-insights/news/investigation-by-the-serious-fraud-office">alleged fraud offences</a>, yet it’s No. 4 on the same list. </p>
<h2>Meaningless?</h2>
<p>A number of lists rank companies as being “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">most responsible</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">best corporate citizens</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.canadastop100.com/environmental/">most green</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-Global-100_Methodology_Updated.pptx.pdf">Corporate Knights Global 100</a>, for example, is an annual list that evaluates companies based on their sustainability performance. Companies are given a score based on their environmental, social, governance and economic performance and then ranked from one to 100. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">Newsweek magazine’s</a> America’s Most Responsible Company list also ranks U.S. companies on their sustainability performance.</p>
<p>Its 2021 list ranked Citigroup as the country’s ninth most responsible firm. The bank was recently fined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/business/citigroup-fine-risk-management.html">US$400 million by federal regulators</a> for “unsafe and unsound banking practices.” </p>
<p>Microsoft is ranked third on the same list, yet earlier this year, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/01/22/microsoft-security-shocker-as-250-million-customer-records-exposed-online/?sh=545f84914d1b">250 million client records were exposed online without password protection.</a> </p>
<p>Procter & Gamble, 23rd on the Newsweek list, is <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/p-g-shareholders-vote-in-favor-of-a-deforestation-report-1.1507649">currently being scrutinized</a> for its reliance on trees from Canada’s northern boreal forest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A forest with ferns and tall pine trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portion of Canada’s boreal forest in Québec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ali Kazal/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Canada, Corporate Knights ranks <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2020-best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">Canada’s Best 50 corporate citizens</a>. Leading the pack is Mountain Equipment Co-op, which recently apologized for the lack of diversity in a marketing campaign that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mec-diversity-ottawa-problem-open-letter-1.4880900">excluded people of colour</a>.</p>
<p>Hydro One, <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">in the No. 11 position</a>, has been taken to task for its <a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/ontario-energy-minister-on-hydro-one-ceo-pay-this-is-not-a-negotiation">executive compensation packages</a>.</p>
<h2>Consumers, investors look at rankings</h2>
<p>Increasing numbers of investors depend on ESG information from third parties for their investment decisions. Similarly, consumers are seeking <a href="https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15087-consumers-want-sustainable-products.html">sustainable products</a> and looking to responsible firms to inform their <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/the-rise-in-esg-ratings-whats-the-score">purchasing decisions</a>. </p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">an increasing number of companies</a> entering the ESG rankings field. Currently there is no regulatory oversight or consistency across ranking agencies on what factors are being assessed in the rankings and who is assessing them. </p>
<p>As well, there are <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/09/the-challenge-of-rating-esg-performance">no global or nationally accepted standards</a> or consistent requirements on what should be reported or measured for ESG performance. Companies are evaluated based on a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/why-esg-is-here-to-stay">wide range of criteria</a>, making it challenging for consumers and investors to make fully informed decisions.</p>
<p>Should investors look at <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">ESG ratings</a> to assess their investment choices and the associated risks? </p>
<p>We looked at the top five Canadian firms from Corporate Knights 2020 Global 100 list and searched the Sustainalytics ESG Risk Database to see their ESG risk. <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-data/">Sustainalytics</a>, a company initially launched in Canada as <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/about-us/">Jantzi Research</a>, measures a company’s exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and how well a company is managing those risks, as well as the extent of any <a href="https://connect.sustainalytics.com/esg-risk-ratings-methodology?_ga=2.197064426.733883677.1616622971-1797556647.1616523490&_gac=1.249883186.1616623523.EAIaIQobChMIvenN8_fJ7wIVSuDICh116gILEAAYASAAEgJA-_D_BwE">unmanaged ESG risk</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Cascades sign is seen next to an evergreen tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three Canadian companies — the <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bank-of-montreal/1007897299/">Bank of Montreal</a>, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/cascades-inc/1007973123/">Cascades</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/canadian-national-railway-co/1008231266/">Canadian National Railway</a> — were ranked as low risk, while two, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/algonquin-power-utilities-corp/1008760564/">Algonquin</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bombardier-inc/1008573450/">Bombardier</a>, which placed even higher on the Corporate Knights Global 100 list than the three aforementioned companies, are considered high risk by the Sustainalytics ESG Risk rating. </p>
<h2>No consistency</h2>
<p>Why would one well-known ESG ranking agency rate a company a leader while another flag it as high risk? If all the ratings and rankings are measuring ESG, we would anticipate consistency across rankings.</p>
<p>While rankings should help us in our quest to make better, more sustainable decisions and choose ethical companies as <a href="https://hbr.org/amp/2019/06/research-actually-consumers-do-buy-sustainable-products">consumers</a> and investors, they can be misleading and provide only a partial view of a company’s ESG commitments. </p>
<p>When determining which rankings to trust, we suggest looking for ranking agencies that use public information to assess companies on ESG performance. Quality ranking organizations are transparent about how they analyze companies and come up with their rankings. Those reading the lists should be able to assess the information provided in the ranking quickly and with confidence about what it really says.</p>
<p>Look for rankings that don’t accept payment from companies to participate; this reduces their power to influence their placement. Look at information from multiple rankings and ratings.</p>
<p>When companies in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00208825.2004.11043718">contested industries</a> (those that do harm) score high in sustainability rankings, it should raise serious questions about the validity of the ranking.</p>
<p>Rather than blindly trusting rankings, understand the information provided by each list. While rankings are designed to offer compressed information, unfortunately, we still need to do our own research to evaluate companies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some companies rank high on some lists that measure environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, and rank near the bottom on other lists. Which rankings should we trust?Rumina Dhalla, Associate Professor, Organizational Studies and Sustainable Commerce and Director, Institute for Sustainable Commerce, University of GuelphFelix Arndt, John F. Wood Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1364422020-05-07T17:34:29Z2020-05-07T17:34:29ZPlastic and the art of stigmatisation – is something amiss?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333127/original/file-20200506-49546-huxwoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C1500%2C1089&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/6fe39c7d-349f-46f6-a54d-b8ebd28cebb9">Cogdogblog/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Plastic-free aisle”, “No plastic straws”, “Plastic-free Tuesday”. Social media abounds with anti-plastic messages and chilling statistics about the quantity of plastic in our oceans, food, clothes and bodies flash before us in quick succession. Shocking images that circulate widely provoke emotions and <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amj.2017.1488">generate momentum for action on plastic</a>. </p>
<p>While the contrast of a beautiful beach with plastic waste might be striking, focusing our efforts on cleaning the beaches is unlikely to meaningfully impact plastic pollution. Are we missing the bigger picture of plastic pollution? Through a study of traditional media and social media during the most intense period of public criticism of plastic (2017-2018), we observed that stigmatisation – a process of <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.1080.0367">discreditation and vilification</a> – has focused on a few symbolic objects and corporations, zooming in on the visible, while leaving the majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.</p>
<h2>Stigmatizing plastic as a strategy to create change</h2>
<p>Plastic is a general name given to a wide range of chemical compounds that are a mix of monomers and polymers. It is everywhere and modern life would be in some ways unthinkable without it. Durable, lightweight and affordable, plastic has many benefits, but there’s another story being told. A 2016 <em>National Geographic</em> article laid the problem bare: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/">“We Made Plastic. We Depend on It. Now We’re Drowning in It”</a>. Plastic has become a contentious issue, stigmatised for its environmental and health impacts, and symbolic of our consumption-centred societies.</p>
<p>Urgent action is required and change in both our production and consumption patterns is necessary. Stigmatising strategies can be a powerful tool for change. This has been the case for whole industries such as armaments and tobacco, which suffered reputational penalties, decreased market value, reduced negotiating power and difficulties in recruiting top talent. Singling out a specific industry or organisation may seem straightforward, but stigma is much more difficult to grasp when the target is a material, that crosses a vast range of uses across many different industries. To unravel this complexity, we sought to understand which objects, organisations and industries were the focus of stigmatisation strategies around plastic and to analyse whether the stigmatisation process had the capacity to create change: namely our detoxification from plastic.</p>
<h2>What are the objects and industries that are being stigmatized?</h2>
<p>We analysed data from four mainstream news organisations in the UK and the Twitter accounts of 19 non-governmental organisations and five NGO heads which were highly active in 2017 and 2018 on the topic of plastic.</p>
<p>Our analysis of both the news organisations and the tweets reveal similar results. The top mentioned object is the plastic bag. The focus on plastic use in the food industry comes next, with highly recurring mentions of single-use plastic: bottles, cups, lids and straws that have facilitated our lifestyles yet litter the planet. The most targeted company is Coca Cola, closely followed by Nestlé, Mars, Starbucks, Pepsi and a number of retailers/supermarkets such as Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose. Companies from the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors are by far the ones that are the most stigmatised.</p>
<p>While almost <a href="https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/9715/7129/9584/FINAL_web_version_Plastics_the_facts2019_14102019.pdf">40% of the demand for plastic comes from the packaging sector</a> (followed by building and construction 19.8%, automotive 9.9%, electrical and electronics 6.2% and household, leisure and sports 4.1%), the items which have caught the headlines do not tell the whole story. For example, plastic straws have become strongly linked to marine pollution and a symbol of unnecessary, even frivolous consumerism, yet represent <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/news/do-plastic-straws-really-make-difference">less than 1% of 150 million tons of plastic littering the oceans</a>. At the same time secondary and transit packaging such as the single-use plastic films that protect consumer products through manufacturing, storage and distribution are <a href="https://www.citibank.com/commercialbank/insights/assets/docs/2018/rethinking-single-use-plastics.pdf">abundant but seldom discussed</a>.</p>
<p>Notable is the quasi absence from the newspapers and tweets of the plastic producers and petro-chemicals giants such as BASF, ExxonMobil, Dow and DuPont. All are powerful actors in the plastic ecosystem that see plastic resin production as an opportunity for future growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333128/original/file-20200506-49556-19km8mi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plastic is with us everywhere, not only in plain sight, but also deep in the oceans and even in our own bodies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ccsearch.creativecommons.org/photos/12a64e0a-29a4-49c6-8282-578216240328">Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The limits of stigmatisation strategies</h2>
<p>Through the analysis of social media and traditional media’s messages on plastic in 2017 and 2018, we were able to provide an understanding of the stigmatisation processes at play. Stigmatisation, what the industry has named “plastic bashing”, has focused intensively on end-consumer visible symbolic products such as bottles, straws and single-use food packaging. Moreover, the name-shaming has also been concentrated on popular consumer brands such as Coca-Cola.</p>
<p>However, whether stigmatisation strategies have triggered the necessary action to curb the plastic problem is open to question. Plastic production keeps on increasing and industry players are focused on recycling, not on switching to other materials or reducing plastic use. Governments have implemented bans of symbolic targeted objects and legislated on circular economy packages, but recent concerns about Covid-19 have given rise to promotion of single-use plastics as a health-care solution rather than a problem. Indeed, plastic lobbies have asked the European Commission to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/04/12/a-la-faveur-de-la-crise-sanitaire-le-plastique-a-usage-unique-fait-son-retour-en-force_6036357_3244.html">delay implementation of limits on single-use plastic</a>.</p>
<p>Concentrated and coordinated stigmatisation can result in the ban of a limited range of products. However, research indicates that without education or environmental programs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-rid-of-plastic-bags-a-windfall-for-supermarkets-but-it-wont-do-much-for-the-environment-81083">bans can have limited benefits for the environment</a>. Because stigmatisation focuses on downstream visual and symbolic items and known brands, the reaction is itself visible for the general public and the stigmatisers, but without visibility of the upstream production and supply side, flow of plastic entering our society continues.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation could also be detrimental by causing distraction from the wider landscape of plastic production and the pollution that it creates, which is vast compared to the pollution created by the stigmatized (and now banned) items. While changes in plastic use by consumer brands is a welcome step forward, it will not significantly impact the curve of plastic production and pollution. </p>
<h2>Breaking the link between plastic and society</h2>
<p>Deinstitutionalisation – the eradication of widespread practices and products built around a particular substance – is a much longer process. Asbestos and the pesticide DDT were deinstitutionalized when the link between them and human health became undeniable, triggering lawsuits and wide legal bans. To deinstitutionalize plastic, systems thinking would be required, just as with other complex grand challenges. Today plastic use is deeply intertwined with other problems such as food waste, greenhouse-gas emissions, income inequality, waste, biodiversity loss, and oil production.</p>
<p>Stigmatisation is only one of many tactics that can be used to tackle plastic pollution. While it has succeeded in shining a light on the issue, strategies that are both broader and longer term are required. For example, developing a worldwide plastic treaty through the UN – such as that created for ozone-depleting gases – could be an avenue for consideration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A media study of public criticism of plastic reveals that stigmatisation may result in limited bans, it leaves the vast majority of plastic production and pollution unexplored.Céline Louche, Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaDelphine Gibassier, Professeur Associé de Comptabilité du Développement Durable, AudenciaJennifer Goodman, Associate Professor, Business & Society, AudenciaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1203532019-09-03T19:01:03Z2019-09-03T19:01:03ZFeminism washing: are multinationals really empowering women?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284501/original/file-20190717-147318-16cyzcl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C745%2C610&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'#Unapologetic' the new campaign by Matell wants to portray Barbie as a doll telling women and girls they can be anything they want with a focus on entrepreneurship.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.taketheleadwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Barbie.png">Takethelead</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Empower women”, “Girl power”, “#Unapologetic”. <a href="https://www.mic.com/articles/91961/10-worst-ways-companies-have-used-feminism-to-sell-women-products">Feminist marketing campaigns</a> are flying through the air, fresh out of multinationals’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, claiming to be the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14747731.2015.1064678">new champions of gender equality</a>.</p>
<p>Buy a pair of Nikes and discover how its <a href="https://www.girleffect.org/">“Girl Effect” campaign</a> will “unlock the potential of girls” while ending poverty and war. Drink Coca-Cola and find out about its <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/5by20">“5by20” campaign</a>, which will claims that it will help 5 million women by 2020. In all modesty, multinationals suggest that such campaigns can help meet the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf">UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y_iCIISngdI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The 2017 Nike campaign ‘What are girls made of?’ already focused on women.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Corporate charity has a long history, but there is something qualitatively new to the way in which corporations portray themselves today as contributing to solving public problems.</p>
<p>Whereas traditionally charity targeted areas outside the corporations’ core business – for example, cultural institutions – today’s CSR programmes are seen as being good for the public and good for corporate profits. They’re often integrated into a <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5ce/08f5639582ea6a03bc70b0d2a99b35adf8b9.pdf">business’ core operations</a>. Not surprisingly, contradictions abound.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M0KHZ1SktRg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Author and scholar Elisabeth Pruegl on the new development of CSR and neoliberalism feminism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Promoting entrepreneurship</h2>
<p>There are two ways in which companies are involved in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. First are efforts that seek to empower women globally through entrepreneurship, such as Coca-Cola’s “5by20” project or Goldman Sachs’ <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/10000women/about-the-program/about-the-program-main-page.html">“10,000 Women” initiative</a>, which aims to provide business and management education to women entrepreneurs in 56 countries.</p>
<p>However, in a <a href="https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/The-Business-Case-for-Womens-Economic-Empowerment.pdf">2016 study</a> of 31 of the largest corporate-funded women’s economic empowerment programmes, most participating companies reported that they sought “general impact” of this sort rather than changing their internal business practices.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPeoPQ9ytS0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Coca-Cola’s 5by20 Initiative: Water and women creating change together’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This takes the form of creating and implementing their own initiatives in collaboration with public agencies or providing funding and know-how to existing development initiatives and organisations. This is the case with Procter & Gamble’s support for UN Women’s programme initiative on <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/partnerships/businesses-and-foundations/major-partners">stimulating equal opportunities for women entrepreneurs</a>.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/New%20Actors%20FInal%20Designed.pdf">2013 study</a> of 170 such joint initiatives found “a total of $14.6 billion US in commitments pledged between 2005-2020 to support women and girls”. A full 35% of these initiatives had <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerment">women’s economic empowerment</a> and entrepreneurship as their focus, making this the most common theme.</p>
<h2>Benefiting the companies while doing good</h2>
<p>The second way in which corporations are active on gender equality and women’s empowerment is by integrating the issue into their core business practices, targeting their own employees, supply chains or marketing practices.</p>
<p>The focus on suppliers and employees often involves brand-conscious consumer product companies such as Unilever and Kraft, or garment-industry giants like the Gap. An example is the <a href="https://herproject.org/">“HerProject”</a>, which is run by the consultancy company BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) and includes companies such as Levi-Strauss, Primark, Li & Fung, HP, and Twinings.</p>
<p>The project connects multinationals with NGOs in countries where they have suppliers to deliver health-care services and increase health awareness among women workers. Styled as a win-win effort, the project benefits workers while also reducing absenteeism and turnover.</p>
<p>In India, Unilever’s <a href="https://www.hul.co.in/sustainable-living/case-studies/enhancing-livelihoods-through-project-shakti.html">Shakti Project</a> claims to help women generate income while also advancing public hygiene and helping the company conquer difficult-to-access markets. It has established a network of close to 100,000 <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/special/project-shakti-helped-thousands-of-women-and-also-men/story/195911.html">“Shakti Amma”</a>, women who sell Unilever products to rural consumers in India’s villages.</p>
<p>It is again described as a win-win situation: rural women gain income while they help the company enter a growing market, and they help promote public health and hygiene as they introduce Unilever soaps to rural populations.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jq59Y_M285Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Promotion for the Shakti Project in rural India.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Contradictions</h2>
<p>While these efforts at corporate social responsibility toward women bring resources and visibility to gender issues, there are contradictions.</p>
<p>First, companies focusing on women’s empowerment tend to approach the issue narrowly as entrepreneurship development and approach women individually. It is significant that only 27% of the public-private 170 initiatives in the <a href="https://www.awid.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/New%20Actors%20FInal%20Designed.pdf">survey cited above</a> included women’s organisations, and only 9% of these organisations received direct financial support.</p>
<p>It is my view that businesses seek to steer clear of the oppositional politics of these organisations, which might include organising women and encouraging them to formulate their own demands about wages and working conditions.</p>
<h2>Indecent working conditions</h2>
<p>Ironically, voluntary codes of conduct and supply-chain initiatives such as the <a href="https://herproject.org/">HerProject</a> are far from being able to assure decent working conditions that meet international standards.</p>
<p>Many companies, and in particular those in sectors requiring labour-intensive assembly (such as garments and electronics), set up complex supply-chains in the 1980s and 1990s in pursuit of cost savings through cheap and flexible labour in the Global South.</p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://unctad.org/en/pages/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=113">an estimated 80% of global trade</a> is linked to international production networks of multinational corporations, that distribute work to small- and medium-sized enterprises, most of which operate in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-the-informal-economy-that-need-debunking-117612">informal economy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284508/original/file-20190717-147312-17bk3jd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A clothing textile garment factory/assembly line in Bangladesh (2011).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Garment_factory_in_Bangladesh_Women_working.jpg/2048px-Garment_factory_in_Bangladesh_Women_working.jpg">Tareq Salahuddin/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Women in global supply chains are typically positioned at the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_468097.pdf">bottom of employment hierarchies</a> and segregated into low-pay jobs such as garment or electronics assembly or packaging of horticulture products.</p>
<p>The impacts of businesses expanding their markets are finally not all beneficial. The “Shakti Amma” may gain income, but as they market Unilever’s products, they also <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/Wp336.pdf">displace traditional soap makers and introduce competition</a> into women’s solidarity groups.</p>
<p>Moreover, businesses redefine the problem to be solved to fit their interests, in this case as a lack of soap rather than for example access to clean water, as a community in Kerala pointed out when <a href="http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/Wp336.pdf">rejecting Unilever’s advances</a>.</p>
<h2>Sexist and racist values</h2>
<p>Finally, some companies may, voluntarily or not, carry certain sexist or racist values through the products or services they sell. For example, what should one make of the Unilever skin-whitening products that “Shakti Amma” sell?</p>
<p>Skin-whitening products have been popular with some consumers in India and other countries, but is also under scrutiny today for implicitly demeaning the dark natural complexions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bleached-girls-india-and-its-love-for-light-skin-80655">many men and women</a>. But as, scholars pointed out in a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351286367">2017 publication</a>, “such CSR projects are blind to the racist and misogynist messages conveyed in problematic products”. </p>
<p>What should one make of companies styling themselves as advocates for women’s rights, while benefiting from the objectification of women workers and on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/18/walmart-gender-discrimination-supreme">unequal pay</a>? And what should one make of the beauty industry embracing the cause of women’s empowerment while <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beauty-industry-women_n_5127078">thriving</a> on the suggestion that women are always in need of enhancement?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284509/original/file-20190717-147299-fesz20.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unilever profits from products such as Fair & Lovely, a skin-whitening creme.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=fair+and+lovely#id=A9AFFDBBB89EA83B40486944AF4B5AD01E8A2F38">Unilever</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabeth Pruegl receives funding from Swiss National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Contradictions abound as companies seek to style themselves as advancing gender equality while at the same time marketing sexist products or thriving on sexist employment practices.Elisabeth Pruegl, Professor, International Relations/Political Science Director, Gender Centre, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1193512019-07-11T19:32:38Z2019-07-11T19:32:38ZHow heat waves increase your craving for sodas: findings from Mexico<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282318/original/file-20190702-126350-tutl3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=170%2C520%2C5820%2C3467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A man reading a coke bottle in San Juan Teotihuacán, Mexico.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/wOhOp92KKMc">Jordan Crawford/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unseasonably hot weather <a href="https://weather.com/news/international/news/2019-06-22-europe-heat-wave-june-records">hit Europe this June</a>, giving residents and visitors a taste of what could possibly become common in the near future. With ongoing climate change, temperatures are predicted to rise by 0.3-0.7°C by 2035, according to the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf">IPCC</a>.</p>
<p>For policymakers, it is crucial to understand how our planet’s changing climate could affect the food and drink that humans consume. Up to now, much of the research has focused on agricultural productivity – for example, how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aaw042">higher temperatures affect crop yields</a> over the course of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.08.006">growing season</a> – yet our forthcoming research in Mexico shows that families’ food habits also changed in response to unusually hot weather. </p>
<p>Better understanding whether and how consumers react to rising temperatures could help mitigate potentially negative consequences of unhealthy diets. </p>
<h2>The powerful “cravings” channel</h2>
<p>Hot weather influences food consumption patterns through two main channels. The first is physiological: as the thermometer climbs and we begin to sweat, our bodies encourage us to drink more water to replace lost fluids and regulate body temperature. From a physiological perspective, there is no reason why humans should drink any fluid other than water in response to high temperatures.</p>
<p>But we can’t ignore the powerful “cravings” channel. Extensive research has shown that salty snacks and sugary drinks share some characteristics with <a href="https://journals.lww.com/co-clinicalnutrition/Abstract/2010/07000/Neurobiology_of_food_addiction.3.aspx">addictive products such as tobacco</a>. This suggests that as temperatures rise, some individuals can feel an <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/0002828043052222">overpowering urge</a> to satisfy their thirst not with water, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1996.0028">but sugar-sweetened beverages</a>. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.theses.fr/s154795">our research</a>, individuals with a preference for sweetened drinks are more likely to give in to their cravings during heat waves. Given that <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/climate-change-could-affect-the-way-we-exercise-20170425-gvrt96.html">exercise rates fall as temperatures rise</a>, it seems unlikely that the additional sugar consumed will be offset with more physical activity. The end result will be more calories consumed and, eventually, weight gained.</p>
<h2>Obesity and health</h2>
<p>Obesity levels have been rising around the world for decades. In 1975, the average rate was 11.1% in North America and Europe, and by 2016, it had <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/obesity">more than doubled</a>. In the United States, the <a href="https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity">average rate for all adults was 37%</a> in 2014, with even higher rates for certain ethnic groups. Excess weight and obesity can cause a range of diseases, including heart problems, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. These in turn impose a heavy economic burden on society, including <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28456416">health care expenditures</a> that add <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22094013">financial pressure</a> on <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1203528">health care systems</a>.</p>
<p>Along with countries in North and South America, Australasia and Western Europe, Mexico has an average consumption of sugary beverages that greatly exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommendation of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733620/">50 grams of sugar per day</a> (approximately 10 teaspoons). A direct result is that country has the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Obesity-Update-2017.pdf">second-highest obesity rate among OECD countries</a>. </p>
<h2>How weather influences consumption patterns</h2>
<p>Mexico sits close to the equator, making it prone to <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/055007">strong variations in weather</a>. Temperatures can peak at <a href="http://www.thebigwobble.org/2018/06/mexico-burning-life-threatning.html">close to 50°C</a> (122°F) and heat waves have become <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706515000789">more frequent</a> in recent years. </p>
<p>In our research, we combined survey data on daily food expenditures for about 85,000 Mexican households with meteorological data on daily outdoor temperatures from the Mexican National Water Commission (CONAGUA). The survey includes diaries on daily food consumption and expenditures over the course of one week for each household and survey wave (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) <a href="https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/enigh/nc/2014/">(Encuesta Nacional de Ingresos y Gastos de los
Hogares)</a> </p>
<p>Given the short study period, our estimations do not capture weather-induced changes in food production and thereby food supply. Therefore, our results are informative about consumers’ short-term responses to rising temperatures without changes in the food products being offered. We also compared individuals’ food-shopping behaviour in the same municipality on cooler and hotter days. With this approach, we were able to rule out behavioural differences due to varying conditions across municipalities, such as different climatic zones or variations in available food products and prices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282312/original/file-20190702-126345-18gy3tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excess of sugar during heat waves is bad for your blood!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/3d251ce7-5da8-4c79-9afb-a1856bc2ed2a">elizaIO/Flickrs</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results show that Mexican consumers increase their soda and juice consumption by about 20% in weeks where daily temperatures rise above 32°C (90°F) compared to days with temperatures below 22°C (72°F). At the same time, we did not see a significant increase in consumption of water, itself significant given that fountains and other public sources of free drinking water are not frequently available in Mexico.</p>
<p>These findings support the “cravings” channel hypothesis, suggesting that individuals with a preference for sugary beverages find it more difficult to resist as temperatures rise. We further document that these consumption responses translate into slightly higher body mass index (BMI) levels, in particular for <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/11813/chapter/8">young women</a>.</p>
<h2>Is more information enough?</h2>
<p>A range of public-policy approaches to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks during hot days are possible. Mexico has already taken action to inform consumers about the related health risks, and our findings indicate that they can be effective if rolled out just before or during summer months. Weather forecasts on TV and the Internet could also be accompanied by short messages reminding individuals to drink water instead of sodas. </p>
<p>Another approach is making <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/sugarsweetened-beverage-taxation-an-update-on-the-year-that-was-2017/613B1B139D15C1F152EA5920DD357E2B/core-reader#">sugary beverages more expensive</a> than healthier alternatives, water in particular. In 2014 Mexico implemented a <a href="https://time.com/4168356/mexico-sugar-drink-soda-tax/">tax on sugar</a>, and the initial results indicate that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.117.251892">sales of affected beverages dropped moderately</a>. Authorities can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/taxes-on-sugary-beverages-are-not-enough-on-their-own-to-halt-march-of-obesity-in-asia-84236">restrict sales</a> in certain areas, such as nearby schools, or during certain periods. </p>
<p>Fountains or other sources of drinking water are also needed in public spaces. They would give consumers a free and healthy alternative to purchasing a sugar drink.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yw5S9LhVeDA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Awareness campaign to prevent obesity and overconsumption of sodas.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A more radical approach would be to simply ban sugary beverages during the summer for public health reasons. This is similar to prohibiting outdoor fires to reduce the risk of wildfires. The soda and fast-food industry has consistently lobbied to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robwaters/2017/06/21/soda-and-fast-food-lobbyists-push-state-preemption-laws-to-prevent-local-regulation/#50538ec2745d">block local regulations on their products</a>, however, and it remains to be seen whether policymakers will be able to implement such an ambitious approach.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=121&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202296/original/file-20180117-53314-hzk3rx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=152&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Created in 2007 to help accelerate and share scientific knowledge on key societal issues, the AXA Research Fund has been supporting nearly 600 projects around the world conducted by researchers from 54 countries. To learn more, visit the site of the <a href="https://www.axa-research.org/en/">AXA Research Fund</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Oberlander a reçu des financements de AXA Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ximena Játiva ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>New research indicates that rising temperatures can push those who prefer sweets to drink more sugary beverages, not water. This has significant implications for public-health policy.Lisa Oberlander, PhD student in nutrition and health economics, Paris School of Economics – École d'économie de ParisXimena Játiva, PhD student in development economics, University of FribourgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1166982019-05-08T14:57:38Z2019-05-08T14:57:38ZCorporations are funding health and nutrition research – here’s why you should be worried<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273296/original/file-20190508-183089-5sount.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/114874828?src=yMaia7bS6HyDMxVcu7E6Gg-1-77&size=medium_jpg">alphaspirit/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the health-conscious consumer, it’s hard to keep up with the dizzying array of products on offer. Consumers want unbiased information to help them make the right choices, and industry says it is listening and working with health researchers to provide better and more nutritionally sound products. For academia, this can translate to serious funding opportunities. </p>
<p>Researchers and academics are increasingly being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2011/mar/28/academics-businesses-alternative-income-universities">encouraged – even required –</a> to get research funding from different sources, including industry and nonprofit organisations funded by industry. Generating income has become as important as the quality of academic output in hiring, retaining and even firing academic and research staff. In public health and nutrition, however, industry money remains the <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2161">subject of fiery debate</a>.</p>
<p>Some see industry as a necessary source of research support. From this perspective, these partnerships give scientists a say in the research, allowing them to improve health and well-being by collaborating with industry.</p>
<p>Corporate funding can pay for staff, conduct of studies, travel, publication charges and other research-related activities. These researchers say that we can better judge influence with clear conflict of interest statements that reveal the nature of their relationship with industry. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, multinational corporations say they remain committed to principles that protect the public interest. After all, it is in their financial interest to do so. This thinking directs how they fund researchers. For example, <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/transparency/our-commitment-transparency">The Coca-Cola Company has pledged</a> transparency, openness and commitments on social responsibility and research, stating that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In no event does The Coca-Cola Company have the right to prevent publication of research results. Nor does The Coca-Cola Company provide funding conditioned on the outcome of the research. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>We sought to find out to what extent this was borne out in practice, questioning whether it funds research and allows publication, even if the findings could harm its interests and profits. Can industry money really bring all these benefits while simple conflict of interest statements negate any influence?</p>
<h2>What industry funding means for research</h2>
<p>Our research suggests that it isn’t that simple. We recently obtained Coca-Cola research agreements and email correspondence through freedom of information requests made by <a href="https://usrtk.org/">US Right to Know</a>. We analysed five research agreements in an article recently published in the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41271-019-00170-9?utm_source=STAT+Newsletters&utm_campaign=8dbece7f85-MR_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8cab1d7961-8dbece7f85-149899525">Journal of Public Health Policy</a>. While contracts show that Coca-Cola does not control day-to-day conduct, it retains various rights throughout the process. </p>
<p>We found provisions in research funding agreements that could allow Coca-Cola to stop the research it funds at public universities in the US and Canada. Several clauses in legal documents give Coca-Cola the right to receive updates and comment on findings before research is published, and the power to terminate studies early without reason. Coca-Cola then holds rights regarding all the data and research, thereby potentially allowing it to deprive the public of this study data where the data is at odds with its commercial interests. </p>
<p>While these provisions mean some unfavourable results might not see the light of day, what about the studies we do see? </p>
<p>Research suggests industry money does bias results and produce troubling conflicts of interest. We know that while the studies may report no influence by the funder, they may get to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29180754">comment on study design, presentation of results and even acknowledgement of funding itself</a>.</p>
<p>In 2015, <a href="https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/coca-cola-funds-scientists-who-shift-blame-for-obesity-away-from-bad-diets/?_r=1">the New York Times</a> revealed that Coca-Cola sponsored researchers whose studies played down the link between diet and obesity. Likewise, <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/06/02/candy-nutrition-studies/">the Associated Press</a> revealed how a food industry trade association funded and influenced studies which concluded that children who eat sweets have healthier body weights than those who do not. </p>
<p>Many experts in nutrition and public health suggest that the food industry is copying tactics from tobacco companies. Corporations can now <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304510">determine our health</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273298/original/file-20190508-183089-1xq31ab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some studies claim to show that eating sweets is associated with a healthier body weight in children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/270212891?src=4LZD6ko9QPWRV5PwPEHQPQ-1-99&size=medium_jpg">eyal granith/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More transparency</h2>
<p>To fix this problem, corporate social responsibility needs to be more than just shiny websites stating progressive policies that get ignored. And journals should require authors to disclosure research agreements with corporate funders so that readers can assess their influence on researchers and their work.</p>
<p>We would also like to see a registry of all industry-funded studies that have been terminated. The lack of information on industry input and studies terminated before results are published makes it impossible to know how much of the research entering the public domain reflects corporate positions. The research agreements we analysed suggest that if Coca-Cola wanted, it has the power to bury research that detracts from its image or profits.</p>
<p>The Conversation asked Coca Cola to respond and it said that since 2016 it had not independently funded research on issues related to health and well-being “in keeping with research guiding principles that have been posted publicly on our website since that time”. The company said it had adopted these guidelines to address questions that arose when it was the sole funder of similar research. </p>
<p>It said that a list of health and well-being research funded by The Coca-Cola Company dating back to 2010 had been made available on its website for nearly four years. It stressed that any research it had funded and disclosed on its site was conducted “in accordance with our publicly stated approach to funding scientific research, including the fact that we do not have the right to prevent the publication of research results nor do we provide funding conditioned on the outcome of the research”.</p>
<p>But there remain concerns that – with the power to trumpet positive findings and bury negative ones – some big corporations could use funded science as an exercise in public relations. It’s time we begin holding these powerful multinational corporations to account for their impacts on our health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Steele receives funding from Bocconi University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lejla Sarcevic does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some multinational food corporations may have learned a few tricks from big tobacco.Sarah Steele, Senior Research Associate, University of CambridgeLejla Sarcevic, Forum Senior Research Associate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057712018-11-06T23:09:28Z2018-11-06T23:09:28ZAll-you-can-eat food packaging could soon be on the menu<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243539/original/file-20181101-83632-qxzwlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plastic packaging could soon be compostable or edible.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within a year, single-use plastics and excess packaging have become Public Enemy No. 1.</p>
<p>A recent Greenpeace-led audit looked at the companies behind the waste lining Canadian waterways. Much of the plastic trash cleaned up from Canadian shorelines this fall was <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/press-release/5375/press-release-coca-cola-pepsico-and-nestle-found-to-be-worst-plastic-polluters-worldwide-in-global-cleanups-and-brand-audits/">traceable to five companies</a>: Nestlé, Tim Hortons, PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company and McDonald’s. All these companies are part of the food industry, which is hardly surprising. </p>
<p>With consumers looking for convenience and portable food solutions, this problem will not go away anytime soon. In fact, it could get worse if nothing is done. </p>
<p>The number of meals in Canada consumed outside the home is only increasing. Canadian households spend roughly <a href="https://www.dal.ca/news/2017/12/13/canadians-will-spend-more-in-restaurants-in-2018--canada-s-food-.html">35 per cent of their food budget</a> outside a grocery store, and that percentage is <a href="https://www.dal.ca/news/2017/12/13/canadians-will-spend-more-in-restaurants-in-2018--canada-s-food-.html">increasing every year</a>. </p>
<p>The number of people walking around with plastic containers and bags, wrappers and cups will likely increase, and the food service, retail and processing sectors are all <a href="https://www.timhortons.com/bcrecycles/">fully aware</a> of this environmental conundrum. </p>
<p>What is brutally unclear for companies is how to deal with it. But making the issue of plastic use a political one is creating some movement, everywhere around the world.</p>
<h2>Compostable containers</h2>
<p>In the food industry, conversations about green supply chains focus on compostable and even edible solutions. Plenty of technologies exist. </p>
<p>On the compostable front, we have come a long way in just a few years. In 2010, PepsiCo Canada came out with the <a href="http://www.pepsico.ca/en/PressRelease/SUNCHIPS-INTRODUCES-THE-WORLDS-FIRST-100-PERCENT-COMPOSTABLE-CHIP-BAG02032010.html">first compostable chip bag for SunChips</a>. This new package was meant to completely break down into compost in a hot, active compost pile in approximately 14 weeks. <a href="https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/03/18/pepsis-biodegradable-backlash-snack-bag-was-too-noisy">Some tests concluded that it did not</a>. </p>
<p>But what really attracted the attention of consumers to this novelty was how noisy the bag was. An <a href="https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/fritolay-sunchips-packaging-debacle-lesson-when-not-listen-your-customers">influential social media campaign led to the bag’s downfall</a>. The company pulled it from the market less than a year after its introduction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243541/original/file-20181101-83651-1jlmbw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer collects trash for the Greenpeace plastic polluter brand audit in Halifax in September 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.greenpeace.org/">(Anthony Poulin/Greenpeace)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then, pressure from cities has helped boost the presence of compostable packaging. With cities increasingly accepting <a href="http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/rae/article/view/10071">food packaging in organics bins</a>, retailers shouldn’t shy away from promoting these green solutions. They might even adopt new green packaging schemes for some of their private-labelled products. </p>
<h2>Milk wrap</h2>
<p>Edible packaging is also gaining currency around the world. Imagine one day walking into a grocery store, and everything you see on store shelves can be eaten. </p>
<p>Research has come a long way, but it has not been easy. The first generation of edible packaging was made of starch, which often failed to keep food fresh. </p>
<p>The Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working on a new generation of edible packaging that may get the attention of food industry pundits. <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/usda-edible-food-packaging-9caa16d7d4fd/">Casein-based food packaging</a>, made from milk proteins, isn’t just edible, it’s also more efficient than other types of packaging as it <a href="https://foodtank.com/news/2018/09/have-your-food-and-eat-the-wrapper-too/">keeps oxygen away from the food for an extended period</a>, keeping it fresher for longer. The casein-based edible fabric can be infused with vitamins and probiotics. This technology from the USDA should be ready in 2019. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243542/original/file-20181101-83632-tx6blu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indonesian company Evoware is producing seaweed-based packaging.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Evoware)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another organic matter getting attention is seaweed. We have wrapped sushi with seaweed for centuries, so it is only natural to extend the practice beyond Japanese delicacies. Costs and availability are still unclear. </p>
<h2>Eating your garbage away</h2>
<p>While these may be promising technologies, no business model has yet been developed and we still don’t know how edible packaging will affect retail prices. This is certainly of great concern to retailers and restaurants. </p>
<p>Other issues have come up as well when considering edible packaging. Taste and food safety are obvious ones. </p>
<p>The idea that we can reducing plastic waste by eating more packaging is intriguing, but not every consumer would think of such a concept as appetizing. A case has to be made for consumers to eat their garbage away. </p>
<p>Logistics are certainly an issue with edible packaging. Throughout the supply chain, temperatures tend to vary greatly, which makes it challenging for any edible packaging to preserve the integrity of products that may travel thousands of kilometres around the world.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-clean-up-our-universal-plastic-tragedy-98565">How to clean up our universal plastic tragedy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Start-ups looking at this issue are rampant. According to Transparency Market Research, a global research firm, <a href="https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/edible-packaging-market.htm">demand for edible packaging could increase on average by 6.9 per cent yearly until 2024</a> and could become a market worth almost US$2 billion worldwide. </p>
<p>As consumers, we will be given an opportunity to save the planet from plastic waste as we eat our food.</p>
<p>In the mean time, Greenpeace can continue to blame companies for the rubbish we find in oceans and waterways, but it’s actually all of us who are responsible for this mess. </p>
<p>If we want more compostable or edible packages, we may be asked to pay more for our food, to pay for a “planet premium,” once these new technologies come around. Regardless, it may be worth it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvain Charlebois does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Much of the trash on Canadian shorelines can be traced to five food companies. We could soon see more compostable and edible packaging.Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1025242018-08-31T18:38:16Z2018-08-31T18:38:16ZCoca-Cola’s swoop for Costa Coffee will cut its exposure to sugar and plastic bottles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234458/original/file-20180831-195325-vclo4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Costa plenty. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shenzhen-china-circa-may-2016-close-459541168?src=6Ut5asThcPK5xD4HGmyBKQ-1-2">Sorbis</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coca-Cola’s £3.9 billion acquisition of Costa Coffee has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/whitbread-to-sell-coffee-chain-costa-to-coca-cola.html">made quite a ripple</a>. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is obviously best known for its soft drinks portfolio, found in supermarkets, kiosks, hotels, bars and restaurants around the world. </p>
<p>Costa, headquartered in the UK, has 3,800 coffee shops in over 30 countries with about two-thirds in its UK home market. Both companies might be all about beverages, but that’s about the only overlap in their operations. </p>
<p>The logic for Costa’s current owner, Whitbread, is straightforward enough. It was coming under investor pressure to focus on its <a href="https://www.whitbread.co.uk/our-brands/premier-inn">hotel business</a> and get out of coffee. Its chief executive, Alison Brittain, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/08/31/whitbread-sells-costa-coffee-coca-cola-39bn/">says the</a> price tag achieved a substantial premium over the alternative, which was to simply demerge it – Costa was <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/whitbread-agrees-to-sell-costa-coffee-for-3-9-billion-to-coca-cola-hzmqsdr99">previously valued</a> at around £3 billion. A far more interesting and complex issue is what makes Costa so attractive to Coca-Cola that it was willing to pay such a premium.</p>
<h2>Coke’s problems</h2>
<p>The Coca-Cola Company has relied on its famous cola beverages for growth since its inception in 1892. The strength of the Coca-Cola brand – <a href="https://www.interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2017/ranking/cocacola/">valued at</a> almost US$70 billion (£54 billion) by Interbrand – has always been a double-edged sword. A small percentage of growth in cola could bring enormous dollar impact on revenue and profit, and therefore may be prioritised over brands with high growth potential, but smaller current sales volumes. </p>
<p>Coca-Cola has more than 500 soft drink brands, from Fuse Tea to Oasis to Lilt to Powerade, but none is anywhere close to the Coke brand in awareness, revenue and profit. When Coca-Cola’s chief executive, James Quincey, <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/quincey-at-cagny-we-are-going-to-be-a-total-beverage-company">says</a> he wants The Coca-Cola Company to be a total beverage company, he’s attempting to address this difficulty. Though the company already has a couple of minor coffee brands in particular countries, the Costa acquisition is on a different level: it communicates to everyone in the company and beyond that he is serious. </p>
<p>The unevenness of the portfolio is not the only reason for the total beverages strategy. The company’s strength is still primarily in sparkling carbonated drinks. Sales of carbonated drinks as a whole are still growing globally, but <a href="http://www.softdrinksinternational.com/userfiles/file/SDI_GlobalReview2018.pdf">only at</a> between 2% and 3%. And in developed markets <a href="https://themarketmogul.com/global-soft-drinks-market-new-trends/">such as</a> the US, they’re declining. As people switch to healthier lifestyles, the worry is that this will start happening everywhere. </p>
<p>At the same time, global drinks growth has been <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/global-still-drinks-market-gain-momentum-from-decreasing-kadam/">primarily</a> in still drinks – water, juice and coffee. Worldwide coffee sales are <a href="https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/coffee-market">expected to</a> grow at 6% a year for the next few years. Selling coffee to coffee drinkers will seem like an easier task than convincing them to drink Coca-Cola.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234459/original/file-20180831-195322-1m499u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mmmm sugar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/donetsk-ukraine-june-05-2017-coca-655555003?src=zCMDYnChhsHuFpu4Ish0eA-1-38">Mizin Roman</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Coupled with this are the threats to the main Coke business from negative publicity. The Coca-Cola Company primarily sells ready-to-drink beverages in cans or plastic bottles. And it has come under enormous pressure from <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/10/europe/coca-cola-greenpeace-protest/index.html">activists</a> who are worried about the environment. </p>
<p>Arch-rival PepsiCo has only just announced a US$3.2 billion <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-20/pepsico-to-buy-drink-machine-maker-sodastream-for-3-2-billion">acquisition</a> of Sodastream, whose chief executive Daniel Birnbaum <a href="https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/sodastream-ceo-plastic-bottles-will-cigarettes-generation/1439746">recently said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Plastic bottles deserve the treatment of cigarettes. These bottles deserve to have warning labels on them. Single use bottled water should be illegal, and I believe there will be a time in our lifetime when it is. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>PepsiCo clearly wants to turn up the eco-friendly dial. Since Costa makes coffee on site, rather than ready-to-drink packaged coffee, Coca-Cola will enjoy this benefit too.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pepsico-is-splashing-out-us-3-2-billion-on-sodastream-101929">Why PepsiCo is splashing out US$3.2 billion on SodaStream</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Then there is sugar. Soft-drink manufacturers have come under mounting pressure from governments and campaigners for the amount of sugar in their products. <a href="https://www.verdict.co.uk/sugar-taxes-changed-countries-around-world/">Some countries</a> have introduced a tax on sugar. While it’s common to drink coffee with sugar, coffee is not in the firing line in the same way as fizzy drinks are. </p>
<p>True, Coca-Cola may be buying itself a new headache with the ethical issues that come with coffee farming. But Costa <a href="https://www.pointfranchise.co.uk/news/costa-coffee-wins-most-ethical-brand-award-1571/">wins awards</a> for its coffee ethics, so Coca-Cola does not appear to be buying someone else’s problem. The deal also increases the company’s exposure to drinks businesses that rely on raw ingredients whose price can be volatile – whereas the production price of Coca-Cola is pretty stable, a drink that relies on coffee beans is somewhat less so. No doubt the board would argue that the pros outweigh the cons, however. </p>
<h2>Customer closeness</h2>
<p>With Costa comes a plethora of capabilities The Coca-Cola Company does not yet possess. Costa is a retail company. It’s in the service business. It sells to consumers directly. Nespresso, another product that sells direct to consumers, was unique at Nestlé, which otherwise sold only to resellers like retailers and wholesalers. The experience of going direct with Nespresso, and what they learned in doing so, <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/2017/02/17/nestle-focuses-going-direct-consumers-ecommerce-sales-hit-5/">encouraged</a> Nestlé to sell other products to consumers online. </p>
<p>Coca-Cola has a well developed network of third-party bottlers that manages manufacture, sales and distribution of its beverages (full disclosure: I have educational links with one of them). So when it comes to increasing the links between The Coca-Cola Company and its ultimate consumers, arguably it could benefit even more than Nestlé. </p>
<p>In sum, the intent of the acquisition looks well founded – access to growth, diversification, broadening of product portfolio, environmental and health benefits. But what about that premium? </p>
<p>Quincey <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180830005927/en/Coca-Cola-Company-Acquire-Costa">says</a> the company can create opportunities to grow the Costa brand globally. This would take it beyond its core UK presence to potentially more than 30 other countries.</p>
<p>Costa’s business model is primarily to franchise its stores rather than to own them directly. This is a business model Coca-Cola is very familiar with as it does the same with its bottler network. Leveraging the potential for these two sets of third parties to work together – for example, selling a broad portfolio of Coca-Cola’s brands in Costa locations – might add some complexity. But if there’s enough profit to go around, all issues can be resolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John W Walsh has developed and delivered educational programmes for a third-party Coca-Cola bottler. The views here are entirely his own. </span></em></p>The growing loathing for the white stuff must keep soft drinks execs awake at night.John W Walsh, Professor of Marketing, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019292018-08-22T12:57:10Z2018-08-22T12:57:10ZWhy PepsiCo is splashing out US$3.2 billion on SodaStream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233082/original/file-20180822-149469-8jhwt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/background-cola-ice-bubbles-163528064?src=KODhy54GFDiPaK50Sr7axQ-1-21">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>PepsiCo announced it would acquire SodaStream for <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/20/pepsi-is-buying-sodastream/">US$3.2 billion</a>, a 10% premium on SodaStream’s stock price and a 100% increase since the beginning of 2018. </p>
<p>On the surface, it could be that a large, diversified food and beverage company like PepsiCo is simply looking to go even further by expanding into related, but new markets. After all, PepsiCo is more than 100 times the size of SodaStream. As well as owning drinks like Pepsi-Cola and Gatorade, it includes Lay’s, Walkers and Doritos crisps. </p>
<p>But we believe this acquisition is much more than that. It is a bold statement by outgoing PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi regarding her legacy and what she wants the future of PepsiCo to be – more socially minded, with a greater emphasis on sustainability.</p>
<h2>SodaStream’s value</h2>
<p>SodaStream, headquartered in Israel, is no ordinary company. Under the leadership of Daniel Birnbaum, CEO since 2007, it has succeeded in operating by its stated values and challenging the status quo of the drinks industry.</p>
<p>Birnbaum has remained steadfast in his commitment to creating economic value through social values, not in spite of them. In many SodaStream initiatives over the past decade, he has championed the Judaic concept of <em>tikkun olam</em> (“repairing the world”), which entreats individuals to promote the welfare of society as a whole, and he has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDdH_7GjW40">instilled this attitude in his employees</a>. </p>
<p>SodaStream took on soft drinks industry behemoths Coca-Cola and Pepsi, emphasising convenience, health <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sodastream-wins-2017-business-intelligence-group-sustainability-award-300544035.html">and environmental sustainability</a>. By providing people with the tools to make their own carbonated drinks, it encourages them to drink sparkling water in reusable bottles.</p>
<p>Birnbaum <a href="https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/manufacturing/its-propaganda-its-hate-sodastream-chief-accuses-boycotters-of-antisemitism/news-story/b21da26c77132ee92b966963d64217f7">challenged activists</a> within the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement, who maintained that SodaStream’s factory in the occupied West Bank, where Arab and Jewish employees worked side by side, perpetuated Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people. He also fought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant Arab workers permits when the company <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-20/how-sodastream-makes-and-markets-peace">moved to a new plant in Israel</a>. </p>
<p>Birnbaum has led SodaStream with the conviction that focusing on societal values will create long-term economic and financial value. Given that SodaStream’s stock traded at US$11.40 in August 2015 and this acquisition values SodaStream at over US$140 per share, it seems that his conviction has paid off. </p>
<h2>A more sustainable future</h2>
<p>While SodaStream’s DNA has been shaped by its commitment to societal impact, PepsiCo was better known for sugary beverages and salty snacks – neither of which are very healthy and connected with a growing global obesity epidemic and mass farming practices that by their very nature cause environmental damage.</p>
<p>This is something PepsiCo CEO Nooyi recognised and <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3066378/how-pepsico-ceo-indra-nooyi-is-steering-the-company-tow">since she became CEO</a> in 2006 she has prioritised more sustainable strategies over the long term – economically, socially and environmentally. Under her leadership, PepsiCo has acquired several healthier food companies, including Sabra Hummus, Naked Juice <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/01/pepsico-continues-its-push-into-healthy-snacks.aspx">and healthy snacks brand Bare</a>. It has also redesigned its production and supply chain activities <a href="http://www.pepsico.com/sustainability/sustainable-sourcing">to become more green</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233086/original/file-20180822-149466-m7zv5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Socially conscious Indra Nooyi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/maysbusinessschool/5170476032/in/photolist-8SU3ou-8SQXfv-Zg8F93-byhidA-8SU3hw-8SU3iA-8SU3ho-8SQXeZ-Zg8FwY-Z1BjKQ-8SQXkp-8SQXkz-YVMLUU-ZjYuuW-4LTx1c-Z1BmnY-ZjYwDW-8SQXmR-YjE9sJ-CigfFS-FCP6U1-ZmquTQ-ZjF5w4-CigxaU-26ZXeNk-YG6LuV-27h9tGo-Z1BtkW-Z1AWL9-Z1vUjL-Zj3Yra-YjybJ9-Cigo6b-Zmvvfw-YjEgjj-Zk52SA-ZenTQQ-Z1BdZ1-Yo8dnV-Yo8ske-Yd6HU5-ZmqggQ-ZpkrXR-ZhJF8V-YjxJ5C-YjDFv7-ZpkNFV-Z1vQqo-Zf1Q7U-YU2hG5">Mays Business School / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This latest investment shows PepsiCo’s continued commitment in this direction. Although Nooyi is retiring in October, incoming CEO Ramon Laguarta is the face of the acquisition, committing to SodaStream’s operations and employees. Just as Birnbaum has championed his values to create economic value at SodaStream, Nooyi and Laguarta believe the same can be done at PepsiCo – even if it is a much slower process.</p>
<h2>Culture change</h2>
<p>Because changing a company’s culture is so difficult, there’s no obvious way to do it. One approach is to use acquisitions. For example, in 2000, Unilever acquired social impact pioneer Ben & Jerry’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18167345">for over US$300m</a>. In 2007, Clorox bought natural care company Burt’s Bees <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/burts-bees-clorox-sustainable-change">for almost US$1 billion</a>. In both cases, the much larger acquirers made it clear that they were buying both the operations and the social values, to learn from the values and leverage them in their other operations. </p>
<p>In the strategy and acquisitions realm, this is known as David influencing Goliath. Few large companies have embedded sustainability and social impact into their operations, investments and values <a href="https://foodinstitute.com/blog/sustainability-name-game-unilever">more effectively than Unilever</a> has in the 18 years since it bought Ben & Jerry’s. And PepsiCo’s acquisition of SodaStream is an investment towards decision-making based on social and economic impact. </p>
<p>Over the long term, with investments like this and with enough nudging and support, corporate cultures can change. Leaders like Paul Polman at Unilever, Nooyi at PepsiCo and Birnbaum at SodaStream have demonstrated that it’s possible for corporate cultures to adapt and evolve, letting investments with a social impact drive economic success. </p>
<p>Of course, it’s too early to tell whether PepsiCo’s decision to buy SodaStream will pay off. But it’s easy to see why the company is making this acquisition and it’s easy to see the significant intangible value it could have for PepsiCo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s a bold move from outgoing Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi.Shlomo Ben-Hur, Professor of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Brian Bolton, Associate Director, Global Board Centre, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1016392018-08-20T10:32:27Z2018-08-20T10:32:27ZAdvertising is obsolete – here’s why it’s time to end it<p>Since it first became clear that Russian agents <a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/1035477/download">spent thousands of dollars a month on political advertising</a> on social media in the runup to the 2016 presidential election, Americans have been asking how the powerful advertising infrastructure run by Google and Facebook <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/technology/facebook-russian-political-ads.html">could have been thrown open to foreign agents</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/147887/ban-targeted-advertising-facebook-google">fewer have stopped to ask</a> whether there is a good reason for this infrastructure to exist at all. Why, exactly, is it a good thing for Facebook and Google to be selling advertising to anyone, let alone Russian agents? </p>
<p>The obvious answer seems to be so that legitimate advertisers, meaning the likes of Coca-Cola and General Motors, can inform consumers about the products they offer.</p>
<p>But herein lies the paradox of all advertising in the information age, online or otherwise. If there is one thing that the internet has made it easy for consumers to access without the help of advertising, it is information – and especially information about products. </p>
<p>As I argue <a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/the-obsolescence-of-advertising-in-the-information-age">in a recent article in the Yale Law Journal</a>, if the only justification for advertising is that it informs, then advertising is now seriously obsolete. Not only that, it could even count as anti-competitive conduct in violation of the antitrust laws – as the Federal Trade Commission once believed. </p>
<h2>Advertising as information</h2>
<p>Imagine a world wiped clean of advertising of all kinds – from the sponsored links at the top of the Google search results page and the banner ads on your favorite websites or mobile apps to the sponsored posts in your Facebook feed and the TV commercials and billboards in the offline world. </p>
<p>Would you still be able to find all the information you could ever want about products in this alternative world?</p>
<p>Of course you would. Your friends, family and the host of complete strangers you follow on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and half a dozen other sites would continue to bombard you with information about their lives, including all the products they are using. And if you want to go out and learn more about a particular product, or find something new, a thousand little blue links optimized to meet your search criteria are just a Google search away.</p>
<p>In other words, we live in a world so immersed in easily accessible information that advertising is no longer needed to inform us about products. Advertising is obsolete. </p>
<h2>Advertising as manipulation</h2>
<p>But if advertising is out of date, then why is it everywhere? </p>
<p>The answer, I argue in <a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/article/the-obsolescence-of-advertising-in-the-information-age">my article</a>, is that advertising has always done more than just inform. And that other function is if anything more powerful today – and more valuable to advertisers – than ever before. It is what scholars of advertising euphemistically call advertising’s power to persuade, and what the rest of us call its power to manipulate. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=3100475456722357198">As sociologist Emily Fogg Mead once put it</a> during <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=hqafM0xZjqIC">the dawn of mass advertising a century ago</a>, ads are a “subtle, persistent, unavoidable presence that creeps into the reader’s inner consciousness. A mechanical association is formed and may frequently result in an involuntary purchase.”</p>
<p>That – and not the ability to inform consumers about products they might not otherwise hear about – is the value of advertising for which <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/272314/advertising-spending-in-the-us/">advertisers paid US$200 billion in total in the United States last year</a>. Advertising remains so common today not because it informs but because it persuades.</p>
<p>That power to sway, which has always been a part of advertising, has been magnified by Google and Facebook, which have invested billions in turning the internet into <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=mNkxDwAAQBAJ">a vast infrastructure of persuasion</a> that includes the data collection tools running behind all of our favorite free services, the algorithms that decide based on that data how best to target advertising to make us succumb to its blandishments and the screen real estate where ads are displayed.</p>
<p>Google and Facebook put all this in place to help corporate America, not Russian agents, reach us. If it <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/did-russia-affect-the-2016-election-its-now-undeniable/">seems credible</a> that Russian agents could have used this infrastructure to alter the outcome of a U.S. presidential election, it is equally credible that the largest American advertisers can use it every day to their own ends, inducing consumers to buy products that they don’t want.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232489/original/file-20180817-165961-2qzl06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Coca-Cola has long used Santa to sell its products.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amankris/Shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>The antitrust case against advertising</h2>
<p>And just as Russia’s political advertising <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-did-russian-interference-affect-the-2016-election/">may have put one candidate in the election at a disadvantage</a>, commercial advertising can put companies selling products that consumers might actually prefer, but are less well advertised, at a competitive disadvantage. </p>
<p>That gives the Federal Trade Commission, which is charged with enforcing the nation’s antitrust laws, a legal basis for going beyond current limits on <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising">advertising that is false</a> <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_statements/advertising-kids-and-ftc-regulatory-retrospective-advises-present/040802adstokids.pdf">or aimed at children</a>, to sue to put an end to all advertising.</p>
<p>The courts have long held that Section 2 of the Sherman Act <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17987618389090921096">prohibits conduct that harms both competition and consumers</a>, which is just what persuasive advertising does when it cajoles a consumer into buying the advertised product, rather than the substitute the consumer would have purchased without advertising. </p>
<p>That substitute is presumably preferred by the consumer, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=17694205539407134191">precisely because the consumer would have purchased it without corporate persuasion</a>. It follows that competition is harmed, because the company that made the product that the consumer actually prefers cannot make the sale. And the consumer is harmed by buying a product that the consumer does not really prefer. </p>
<p>Of course, the maker of the substitute can advertise back, but there is no reason to think that the company that wins the advertising battle with the catchiest slogan or the most famous celebrity endorsements will be the one that sells the better product. Coke’s advertising is so good that <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=13818392844416880527">consumer brain scans light up at the mention of Coke, but not Pepsi</a>, which may explain why <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2018/02/20/news/companies/cola-wars-coke-pepsi/index.html">Coke’s market share is double Pepsi’s</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=13818392844416880527">even though consumers cannot distinguish the two colas in blind testing</a>. </p>
<p>The FTC and the courts understood all this in the 1950s, when advertising was taking another new medium – television – by storm. The FTC <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=7534880275645364220&hl=en&as_sdt=0,18">launched a series of lawsuits</a> against some of the nation’s largest television advertisers, including Procter & Gamble and General Foods. In the FTC’s greatest success of the era, the commission managed <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17605714045622526127">to convince the Supreme Court</a> that the advertising of Clorox bleach illegally put rivals at a disadvantage. According to the court, the profusion of Clorox advertising “imprint[s] the value of its bleach in the mind of the consumer,” allowing Clorox to charge a premium over store brands, even though all bleach is chemically identical.</p>
<p>The reason advertising never went away, and Clorox still advertises, is that in the early 1980s the FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/commission_decision_volumes/volume-103/ftc_volume_decision_103_january_-_june_1984pages_204-373.pdf">embraced the view of advertising as usefully informative</a> and ended its lawsuits.</p>
<p>But now that the information function of advertising is obsolete, as I’ve shown, the FTC should pick up where it left off and once again challenge the business of advertising.</p>
<h2>Freedom and consequences</h2>
<p>A renewed FTC campaign would force the reorganization of some important industries. </p>
<p>Google and Facebook would of course have to find new ways to generate revenue, such as by <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/15/would-it-make-us-love-or-hate-ads/">charging users</a> for their services, and newspapers would probably have to embrace a public funding model to survive without the advertising that <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=4183405717638226047">has long been their lifeblood</a>. </p>
<p>But, arguably, since consumers already pay for Google and Facebook with their personal data, it may not be too much to ask that they pay with their money instead. And given journalism’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/08/john-oliver-journalism-hbo-last-week-tonight-newspapers">well-documented woes</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/nyregion/nj-legislature-community-journalism.html">public funding</a> is probably its future anyway. </p>
<p>The only things to fear from a renewed FTC campaign against advertising are freedom and peace of mind; the freedom to decide what to buy on your own, and the peace of mind that would come from the demise of an advertising infrastructure that foreign agents <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17635592/facebook-elections-russia-2018-midterms">are already trying to exploit again</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ramsi Woodcock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the information age, advertising is no longer needed to inform consumers.That means its primary role is to manipulate.Ramsi Woodcock, Assistant Professor of Law, University of KentuckyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/969892018-06-13T20:39:07Z2018-06-13T20:39:07ZWhy some Western companies are distancing themselves from the World Cup brand<p><em>This article is part of a World Cup series exploring the politics, economics, science and social issues behind the world’s most popular sports event.</em></p>
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<p>The World Cup is undoubtedly one of the world’s most-watched sporting events, only comparable to the Olympics in terms of global audience. And yet, with the tournament kicking off today in Russia, this year’s World Cup has so far felt somewhat subdued from a marketing and advertising standpoint. </p>
<p>Though the big brands like Nike, Adidas and Visa have all launched their World Cup ads, there have been just a few viral campaigns on social media so far. And on the guerrilla marketing front in Australia, there’s only been <a href="https://www.foxsports.com.au/football/socceroos/david-gallop-denies-commercial-reason-are-a-factor-in-tim-cahills-world-cup-squad-selection/news-story/1654c4536d0af473768b496069c07a3e">a clever Caltex campaign</a> following the inclusion of veteran Tim Cahill in the Socceroos team. </p>
<p>This low commercial visibility is backed up by FIFA’s own facts: whilst the two top tiers of sponsorships for the 2018 World Cup were nearly all filled, the third tier (regional partnerships) still has openings that are likely to remain unsold. Only in mid-June did FIFA secure it’s first African third-tier sponsor. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-russia-worthy-of-hosting-the-world-cup-96917">Is Russia worthy of hosting the World Cup?</a>
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<p>Altogether, <a href="http://m.startribune.com//fifa-signs-egypt-government-to-world-cup-sponsor-deal/485271851/">just 20 of the 34 commercial spots </a> for the World Cup have been sold. This will undoubtedly <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/602bf28c-5abf-11e8-b8b2-d6ceb45fa9d0">cost FIFA hundreds of million of dollars </a> in lost revenue, which is bad news for President Gianni Infantino, who promised member states that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-airways-fifa/qatar-airways-signs-world-cup-sponsorship-deal-with-fifa-idUSKBN1830I3">revenues would increase during his term</a>. </p>
<p>So, why isn’t this World Cup seeing a commercial bonanza similar to years past, such as Nike’s famous <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/2017/02/09/news/joga-bonito-remembering-when-nike-brought-the-beautiful-game-to-our-screens-926688/">Joga Bonito and Join the Chain</a> campaign at the 2006 Germany World Cup? </p>
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<p>The reason is simple: <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/29/4/595/1791073">brand transference</a>. This marketing theory dictates that a consumer’s knowledge or feeling around a brand – be it a place, person or product – will transfer to the brand it’s linked with in an advertisement or marketing campaign. </p>
<p>In this case, it’s the connection with tainted “brands” like Russia and FIFA that has some Western companies cautious ahead of the World Cup.</p>
<p>However, these associations haven’t proved a problem for brands from other parts of the world, such as <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201806/08/WS5b19b83ea31001b82571ec8e_4.html">Chinese companies Dalian Wanda, Hisense, Vivo and Mengniu Dairy</a>, Qatar Airways, and Russia’s Gazprom, who have happily stepped in to fill the void.</p>
<h2>Brand Russia</h2>
<p>Russia is not an unknown quantity. Brands know the problematic transference issues involved with <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-russia-worthy-of-hosting-the-world-cup-96917">any connection to Russia</a>, from Moscow’s meddling in foreign elections and the Syrian civil war to the state-sponsored doping system that saw Russian athletes banned from the 2016 and 2018 Olympics.</p>
<p>What some companies may be concerned about is how these associations could impact their brands at a local level. In markets like Australia and the US, consumers increasingly want brands to be “authentic” and take a stand on issues, not just be obsessed with profits. Last year’s marriage equality debate in Australia demonstrated how keen brands <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=590u06pRCBI">like Apple</a> were to associate themselves with an issue that connected deeply with a majority of the population.</p>
<p>But with Russia, a certain avoidance strategy might be taking place. The country doesn’t feature prominently in advertising campaigns by the major Western brands for this year’s World Cup. Of course, this could be because Russia is not high on the list of people’s must-take-a-selfie places to post on social media, something Brazil had going for it during the 2014 World Cup. In fact, Brazil continues to feature prominently in advertising for this reason.</p>
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<p>However, even when a brand like Lufthansa did try to feature Russia in its World Cup advertisement, <a href="https://www.unian.info/society/10141055-lufthansa-apologizes-deletes-embarrassing-russia-world-cup-ad-shot-in-kyiv-video.html">it ran into trouble</a> due to difficulties obtaining permission to film there. </p>
<p>Even though companies are increasingly looking for ways to engage with consumers, they’re also treading carefully given how fierce the public backlash can be these days, like the one Pepsi experienced after its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5Yq1DLSmQ">now-infamous Kendall Jenner ad</a>. </p>
<p>This could also be why <a href="https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/06/01/visa-talks-world-cup-and-engaging-consumers-at-scale/">Visa decided to re-record</a> some of its World Cup advertisements that contained voiceovers by Morgan Freeman, who was recently accused by several women of inappropriate behaviour. </p>
<p>All this said, Russia itself is now one of the most attractive markets for many companies, largely thanks to a growing middle class with a love for Western brands. So, Western companies that do shy away from the Russia “brand”, or make an association with the country based on old stereotypes, could pay for it locally when they try to connect with Russian consumers.</p>
<h2>Brand FIFA</h2>
<p>Probably the greater issue for brands is FIFA itself. The global soccer governing body’s image is more in need of a repair than any bank, especially with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/02/why-has-sepp-blatter-resigned-as-fifa-president">recent corruption scandals</a> still fresh in the minds of so many. </p>
<p>FIFA’s image had become so toxic, in fact, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/11364195/Fifa-loses-three-key-sponsors-as-Castrol-Continental-and-Johnson-and-Johnson-sever-ties-with-world-governing-body.html">numerous major brands decided not renew their contracts in 2014-15</a>: Sony, Emirates, Continental, Johnson & Johnson and Castrol. </p>
<p>But where some see challenges with FIFA, others see opportunity. With prices much reduced, some unlikely Chinese companies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/01/chinese-firms-world-cup-2018-fifa">have signed on as sponsors</a> for this year’s World Cup. (<a href="https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/fifa-strengthens-official-sponsor-line-up-for-2018-fifa-world-cup-russ-2925483">Drinkable yoghurt</a>, anyone?) </p>
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<p>For these companies, the FIFA brand isn’t as tainted as it is in the West, and with the lure of a possible World Cup in China in the future, there’s more upside to a tie-in with FIFA than any negative associations. </p>
<p>And, of course, the brand transference from some of the highest-profile athletes on earth is hard to ignore in markets like China, tarnished brand or not. </p>
<h2>Social and e-game influences</h2>
<p>Finally, we may also be seeing a shift in the sport marketing world itself. Though recent sports media deals in the US, Australia and elsewhere point to a healthy market for sports products, the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/602bf28c-5abf-11e8-b8b2-d6ceb45fa9d0">peak earning</a> for event sponsorships like the World Cup has likely been reached. </p>
<p>With the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-07/worlds-best-gamers-do-battle-in-sydney/8504550">growing adoption of e-games and e-sports</a> by younger sports fans, the desire to experience big events like the World Cup or Olympics in person is diminishing. And with <a href="https://digiday.com/marketing/micro-influencers/">micro-influencers</a> also becoming more popular as endorsers in marketing, there is less need for brands to seek out highly paid football stars who may make just one appearance a year in a market like Australia. If anything, the World Cup really is a victim of its own success. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/faster-higher-stronger-and-more-expensive-the-olympic-games-are-losing-their-shine-7998">Faster, higher, stronger and more expensive: the Olympic Games are losing their shine</a>
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<p>Of course, the tournament still connects with so many people in a way few other events can. And there are still ways for brands to find more “authentic” stories through which to connect with fans, such as Icelandair’s commercial celebrating the unheralded national team’s World Cup qualifying campaign.</p>
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<p>So, will major Western brands stay with the World Cup in the long term? If the 2026 World Cup is awarded to North America, this could bring many Western brands rushing back to the tournament, willing to pay a premium for any deal.</p>
<p>And while a future World Cup in Australia is unlikely, perhaps one in China would be enough to tempt local brands to cough up the money for a regional partnership.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hughes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Compared with years past, the build-up to the Russia World Cup has been relatively subdued from a marketing and advertising standpoint.Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962042018-06-13T20:35:51Z2018-06-13T20:35:51ZWe must ensure new food retail technologies are pathways – not barriers – to better health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222922/original/file-20180613-153668-1k1r7bs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unhealthy diet is now the leading preventable risk factor for disease globally.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mavis Wong/The Conversation NY-BD-CC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a world where <a href="https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2016/03/iot-inventory-monitor-part1/">smart pantries</a> sense when you are running out of your favourite food and order more of it, without you lifting a finger. Where intelligent <a href="https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/robots/pepper">robots roam</a> your grocery store, ever at your service. Where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/04/surge-pricing-comes-to-the-supermarket-dynamic-personal-data">dynamic food pricing</a> changes minute-to-minute depending on the weather outside, or what the store down the road is offering. </p>
<p>It may sound like a seismic shift in our food retail world, but these technological frontiers are real and the food sector is gearing up in a big way. </p>
<p>What is less certain is what impact such changes will have on our health. Just as entrepreneurs must capitalise on future trends when building a business, health professionals must delve into the future of retail technology to identify barriers and opportunities for the achievement of good health.</p>
<h2>The retail technology frontier is already here</h2>
<p>Amazon is one company leading the way with its nascent attempts to revolutionise convenient shopping. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/b?node=16008589011">AmazonGo</a> is a walk-in-walk-out convenience store where the same types of sensor, vision and deep learning technologies as those used in driverless cars enable shoppers to purchase products without checking out. The concept is currently being trialled in Seattle, USA.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?node=8037720011">Amazon Prime Air</a> is a conceptual drone delivery system developed to autonomously fly packages to customers in thirty minutes or less. The company made its first drone delivery in 2016 to a shopper in Cambridge, England. A date for large-scale implementation is yet to be confirmed.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Amazon makes its first drone delivery.</span></figcaption>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/restaurants-not-only-feed-us-they-shape-our-food-preferences-97225">Restaurants not only feed us, they shape our food preferences</a>
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<p>British food delivery company, Deliveroo, also has an insatiable appetite for food convenience. The company has a <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/3/29/17175482/deliveroo-future-plans-robots-profits-investors">vision</a> where eating at restaurants will be a “special occasion” and home cooking will merely be viewed as “a hobby”. They plan to use AI and robotics to serve a generation of young diners who know home delivery as being the only way to eat.</p>
<h2>Profits often prevail over health</h2>
<p>In a world driven by corporate profits and solid <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)62089-3/abstract">stakeholder returns</a>, it is easy to see how the technological frontier may be used to drive up profits and drive down health. </p>
<p>An unhealthy diet is now the leading preventable risk factor for the <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/gbd/data">global disease burden</a>. More than 35% of Australian’s energy intake comes from foods and drinks that are <a href="https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/n55">not considered part of a healthy diet</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, not surprisingly, our major junk-food manufacturers and retailers are joining the tech revolution to persuade consumers to indulge in more.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/westfields-history-tracks-the-rise-of-the-australian-shopping-centre-and-shows-whats-to-come-89073">Westfield's history tracks the rise of the Australian shopping centre and shows what's to come</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222927/original/file-20180613-153668-an1qmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mavis Wong/The Conversation NY-BD-CC</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Coca-Cola is putting technological solutions to the test. By <a href="https://www.coca-colajourney.co.nz/stories/smart-vending-ai-powered-innovation">combining vending machines with artificial intelligence</a>, Coke intends to bring more <a href="https://www.adweek.com/digital/coca-cola-is-embracing-ai-and-chatbots-in-preparation-for-a-digital-first-future/">joy</a> to the purchase of a sugary drink. Vending machines will be able to chat in a two-way conversation, building emotional connections between Coke and consumers.</p>
<p>Confectionary giant, Mars, is using “emotional intelligence” – an application of computer vision and machine learning – to gauge facial reactions to product marketing after finding that positive face expressions could predict advertisements with <a href="https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/mars-emotional-measurement-research-proves-eyes-window-sales/1428105">high sales impacts</a>. Kellogg’s and Coca-Cola are reportedly also using the technology to optimise their <a href="https://aitrends.com/emotion-recognition/ai-powering-growing-emotional-intelligence-business/">product marketing</a>.</p>
<h2>We need to turn this around</h2>
<p>We now have a young generation who are more socially conscious than ever before with <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html">73% of millennials</a> believing business could have a positive impact on the world. This generation are also twice as likely to distrust large food companies <a href="https://store.mintel.com/the-millennial-impact-food-shopping-decisions-us-september-2015">compared to older generations</a>. </p>
<p>We must capitalise on these trends to create demand for a more ethical, healthy and sustainable food system.</p>
<p>How can we engineer grocery shopping to be an immersive, salubrious experience?</p>
<p>Smart shopping trolleys, equipped with barcode scanners and locating technology, have started to hit retail stores around the world, <a href="http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2011/01/25/smart-trolleys-launch-at-richies-hq.html">including in Australia</a>. </p>
<p>What if these trolleys were also equipped with resistance controls to incorporate physical activity into your daily shop, with personalised and tailored nutritious food marketing? Or if <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/19/17027902/google-verily-ai-algorithm-eye-scan-heart-disease-cardiovascular-risk">Google’s ocular scanning devices</a> were incorporated into trolley handles to provide you with a health check, simply by scanning the retina of your eye?</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-shopping-centres-are-changing-to-fight-online-shopping-80056">How shopping centres are changing to fight online shopping</a>
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</em>
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<p>We could capitalise on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/kroger-is-rolling-out-digital-shelf-technology-2018-1?r=US&IR=T">retail digital shelf technology</a> to display, not only pricing and nutritional information, but also farm-to-fork traceability of foods at point-of-purchase, and complementary healthy food marketing.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2017/10/19/Dynamic-pricing-an-unrealised-threat-for-food-brands-and-e-retailers">Dynamic food pricing</a> systems could be designed to not only align with consumer demand or competitor pricing, but to ensure healthy options are always the cheaper choice. </p>
<p>And if we’re going to have intelligent robots conversing with customers in stores, let’s ensure they steer them towards healthy food choices – making a healthy shopping experience easier, more enjoyable and more convenient. </p>
<p>The way we engage with the food sector will fundamentally change in the future. If we keep doing what we have always done, our current efforts to improve health through food may be undermined. We need to think forward to ensure the future of food is steered in a healthy direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96204/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Backholer receives funding from VicHealth and the National Heart Foundation. She is the co-convenor for the Public Health Association Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group.
</span></em></p>New technologies do not discriminate between the promotion of a healthy or unhealthy diet. It’s how we apply them that matters.Kathryn Backholer, Senior research fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/970802018-05-30T01:00:44Z2018-05-30T01:00:44ZCoke has promised ‘less sugar’, but less is still too much<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220706/original/file-20180529-80633-frs1je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many new products contain artificial sweeteners, which come with their own set of problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At last count, 28 countries and seven large cities in the USA had moved to introduce a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-24/sugar-tax-and-the-power-of-big-business/9353626">tax on sugary drinks</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325726/">Potential benefits are clear</a> and include reducing costs from obesity and health-care spending, as well as the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26094232">potential to increase a healthy life</a>. Health groups in Australia have long called for the same to be done here.</p>
<p>When Britain legislated for a sugary drink tax, graded according to the quantity of sugar used, some manufacturers significantly reduced the amount of sugar in their drinks before the law even came into practice.</p>
<p>Echoing the tactic of some British companies, Coca-Cola in Australia <a href="https://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/stories/coca-cola-sugar-reduction">is claiming</a> it has taken action by “reducing sugar in 22 of our drinks since 2015”, and is committing to “make all our new Coca-Cola flavours either reduced or no sugar”. Their aim is for a 10% reduction across their range by 2020.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-sugary-drinks-tax-could-prevent-thousands-of-heart-attacks-and-strokes-and-save-1-600-lives-56439">Australian sugary drinks tax could prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes and save 1,600 lives</a>
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<p>Coca-Cola’s <a href="https://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/compare-products">products with less sugar</a> include:</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220709/original/file-20180529-80658-1amutci.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca-Cola have said they’re committed to more sugar-free or reduced sugar drinks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://shop.coles.com.au/a/a-national/product/kirks-soft-drink-creaming-soda-sugar-free">Screenshot, Coles online</a></span>
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<ul>
<li><p>Coca-Cola with Stevia: 19g of sugar per 375mL, compared with the classic product with 40g per 375mL</p></li>
<li><p>Kirks reduced sugar drinks: now 38g sugar per 375 mL (4-5% reduction)</p></li>
<li><p>Sprite, sugar reduced with added stevia: 40g sugar per 375 mL (14% reduction)</p></li>
<li><p>Raspberry Fanta, sugar reduced with added stevia: 36g sugar per 375 mL (19% reduction)</p></li>
<li><p>Lift hard hitting lemon, sugar reduced: 31.5g sugar per 375 mL (23% reduction)</p></li>
<li><p>Deep spring mineral waters, three orange-based flavours sugar reduced: 28g sugar per 375 mL (26% reduction).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>No nutritionist is going to knock reductions in sugar content, but even a single can of the new Coca-Cola with Stevia has 37% of the <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/guidelines/sugars_intake/en/">World Health Organisation’s</a> (WHO) recommended maximum daily intake of sugar for an adult. The other products listed still have 55-78% of the WHO maximum recommendation.</p>
<p>Smaller pack sizes are being introduced and will help. And no-sugar versions of their major products are available, sweetened with intense (artificial) sweeteners such as stevia, acesulphame K, sucralose and aspartame.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220708/original/file-20180529-80620-uogwpe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peddlers claim stevia is ‘natural’ because it comes from a plant. But it’s no longer ‘natural’ by the time it’s in your sweetened beverage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Sugar alternatives?</h2>
<p>Stevia can be made from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant which contain a variety of steviol compounds. These bypass digestion in the small intestine and are broken down by bacteria in the colon. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/applications/Documents/A1132%20Definition%20of%20steviol%20glycoside%20AppR.pdf">Food Standards Australia New Zealand has approved</a> the use of a wide range of different steviol compounds. Labelled either by its name or “additive 960”, stevia is marketed by some as a “natural” product. Although what is added to drinks and other foods is a highly purified extract, often blended with a sugar alcohol (usually erythritol) or complex carbohydrates called oligosaccharides. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-should-i-replace-sugar-with-artificial-sweeteners-82576">Health Check: should I replace sugar with artificial sweeteners?</a>
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<p>In its favour, stevia has virtually no kilojoules, and can be used by those with diabetes. But <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/lam.12187">its effect on “good” bacteria</a> in the colon may be undesirable.</p>
<p>Arguments continue to rage over <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.22139">whether intense sweeteners are beneficial or not</a>. Some studies claim they <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4786736/">help with weight loss</a>. Others say they may <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772345/">increase the risk of excess weight</a> and some associated health problems. Their <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4615743/">effect on the “good” gut bacteria</a> also needs careful evaluation.</p>
<p>The real problem is that sweet drinks maintain a taste for sweet drinks.</p>
<p>Nor does the dental disaster associated with soft drinks disappear with low or no sugar varieties. This is because much of the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/4801628#dental-erosion">damage to dental enamel comes from their inherent acidity</a>. The solution is to confine drinks to water or milk.</p>
<h2>Sugar coating?</h2>
<p>Those marketing sugary products cannot ignore the public outcry against sugar. But nor can their business stand too strong an anti-sugar movement. The “<a href="https://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/stories/coca-cola-sugar-reduction">less sugar</a>” move may be an attempt to tone down the criticism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220705/original/file-20180529-80637-uyn73k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca-Cola’s advertisement in major daily newspapers in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot, Mumbrella</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How do we define moderation? It’s an issue that has dogged those formulating dietary guidelines. In 1979, one of Australia’s dietary goals was to “decrease refined sugar consumption”. Two years later, the first guidelines included advice to “avoid eating too much sugar”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sweet-power-the-politics-of-sugar-sugary-drinks-and-poor-nutrition-in-australia-95873">Sweet power: the politics of sugar, sugary drinks and poor nutrition in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sugar sales fell, moving the sugar industry to mount a massive seven-year PR and advertising campaign to influence health professionals, the population, health ministers and food companies that sugar was “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14443050609388057">a natural part of life</a>”.</p>
<p>With every subsequent revision of the guidelines, the food industry has campaigned strongly for the sugar guideline to be dropped. They succeeded in so far as the wording was changed to “eat only a moderate amount of sugars and foods containing added sugars”. Sales steadied.</p>
<p>A review for the 2013 guidelines showed even stronger evidence that all added sugars should be limited, especially sugar sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks. </p>
<p>Confectionery, cakes, biscuits and pastries were also specifically added to the list along with advice that for many Australians there was no room in the diet for any of these foods. “Only moderate” amounts may be comfortable for the industry but it was way too vague to fit the evidence.</p>
<p>“Less” sugar in sugary drinks is also too vague. Even for those who are not overweight, these drinks remain a hazard for our teeth. The only solution is to stop drinking them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosemary Stanton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new ad campaign from Coca-Cola shows they’re trying to push a “sugar in moderation” line, while many of their products still contain far too much.Rosemary Stanton, Nutritionist & Visiting Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/945562018-04-12T21:21:23Z2018-04-12T21:21:23Z‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ owes more to Coca-Cola than to the Bible<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214355/original/file-20180411-577-vqbqhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jim Caviezel as Luke and James Faulkner as Paul in 'Paul, Apostle of Christ.' </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(2018 CTMG)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The poster for <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> shows a steely-eyed Paul (James Faulkner) gazing straight at the viewer. Luke, played by Jim Caviezel, (Jesus in <em>The Passion of the Christ</em>), stands resolutely beside him. Two handsome, sun-beaten white actors with strong noses and strong chins play heroes of the Christian faith. What could possibly be wrong?</p>
<p>In terms of historical accuracy, there’s much wrong. And much at stake. <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> is one of an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/mary-magdalene-film-rooney-mara-joaquin-phoenix-religion-a8258036.html">upsurge in Bible-themed movies</a> that romanticize and distort the past and risk present-day harm. Such films are like soda pop: Sweet, easy to swallow, but harmful as a steady diet. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214350/original/file-20180411-577-1o24n7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poster for ‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ with Paul (James Faulkner) and Luke (Jim Caviezel) gazing straight at the viewer.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I enjoyed watching <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em>; the fictional subplot of Paul haunted by a young girl’s murder is quite touching. Despite that, I believe the movie owes more to Coca-Cola than to the Bible. Here are five ways:</p>
<h2>1. If your origins seem embarrassing, make up a new story</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/the-chronicle-of-coca-cola-birth-of-a-refreshing-idea">Coca-Cola was invented in 1886</a> by American Civil War veteran John Pemberton. Its earliest formulations contained alcohol and kola nut (caffeine) and coca leaf extracts (cocaine).</p>
<p>After businessman Asa Griggs Candler won the patent, Coca-Cola evolved into a “lifestyle beverage.” Coke doesn’t exactly hide its past but its advertising highlights sentimentalized images of the 1950s and 1960s like 10-cent dispensing machines and vintage soda fountains.</p>
<p><em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> claims to be about the origins of the Christian church. But its portrayal of the past is as romanticized as Coke’s. It ignores the Jewish, fervently apocalyptic origins of the movement and instead presents an idealized story of a group’s heroism under suffering that retrojects much-later Christianity onto the first century. </p>
<p>Historians and biblical scholars will find errors throughout the movie. One only has to be a careful reader of the New Testament to know something is wrong with the depiction of Paul virtually dictating the book of <em>Acts</em> to Luke. </p>
<p>Anyone who has read <em>Acts</em> will know that both its tone and content differ from Paul’s; it cannot have come from the same source. In fact, Paul was not alive when <em>Acts</em> was written decades later. The story of Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus is retold three times in <em>Acts</em>, each with slightly different details — unlikely if Paul was checking Luke’s copy, as in the movie.</p>
<h2>2. Sell a lifestyle: Perception is more important than fact</h2>
<p>From 1971’s <em>I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing</em> to 2018’s <em>Because I Can</em>, Coca-Cola’s aim has always been not so much to sell a product as to make consumers believe they are the type of people who would naturally buy that product. In other words, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/cannes-creative-advertising-be-effective-1.4161249">Coke is an expert at selling ideas of self-image</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214573/original/file-20180412-587-semapq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca-Cola advertisement from 1953 Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Coca Cola)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In ancient rhetoric, this was called an argument from “ethos.” <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> uses the same effective techniques. It retrojects Christians into a time before there were Christians, and makes them wise, heroic and unique <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ways-That-Never-Parted-Christians/dp/0800662091">before they were even a separate religion</a>.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/nero-and-the-christians/">scholarly debate about the treatment of Christians in Roman times</a>, the movie depicts a fully formed “Christian” community experiencing full-on persecution from the beginning.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0078%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D44">Roman historian Tacitus mentions Nero murdering Christians in his Annals XV:44</a>, but does his text accurately depict the situation in Rome in the 60s of the Common Era? There was certainly occasional, sometimes savage, persecution of Jesus-followers; but <a href="http://www.harpercollins.ca/9780062104526/the-myth-of-persecution">historians</a> are less certain than the movie of the details.</p>
<p>No matter: An audience raised on Jedi Knights fighting the Evil Empire automatically fills in the blanks as Luke heroically enters Mamertine prison to, as he puts it, “capture the last of Paul’s wisdom.” The touching scene of Paul’s beheading — an ancient church tradition not in the New Testament — is reminiscent of Luke Skywalker’s final passing. </p>
<p>Which brings us to the next way <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> is similar to Coca-Cola.</p>
<h2>3. Appropriate other peoples’ symbols</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus">Coca-Cola famously transformed the Dutch Sinterklaas</a>. Under the company, the gift-giving bishop grew to become the corpulent, red-cheeked, symbol of excess and secularism that Santa Claus is today.</p>
<p>In <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em>, filmmakers plug first-century “Christians” into symbols familiar from the 20th-century Holocaust. The believers, reminiscent of the Warsaw Jews, hide in a complex barred from the outside world. Gladiators check papers on every corner. Spies root out “the Christians,” who call the others “the Romans” even though they themselves are citizens.</p>
<p>Yet a true police state requires modern methods of surveillance. Ancient Rome under Nero was as dangerous a place for Jesus-followers as for many groups that drew unwanted attention. But it was an ancient city, sprawling and disorganized. One’s neighbours were <a href="https://theconversation.com/mythbusting-ancient-rome-throwing-christians-to-the-lions-67365">likely the greatest threat</a>. </p>
<p>The movie opens with the horrific burning of Jesus-followers as human torches, reported by Tacitus. Implicitly equating this terrible, but short-lived, persecution with the systematic 20th-century genocide of six million Jews is ethically questionable.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214567/original/file-20180412-566-1uhmv6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Luke (Jim Caviezel) enters Rome in secret to find Paul.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CTMG)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Reinforce gender stereotypes</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola has received complaints about sexist advertising. Worst were the Irish <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/08/05/shes-seen-more-ceilings-than-michelangelo-brutally-refreshing-sprite-ads-called-sexist/?utm_term=.be9fac86acde">ads for Sprite</a>, featuring “She’s seen more ceilings than Michaelangelo.” </p>
<p>However, a more insidious sexism is the reinforcement of prevalent gender stereotypes implying women are weak and men heroic and decisive.</p>
<p>Two of the only obviously Jewish characters in the film are Prisca and Aquila. In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+16&version=NRSV"><em>Romans 16.3-4</em></a>, Paul mentions Prisca first, a sign of her greater status. He notes that Priscilla (the longer form of her name) “risked her neck” for him. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/When-Women-Were-Priests-Subordination/dp/0060686618">much evidence</a> that women were leaders both in Jesus’s own entourage and in the first assemblies. The movie, to its credit, presents Prisca this way. However, the filmmakers then immediately weaken her with stereotypical “female faults” in the story. </p>
<p>Gender stereotyping is equally clear in the movie’s main character. One can hardly imagine a calmer, more authoritative, more “masculine” — and less historically likely — Paul. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214566/original/file-20180412-549-1hhv0it.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aquila (John Lynch) and Luke (Jim Caviezel) look on as Priscilla (Joanne Whalley) comforts the mother of a slain child.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CTMG)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We don’t know exactly what Paul <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5493755/Pauls_Masculinity_Journal_of_Biblical_Literature_2004_">looked or spoke like</a>. He himself repeated criticisms in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+10%3A10&version=NRSVA"><em>2 Corinthians 10.10</em></a> that “his letters are weighty, but his physical presence is weak.” The apocryphal <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/thecla.html"><em>Acts of Paul and Thecla</em></a> describes Paul as a “man of small stature, with meeting eyebrows, bald head, bow-legged, strongly built, hollow-eyed, with a large, crooked nose.”</p>
<p>James Faulkner’s better-looking apostle is calm, measured in speech and recognized as a leader, even by Nero. In other words, apart from his bravery, he’s almost nothing like the excitable, irritable, boastful, socially isolated, sometimes petty and even <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Galatians%205:12">occasionally vicious</a> Paul we meet in his letters. Faulkner’s Paul is, rather, the ideal stoic man. </p>
<p>In his own rhetoric (advertising is not new!), Paul worked hard to cultivate a specific <a href="https://www.academia.edu/5909272/The_First_Cut_is_the_Deepest_Masculinity_and_Circumcision_in_the_First_Century">image of himself</a>. Faulkner plays to this version. I believe this is one part of the film Paul would be delighted with. Perhaps stoic ideals of masculinity are now considered more “Christian” than the charismatic, often women-led gatherings of Paul’s own day.</p>
<h2>5. Sell a mythical golden age</h2>
<p>The problem with <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> is that, like <a href="http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/coke-ads-1950s">sentimentalized images of five-cent Cokes in the hands of stereotypical figures</a>, the movie’s “Christian community in Rome” is a mish-mash of retrojections. With Coke’s vintage ads, we’re not sold accuracy, but comfort and constructed tradition. This movie is just as idealized.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214571/original/file-20180412-540-qzz6c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1937 advertisement for Coca Cola emphasized family values.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Coca Cola</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the real Jesus gatherings of the mid-60s, signs of Judaism would have been everywhere. Their scriptures were Jewish; much of their prayer and worship as well. The Jesus movement was still many decades from distinguishing itself as anything other than another sect of Judaism. Christianity did not yet exist. </p>
<p>In the movie, there is almost no mention of Judaism as a living religion. This is a subtle, but dangerous, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mary-magdalene-another-easter-jesus-film-thats-bad-news-for-judaism-94136">form of anti-Semitism pointed out in other contemporary Bible films such as <em>Mary Magdalene</em></a>.</p>
<p><em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> ignores the fact that the real Paul <a href="http://fortresspress.com/product/paul-within-judaism-restoring-first-century-context-apostle">continued to be a Jew</a>, even after his vision of Christ. He called himself a servant of <em>Israel’s</em> god, and considered his message to non-Jews to be part of Israel’s apocalyptic timeline. </p>
<p>Like Coca-Cola downplaying its origins, <em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> overlooks the apocalyptic fervour that gave birth to Christianity, and is apparent in <a href="http://fortresspress.com/product/paul-and-apocalyptic-imagination">every one of Paul’s letters</a>. Paul <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15&version=NRSVA">awaited Jesus’ triumphant return</a> if not before his death, then shortly after. The earliest Jesus communities trembled with this expectation. Amazingly, the movie barely mentions it.</p>
<h2>How we describe our past says much about our present</h2>
<p><em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> will likely not appeal to those not already Christian. This is perhaps why Paul speaks with the fictional Roman guard-keeper Mauritius about “salvation” and “grace” as if speaking to contemporary believers.</p>
<p>I left the theatre wishing we could all be more like the director’s Paul: More measured in word and deed, more reflective, gentle, graceful, reconciled to ourselves and forgiving of others. </p>
<p><em>Paul, Apostle of Christ</em> is dedicated to “all those persecuted for their faith.” One can only endorse this. Which is why, despite Jim Caviezel and James Faulkner’s fine performances, it is odd that the filmmakers did not make their characters more like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/12/12/no-christians-do-not-face-looming-persecution-in-america/?utm_term=.f7b21e544b41">those actually being persecuted</a> today. Paul and Luke should look less like <a href="https://theconversation.com/mary-magdalene-is-yet-another-example-of-hollywood-whitewashing-94134">white actors</a> from an old-school Hollywood western, and more like Syrian Christians, Egyptian Copts or Rohingya refugees.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">(Affirm/Sony)</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Robert Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Paul, Apostle of Christ’ is an enjoyable movie but its sugary message is like a can of soda: easy to swallow but not good for you with ideals that have have been manipulated to project a golden era.Matthew Robert Anderson, Affiliate Professor, Theological Studies, Loyola College for Diversity & Sustainability, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909212018-02-08T05:44:32Z2018-02-08T05:44:32ZDoes a sugar tax cause alcohol sales to spike? The research doesn’t give a decisive answer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204690/original/file-20180204-19948-1j8cqgb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's no direct evidence that taxing sugary drinks will lead to more consumption of alcohol.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Consuming sugar-sweetened drinks is associated with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-check-how-much-sugar-is-it-ok-to-eat-57345">range of health issues</a> including weight gain and obesity. These are risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes and certain cancers. </p>
<p>Taxing these drinks is an <a href="https://theconversation.com/taxing-sugary-drinks-would-boost-productivity-not-just-health-79410">effective means of reducing their consumption</a> and related health issues – as well as generating revenue for the government.</p>
<p>A recent study in the <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2018/01/11/jech-2017-209791">Journal of Epidemiology and Community </a> set out to test whether a sugar tax might impact on other behaviours affecting public health, along with whether such a tax would prompt people to choose no- or low-calorie drinks.</p>
<p>The researchers ended up finding an <em>association</em> between higher soft-drink prices and higher demand for some alcoholic beverages in terms of family food and drink purchases. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/clearing-up-confusion-between-correlation-and-causation-30761">Clearing up confusion between correlation and causation</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>They did not find that a sugar tax, let alone higher soft drink prices, <em>caused</em> people to drink more lager, as <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5302821/Sugar-tax-soft-drinks-drive-alcohol-consumption.html">news reports suggest</a>. In fact, the study provided no direct evidence a sugar tax will lead alcohol sales to increase. </p>
<h2>How was the study conducted?</h2>
<p>In this study, researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated elasticity of demand on non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks in the UK, based on households’ response to price differences in sugary drinks. </p>
<p>They used existing consumer survey expenditure data collected between 2012 and 2013 from nearly 32,000 households. </p>
<p>Households recorded their individual groceries and drinks they had purchased and brought home using scanned bar codes (or manually entered them if there was no bar code). The researchers tracked how much the household spent, where they purchased, the day of purchase and volume of beverage purchased. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-sugary-drinks-tax-could-prevent-thousands-of-heart-attacks-and-strokes-and-save-1-600-lives-56439">Australian sugary drinks tax could prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes and save 1,600 lives</a>
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</em>
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<p>They didn’t track consumption, or drinks which were bought and consumed elsewhere (for instance, in a bar or at a tuckshop), just the purchase of these products. </p>
<p>The researchers then compared how much one family bought and brought home of each beverage type when faced with a particular set of prices, against how much another family bought of each beverage type with a different set of prices. </p>
<h2>What were the results?</h2>
<p>The results were mixed, with variations between beverage types and income groups. There were several key outcomes.</p>
<p>In families where the price paid for high sugar-sweetened beverages such as Coke and Red Bull was higher, there were greater purchases of lager (such as Stella Artois, Beck’s or Corona), but less purchasing of spirits. </p>
<p>Where the price paid for medium sugar-sweetened drinks (including Fanta, Sprite and Powerade) was higher, there were fewer purchases of beer, lager and wines, but more of spirits. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sugar-tax-is-not-nanny-state-its-sound-public-policy-59059">Sugar tax is not nanny state, it's sound public policy</a>
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<p>Higher prices for diet or low sugar-sweetened drinks were associated with higher purchases of all alcoholic beverages except spirits, for which purchases were less. </p>
<p>Taking into account also relationships with other categories of drinks, the study concludes that a price increase for medium sugar-sweetened drinks would have the most significant positive impact from a public health perspective, given the drinks’ impact on dietary sugar and energy intake.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204747/original/file-20180204-19937-rqxmxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The amount of alcohol bought and drank outside of the home wasn’t taken into account in the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/AMwYylKQsUc">Photo by Julia Nastogadka on Unsplash</a></span>
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<h2>How we should read the results</h2>
<p>In principle, elasticity is about what happens over time when there is a change – such as a new tax – which results in a higher price. </p>
<p>But the study was not actually measuring the effects of change in price over time. Rather, it correlated how much one family bought of each beverage type when faced with a particular set of prices against how much another family bought of each beverage type with a different set of prices. </p>
<p>But because the study isn’t actually measuring and correlating the change that elasticities would measure – a new tax and the change in consumption over time – it offers no direct evidence of what would happen in case of a change like a new tax, and should not be interpreted as having done so.</p>
<p>It is commonplace in economics to estimate elasticities this way, as a kind of modelling of what might happen with an actual price change, so it is not wrong for the authors to follow this common procedure. We just need to be careful how we interpret the results. </p>
<p>The study results indicate that an increase in the price of sugar-sweetened drinks potentially has both positive and negative impacts, from a public health perspective, on the consumption of alcoholic beverages. It suggests more nuanced price options across different ranges of beverages should be considered rather than a single tax only on high-sugar-sweetened beverages. </p>
<h2>What else should we take into account?</h2>
<p>The study’s measure of the amount of alcoholic beverages purchased was the number of bottles/containers of alcohol purchased – not the total units of pure alcohol (standard drinks) purchased. The demand for alcohol may not be accurately measured given different alcoholic beverages have different alcohol strengths and are in different sizes of containers.</p>
<p>And while the study looked at relationships between prices of sugar-sweetened drinks and consumption of other non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, the impact on other sugary products was not taken into account. For instance, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X15000611">previous studies</a> suggest higher prices of sugar-sweetened drinks may have people substituting their sugar intake through things like sweets. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-sugary-drinks-tax-could-recoup-some-of-the-costs-of-obesity-while-preventing-it-69052">A sugary drinks tax could recoup some of the costs of obesity while preventing it</a>
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</em>
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<h2>The paper’s unspoken contribution: counting the calories in alcoholic drinks</h2>
<p>The paper takes for granted that the calories in alcohol drinks count when thinking about avoiding obesity. But alcohol is often overlooked when we are thinking about calories and obesity. </p>
<p>And it is not easy for consumers to take the calories in alcohol drinks into account. Unlike for every other packaged food or drink sold in Australia, the caloric content does not have to be listed on the label of alcoholic beverages. So one important contribution of the article is to underline that, aside from being intoxicating, alcoholic beverages are also high in calories.</p>
<p>As the paper points out, a bottle of lager beer contains slightly more calories than a can of Coca-Cola. This means arguments for discouraging obesity with a tax on drinks might well be directed at alcohol content as well as sugar content.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research centre Robin Room heads receives funding from federal government research bodies, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, VicHealth, Australian state government commissions, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research centre Heng Jiang works for receives funding from federal government research bodies, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, VicHealth, Australian state government commissions, the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.</span></em></p>A recent study was reported as saying a sugar tax would have us drinking more alcohol. But the study didn’t establish this fact. The results were mixed with no evidence one thing caused another.Robin Room, Professor, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe UniversityHeng Jiang, Research Fellow, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848272017-09-29T04:04:35Z2017-09-29T04:04:35ZWhat Twitter can learn from that time Coca Cola changed its formula<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187949/original/file-20170928-1440-13uv8c6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Twitter is experimenting with 280 characters.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 140-character message limit has defined Twitter. But the company is now <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/product/2017/Giving-you-more-characters-to-express-yourself.html">experimenting</a> with its format, doubling the length of some users’ tweets to 280 characters. Why are they taking such an enormous risk, playing with the characteristic that defines and differentiates the service? </p>
<p>The reason is that Twitter’s user base has been <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users/">stuck</a> at about 320 million for some time. If this doesn’t change, <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/0907.1514.pdf">entropy</a> will set in and Twitter could collapse. </p>
<p>We can learn a lot about what Twitter is going through by looking at the time Coca Cola decided to change its recipe, and unveiled “New Coke”. The change was rejected by customers, and the company <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-new-coke">had to backtrack</a>.</p>
<p>Another thing pushing Twitter’s move is that it <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/27/twitter-user-growth-stalls-as-revenue-fell-5-in-q2/">reported</a> a slight decline in users and a loss of US$116 million in the most recent quarter. It was punished by investors and put on notice, so increasing users and ad revenue are important corporate objectives. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"912795950476857344"}"></div></p>
<h2>Users still don’t want to pay</h2>
<p>Twitter’s problem, like all social media and news platforms, comes down to the <a href="http://www.bandt.com.au/media/study-90-aussies-unwilling-pay-online-news">unwillingness of online users to pay</a>. Older forms of media - newspapers and the like - are just holding on despite declining advertising revenue, but that’s becoming increasingly difficult as traditional consumers die and younger consumers expect all media to be accessible online. </p>
<p>By experimenting with longer messages, Twitter will be hoping to solve some of the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-advertising/with-ceo-shakeup-twitter-under-pressure-to-please-advertisers-idUSKBN0OV0D420150615">problems faced by advertisers</a>. At present, advertisers prefer to spend their money on other platforms because they have many more active users who are more attentive, and provide better data on how to both target consumers and evaluate impact.</p>
<p>The capacity to reach audiences and provide content on Twitter is <a href="http://enrichmarketing.co.uk/make-140-characters-twitter/">severely limited</a> by the 140-character restriction. While Twitter <a href="https://digiday.com/media/twitters-new-rules-character-limits-mean-advertisers/">belatedly tackled</a> some of the limitations of its format by allowing the addition of images, videos, and weblinks, the short message format remains restrictive for promotional communication. </p>
<p>Longer tweets will keep users on a screen for longer, and allow advertisers to “push” messages to users. But the risk for Twitter is that this is precisely what its most loyal users want to avoid.</p>
<p>Twitter urgently needs to find a way to meet the demands of its advertisers, but by doing so it risks alienating users - the people who create the network that makes Twitter valuable. </p>
<p>Remember <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/02/friendster-autopsy/">Friendster</a>? Remember MySpace? The latter’s former head of online marketing, Sean Percival, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/06/myspace-what-went-wrong-sean-percival-spotify">once noted</a> that among the many mistakes made by MySpace, disrespecting users was a key one. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1329878X1314600116">Most</a> social media users treat the online space as a public service <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2025674">without much awareness</a> that the vast technological enterprise that delivers it must be paid for.</p>
<h2>Lessons from business history</h2>
<p>Twitter might ponder what happened when Coca Cola <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-new-coke">changed the formula of its signature product in 1985</a>. </p>
<p>At the time it was believed that the change was a reaction to the increased market share that Pepsi enjoyed after its hugely successful marketing campaign featuring artists such as Michael Jackson.</p>
<p>The New Coke formula also tested well against Pepsi in focus group studies that included 200,000 taste tests. But <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/203590.The_Real_Thing">an account of this episode</a>, written by Constance L. Hays, argued the real motivation behind the change was US$50 million in annual savings by reducing the use of more expensive ingredients.</p>
<p>In interviews with Pepsi chemists, Hays was told: “Coke turned its back on the very thing that made it great.”</p>
<p>While the company recovered well from the public relations crisis, and now tells a positive story about it, for a time Coca Cola was in grave danger. Tellingly, it was saved by the people who loved the product enough to pressure the company to reverse its decision. These customers organised a boycott and other public campaigns that saw the old formula restored after three months.</p>
<p>An important lesson for marketers from the New Coke experiment was that in spite of the rigorous market testing, other factors had to be considered. Marketers learned about the importance of habit, tradition, brand loyalty and affinity, or more simply, the truth of the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. </p>
<p>While Twitter is not selling a much loved soft drink, the tech world is also littered with cautionary tales of failure like <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/tivo-to-shutter-australian-epg-by-31-october">TiVo</a>, or the Microsoft <a href="https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/five-reasons-the-microsoft-zune-is-dead/">Zune</a>, and “tweaks” to successful products and applications that have damaged companies and brands, like Vegemite iSnack 2.0 (now rebadged as Cheeseybite). </p>
<h2>Are they solving a problem for users?</h2>
<p>One of the common features of both human and computer networks is that weak connections lead to network instability and breakdown. Yet this is precisely the risk Twitter is taking by changing its format. Longer messages may drive away loyal users who love the current format without attracting new users to satisfy and reassure investors and advertisers. </p>
<p>Many people are asking serious questions about the value of their time spent on social media and various studies show use of social media sites is <a href="https://theconversation.com/so-long-social-media-the-kids-are-opting-out-of-the-online-public-square-53274">starting to decline</a>. </p>
<p>Creating longer messages won’t solve this problem, especially as it threatens to make Twitter even more time consuming. People will have less time to follow other users as they spend more time writing, and less time reading and sharing posts. </p>
<p>Twitter might be seizing the day - <em>Carpe Diem</em> - to change its primary product or test the waters to gauge public reaction, but it’s worth remembering that those two powerful Latin words are from <a href="https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/carpe-diem.html">a longer phrase by the poet Horace.</a> </p>
<p><em>Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero</em></p>
<p>which translates as:</p>
<p><em>While we’re talking, envious time is fleeing: seize the day, put no trust in the future</em></p>
<p>Twitter might consider Horace’s longer message before it commits to the introduction of 280-character posts. Its future may be at stake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Collette Snowden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Twitters experiment with 280 characters bears a remarkable resemble to the time Coca Cola changed its formula. That didn’t end well.Collette Snowden, Senior Lecturer, School of Communication, International Studies and Languages, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808342017-07-12T13:42:27Z2017-07-12T13:42:27ZBig business prioritises climate change over labour rights – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177718/original/file-20170711-14468-tknf52.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need to get noticed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/cartoon-characters-workers-wearing-overall-yellow-264933164?src=2S3YesBxoW5tH1Ie_mlk0A-2-26">Fred Ho</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the Trump administration was <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-decision-to-quit-the-paris-agreement-may-be-his-worst-business-deal-yet-78780">still deciding</a> whether America should remain in the <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">Paris climate agreement</a>, the president’s closest officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/trump-advisers-paris-climate-accord.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fcoral-davenport&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=16&pgtype=collection">lined up</a> on different sides of the debate. Those in favour of the agreement included Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, a career property developer, and the secretary of state and former chief executive of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson. </p>
<p>The lifelong political operatives in the opposite camp were Scott Pruitt of the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Mike Pence, the vice president. They said the accord threatened the US economy and was based on questionable science, arguments Trump himself had made during the 2016 election campaign. </p>
<p>It might seem surprising that the advisers with business backgrounds were the ones who wanted the US to maintain its commitment to cutting emissions. Of course Trump, the other businessman in the group, opted to leave the agreement. But his decision went against what has come to be the mainstream view of climate change in US corporate circles. </p>
<p>At the same time that Tillerson and Kushner were making their case, 30 chief executives of large corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange including Goldman Sachs, Dow Chemical Company and Coca Cola <a href="http://bteam.org/announcements/30-major-ceos-call-on-trump-stay-in-paris/">took out an ad</a> in the Wall Street Journal urging the president not to withdraw. </p>
<p>This chimes with new research findings that we are presenting at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/11-meetings-and-conferences/269-24th-international-conference-of-europeanists-call-for-proposals">International Conference of Europeanists</a> being held at the University of Glasgow. These <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0007650315613966">confirm that</a> multinationals are heavily engaged with environmental issues. On the other hand, they have largely neglected calls to discharge social responsibilities through the likes of the living wage, collective bargaining or taking action against forced labour in their supply chains. Why this difference? And what can be done about it? </p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>We analysed sustainability reports published by 150 large multinationals from Germany, the UK and the US from the late 1990s until the present. We found that firms from all three countries engaged earlier with environmental than social sustainability issues. They continue to publish higher quality data on their environmental impacts and have more ambitious improvement plans. </p>
<p>And firms from all three countries have converged around common environmental commitments while their commitments for most social issues are still substantially determined by the laws and the state of the debate in their home <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1449403515000478">countries</a>. </p>
<p>It is worth emphasising that this commitment to environmental responsibility is a sea change: for years big business, perhaps mainstream corporate America in particular, fought against climate action. Now many of these businesses are backing (some forms of) global climate regulation even in the absence of pressure from the US government. </p>
<p>This difference in attitudes to their environmental and social impacts is despite the fact that activists and NGOs have promoted the two issues in a similar manner. In both cases they have used voluntary certification schemes along the lines of the Fairtrade logo, for example. </p>
<p>According to interviews we carried out with a small sample of multinationals’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers, the difference is that their employers have come to view climate change as a future business risk. Investors are increasingly demanding evidence of plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To help guide them, global standards to measure this risk <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638180802489121">are</a> being <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644016.2015.1051325">developed</a>. </p>
<p>By contrast, labour rights issues are rarely seen by business as market imperatives. There is <a href="http://www.ilo.int/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---travail/documents/publication/wcms_162117.pdf">little evidence that</a> market actors such as the investor community exert significant pressure on multinationals to improve their practices in this area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177720/original/file-20170711-14488-63twwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pink pulpit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-apr-24-2017-emmanuel-639839071?src=kDs8pcKrYz469Hbde8gZpw-2-19">Hadrian</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To explore this difference, we analysed how the Financial Times has covered climate change and the living wage – two prominent sustainability issues from opposite sides of the divide. By looking at coverage over the same period as the corporate reports, we found that the FT’s business section had paid far greater attention to climate change than wage equality – even after the financial crisis of 2008-09. </p>
<p>At one point in 2007, the FT business pages published more than 1,400 articles on climate change. The highest point of its coverage of wage-related issues was as long ago as 1997, and amounted to just 268 articles. </p>
<p>This corroborates what the CSR managers had suggested in our interviews. Investors and customers seem to be putting much more pressure on multinationals to deal with emissions and more broadly climate change. They appear to have turned these issues into a nascent, albeit still contested, market imperative. </p>
<p>Prominent business actors still frequently deny that addressing wage inequality is their primary responsibility. Warren Buffett, the star American investor, recently came out against excessive increases to the minimum wage in an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/better-than-raising-the-minimum-wage-1432249927">op-ed piece</a> for the Wall Street Journal. The working poor would be better served by earned income tax credits rather than “distortions to the market”, he argued. </p>
<p>If firms’ sense of social responsibility is ever to catch up with their sense of environmental responsibility, these kinds of attitudes will have to change. Persuading investors that labour rights issues are in the interests of big business is a major part of the battle. If it becomes the same kind of mainstay in the international business press as climate change, things might begin to look entirely different. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of a series on sustainability and transformation in today’s Europe, published in collaboration with <a href="http://www.europenowjournal.org">EuropeNow Journal</a> and the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org">Council for European Studies (CES)</a> at Columbia University. Each article is based on a paper presented at the <a href="https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/conferences/upcoming-conferences/2017-ces-conference">24th International Conference of Europeanists</a> in Glasgow.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Kollman has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alvise Favotto receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Once investors put their shoulders to the wheel, everything changes.Kelly Kollman, Senior Lecturer, Politics, University of GlasgowAlvise Favotto, Lecturer in Management Accounting, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/789212017-06-09T05:01:06Z2017-06-09T05:01:06ZWe know too much sugar is bad for us, but do different sugars have different health effects?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172880/original/file-20170608-29563-1dmhqa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The type of sugar in popular soft drinks varies from country to country even if the brand name is the same.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our recent article published in the <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2017/206/10/sugar-content-soft-drinks-australia-europe-and-united-states">Medical Journal of Australia</a> found that Australian and European soft drinks contained higher concentrations of glucose, and less fructose, than soft drinks in the United States. The total glucose concentration of Australian soft drinks was on average 22% higher than in US formulations.</p>
<p>We compared the composition of sugars in four popular, globally marketed brands – Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite and Pepsi – using samples from Australia, Europe and the US. While the total sugar concentration did not differ significantly between brands or geographical location, there were differences between countries in the concentrations of particular sugars, even when drinks were marketed under the same trade name.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172874/original/file-20170608-29563-pnrhx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1148&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Sucrose is made up of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Whether these differences have distinct effects on long-term health is currently unclear. Certainly, over-consumption of either glucose or fructose will contribute to <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/98/4/1084.full.pdf">weight gain</a>, which is associated with a host of health conditions such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15328324">type 2 diabetes</a> and <a href="http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/121/11/1356">heart disease</a>. And because the body metabolises glucose and fructose in different ways, their effects may differ.</p>
<h2>Sucrose, glucose and fructose</h2>
<p>Soft drinks, as they are referred to in Australia, or “sodas” in the US and “fizzy drinks” in the UK, are non-alcoholic, carbonated, sugar-sweetened beverages. <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/cs/tccc-yir2012/operating_groups.html">Australia ranks seventh out of the top ten countries</a> for soft drink sales per capita.</p>
<p>Sugars are the chief ingredient in soft drinks and include glucose, fructose and sucrose. The source of sugars in popular soft drinks varies between global regions. This is because sugars are sourced from different crops in different areas of the world. </p>
<p>Soft drinks in Australia are primarily sweetened with sucrose from sugar cane. Sucrose, often referred to as “table sugar”, is composed of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule joined by chemical bonds. This means equal amounts of glucose and fructose are released into the bloodstream when sucrose is digested.</p>
<p>Overseas, soft drinks are sweetened with sucrose-rich sugar beet (Europe) or high-fructose corn syrup (US). High-fructose corn syrup is also made up of glucose and fructose, but contains a higher fructose-to-glucose ratio than sucrose.</p>
<h2>Do they have different health impacts?</h2>
<p>Fructose over-consumption is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26055949">known to contribute</a> to <a href="http://christinecronau.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/nrgastro.2010.41.pdf">fatty liver disease</a>. Fatty liver disease affects <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/liver-fatty-liver-disease">about one in ten people</a> in the West. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the leading cause of liver disease.</p>
<p>Some researchers have suggested too much fructose in the diet can harm the liver in a similar fashion to alcohol. However, this concern is related to <em>added</em> fructose in the diet, not natural sources. Natural sources of fructose, such as fruit, honey and some vegetables, are not generally over-consumed and provide other important nutrients, such as dietary fibre and vitamins. So, fruit does not generally pose a risk for fatty liver disease.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173054/original/file-20170609-1721-1lht3p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Natural sources of fructose, such as fruit, are generally not over-consumed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>High glucose consumption rapidly elevates blood glucose and insulin. This may affect <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15451897">brain function</a>, including <a href="https://lipidworld.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-511X-13-195">mood and fatigue</a>. Because high blood glucose is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16919548">linked to diabetes</a>, consumption of high-glucose drinks may also raise the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular (heart) disease. </p>
<p>All soft drinks are considered energy-dense, nutrient-poor and bad for health. However, one of the inherent challenges in the field has been an inability to determine the actual dose of glucose or fructose in these drinks. </p>
<p>Studies that follow people over time, and link soft drink consumption to adverse health effects, are complicated by not knowing whether individuals in these studies are simply eating too many energy-rich foods, and whether soft drink consumption coincides with other poor health behaviours. So, further research is required to determine whether soft drinks containing different concentrations of fructose and glucose are associated with differing health risks. </p>
<h2>Soft drink policies</h2>
<p>There is still much to learn about the differences in composition of sugars and patterns of soft drink intake between countries. A small number of countries, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/22/mexico-sugar-tax-lower-consumption-second-year-running">Mexico</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38767941">France</a>, have already implemented taxation on soft drinks. It remains to be determined whether these actions reduce the incidence of obesity, diabetes and heart diseases.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173056/original/file-20170609-32402-pssvkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Over-consumption of any kind of sugar leads to weight gain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australian policymakers are yet to take action to reduce soft drink consumption. A range of intervention strategies have been considered, including banning sugary soft drinks in schools and hospitals, taxation, and regulating beverage marketing. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-08/sugary-drinks-to-be-phased-out-of-nsw-health-facilities/8599820">New South Wales Health Department</a> has just announced sugary drinks will be phased out of vending machines, cafes and catering services in the state’s health facilities by December. This is a great move. Importantly, we must continue to increase public awareness of the adverse health effects of sugary soft drinks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn Kingwell receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pia Varsamis and Robyn Larsen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A recent study found Australian soft drinks had higher concentrations of glucose than US soft drinks, which had more fructose. Does this mean Australian drinks are worse for health than US drinks?Bronwyn Kingwell, Head, Metabolic and Vascular Physiology NHMRC, Senior Principal Research Fellow, Baker Heart and Diabetes InstitutePia Varsamis, PhD Student, Metabolic and Vascular Physiology, Baker Heart and Diabetes InstituteRobyn Larsen, Postdoctural Research Fellow in Nutritional Biochemistry, Baker Heart and Diabetes InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781802017-05-24T20:17:33Z2017-05-24T20:17:33ZThe economics behind Uber’s new pricing model<p>Uber <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-19/uber-s-future-may-rely-on-predicting-how-much-you-re-willing-to-pay">is changing the way it calculates fares</a>, moving to a system that charges what customers are “willing to pay”, based on factors like whether you are travelling to a wealthy suburb. But while this change has been met with <a href="https://twitter.com/psaffo/status/866720509416710144">mild outrage</a>, it is actually a very common practice called “price discrimination”. </p>
<p>Price discrimination is a firm’s attempt to capture the difference between the value a consumer puts on a product and how much they actually pay. Firms do this by charging different prices to different consumers and exploiting differences in willingness to pay. </p>
<p>While this sounds like it comes at the expense of consumers, economic theory shows that <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1821366.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aab06254cf6a0f8710757d5b1607545b2">society as a whole can benefit</a> if certain conditions are met. For example, if Uber’s new pricing means it can enter new markets or reduce customer waiting times, price discrimination could increase society’s overall welfare.</p>
<p>Price discrimination takes many forms, such as Coca-Cola’s infamous vending machines that increase soft drink prices <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/business/why-variable-pricing-fails-at-the-vending-machine.html">as the outside temperature increases</a>, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/woman-tax-on-everything-makes-us-buy-into-gender-inequality-33855">charging more for pink razors</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718714000174">Cheap movie tickets on Tuesdays</a> are another example of price discrimination, as are the different priced tickets <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1593706?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">at the theatre</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176512005708">concerts</a>. Pharmaceutical companies <a href="https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hghr/online/price-discrimination-method/">charge different prices in different countries</a>, and car dealers <a href="http://www.crest.fr/ckfinder/userfiles/files/pageperso/xdhaultfoeuille/DDF_auto_discr.pdf">negotiate and give out discounts</a>.</p>
<p>The airline industry is often regarded as the champion of price discrimination. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00653.x/pdf">It price discriminates</a> on almost every aspect of a fare - from the time a booking is made to the type of seat booked, and, of course, the actual route flown.</p>
<p>The only surprise is that Uber hasn’t implemented such a system before now. Its success has, in large part, been driven by a business model that so cleverly mimics a free-functioning market, notably with its “<a href="https://www.uber.com/info/how-surge-works/">surge pricing</a>”.</p>
<h2>What is price discrimination?</h2>
<p>Price discrimination is the practice of charging different “types” of consumers different prices for the same product or service. </p>
<p>Broadly, “type” might be based on an observable characteristic (age, gender or residency status for example) or some unobservable characteristic that is revealed through the consumer’s actions or preferences (coupon discounts, early bird specials, happy hour deals and so on). </p>
<p>Regardless of the mechanism, the objective is to exploit the different “willingness to pay” (WTP) between consumers and thereby increase profits. WTP describes the maximum amount a consumer <em>would</em> pay for a particular product or service. Given consumers differ in incomes and other circumstances, this presents an opportunity that firms may exploit through price discrimination. </p>
<p>Economists generally refer to three types of price discrimination – first degree, second degree, and third degree. </p>
<p>First degree generates the most profit. It involves each consumer paying the maximum price they are willing to pay and the firm extracting all of their WTP. </p>
<p>With the exception of some <a href="http://web.stanford.edu/%7Ejdlevin/Papers/AFP.pdf">internet auctions</a>, pure first degree price discrimination isn’t very common. But we can see versions of it where consumers pay a fixed fee in addition to ongoing fees (such as residential water pricing), and where a single price covers both access and (limited) consumption (such as internet services with data limits). If properly designed, these alternative pricing systems mimic first degree price discrimination by capturing the maximum profit available.</p>
<p>Second degree price discrimination involves providing discounts for bulk purchases. While generally not achieving the same level of profits as first degree, the profits from second degree price discrimination still dominate over simple uniform pricing (where one price is charged to all consumers).</p>
<p>This type of pricing doesn’t require a consumer to necessarily be identified by an observable characteristic, rather they reveal their “type” through their purchases. For example, a consumer who buys a 24-pack of soft drink cans at the supermarket generally receives a discount (per can) over the shopper who buys a single can.</p>
<p>Third degree price discrimination involves selling the same good or service to different segments of a market, based on willingness to pay. This is implemented using some identifiable consumer attribute, such as geography or age. An example would be train operators charging different prices to adults and students.</p>
<h2>Price discrimination based on geography</h2>
<p>It is this third type of price discrimination that Uber is adopting. Although some customers will object to paying different amounts for the same distance travelled, Uber is certainly not the first company to exploit a geographic dimension when it comes to pricing decisions. </p>
<p>Many other businesses similarly base pricing decisions on location and (implicitly) the WTP of consumers in the markets they serve. For example, cafes, restaurants and bars operating in popular tourist destinations often charge substantially more than similar venues in neighbourhood locations. Although this may, to some extent, reflect higher costs, that typically doesn’t explain the entire difference.</p>
<p>The subtle point is what economists refer to as “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Price-Discrimination-Louis-Phlips/dp/0521283949">net prices</a>”, which occur only when price differences for different versions of the same good are not reflected in different costs.</p>
<p>So is Uber’s plan to charge prices according to the customers’ locations something that should cause users to take to the streets in mass protest, or at the very least raise concerns of regulators? Probably not. After all, it isn’t as if Uber is itself a monopoly. There are always taxis as an alternative. But, of course, the taxi industry has always been partial to a little price discrimination itself. It just isn’t as good at it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordi McKenzie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Charging consumers different prices for the same service is actually a very common practice called “price discrimination”.Jordi McKenzie, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/747062017-03-28T15:27:38Z2017-03-28T15:27:38ZFive branding mistakes you should avoid in your small business<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162401/original/image-20170324-12132-osxlun.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Small and medium enterprises tend to <a href="http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/713/158777.html">underestimate</a> the power of branding. This must rank as one of the deadliest mistakes in the world of making business.</p>
<p>You have most likely read about the <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-most-common-mistakes-companies-make-with-global-marketing">branding failures</a> of large businesses in the news – those massive errors that spelled doom for once successful ventures. While not making headlines the collapse of small businesses are more common. <a href="http://www.fin24.com/entrepreneurs/63-of-small-businesses-fail-20101111">Studies</a> reveal that 63% of all South African businesses fail within the first two years of trading. </p>
<p>Many of the <a href="http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/business-failure.htm">errors</a> behind the collapse of small and medium enterprises are <a href="https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/4-common-branding-mistakes-startups-make/">branding</a> errors – or the result of business owners not understanding the importance of it. Many people think of “brands” as being <a href="http://interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2015/ranking/">large</a>, important identities everybody knows about like Nike, Coca-Cola, and Harley Davidson. But building a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1422144135/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1422144135&linkCode=as2&tag=dorclasmarstr-20">credible identity</a> for a small business is just as vital, and one of the first steps along the path to success. </p>
<p>Branding need not be a headache or anybody’s worst nightmare but it’s essential to make sure you have a little know-how before you start your business. Ensuring that you have the basics down will allow you to steer clear of avoidable errors and take a significant amount of stress out of running a small business or start-up. Plus, if you do it right, you’ll likely find you enjoy it! And the value of a good brand is quite simply, beyond measure. </p>
<p>Across the board, there are five common branding mistakes committed by small businesses. All can be avoided with a little thought and planning.</p>
<h2>Bad business name</h2>
<p>We’ve all driven past them: those businesses called “Bob’s lawnmowers” or “The very best nuts and avocadoes”. With the possible exception of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, few of these achieve fame and fortune. And the latter is fictitious! </p>
<p>Branding can’t be <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=wTE-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=logo+design+theory+study+coca+cola&source=bl&ots=Y2Q64KHpUO&sig=xWH9GG_qa7GJVJayoMKQqu_Sv6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIkam11-7SAhUhBsAKHf__BYYQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q=logo%20design%20theory%20study%20coca%20cola&f=false">generic</a>. It can’t be hackneyed. It can’t be repetitive, or something we’ve all seen before. Your business is your baby, so give its identity the same care you would give to naming a child. Recognise that naming your business is a strategic process and requires thought. The name must reflect your purpose, identity and promise. And please, no clichés! </p>
<h2>Penny pinching</h2>
<p>Many small businesses try to scrimp and save wherever possible, and the first place they do this is in the office. Bad idea!
You may be glad to save on your overheads, but in the long run it could turn out to be an expensive branding mistake. If I walk into your offices as a prospective client and you offer me a broken chair to sit on, what am I going to think? </p>
<p>But this doesn’t only apply to your customers. Treat your staff well, too. If your staff are sitting in uncomfortable chairs or don’t have proper tools or are dying of heat because you don’t have an air conditioner (or at least a fan) they’re going to be grumpy. You need your staff to be <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/10/08/three-steps-for-transforming-employees-into-brand-ambassadors/#5477983d1040">brand ambassadors</a> and to be proud of working for you. How you treat your staff will turn into how your staff treat your customers. Make sure you create a courteous, respectful brand from the inside out. </p>
<h2>Too good to be true</h2>
<p>One of the most common mistakes made by new business owners is taking bad advice. It may stand to reason that if you’re not a marketing expert, you should <a href="http://www.adrants.com/2014/11/case-study-outsourced-marketing-can.php">outsource marketing</a>, and this certainly does make sense if you need a little help. However, you should put effort to know enough that you can distinguish between good and bad advice. Otherwise you may end up worse off than you were before.
A consultant who doesn’t have your best interests at heart – or who simply isn’t an expert – can easily sink your business with a hearty dose of poor advice. And you would have paid them to do it! Empower yourself.</p>
<h2>Complicating your brand</h2>
<p>Ever heard of the award-winning “clown pants” design? Nope, me either. That’s because many of the most iconic and memorable brands understand the importance of keeping it simple.
This doesn’t mean you should make your brand identity completely generic – it’s a fine line to tread between keeping it simple and making it forgettable. But as a rule, be bold, make a statement, but keep it clear. And in order to keep it clear, you should stay away from unnecessary bells and whistles.
Keep your choice of colours, words and icons to a minimum. And once you have a clear, simple brand, ensure that you enforce it consistently throughout your company.</p>
<p>Remember – you can rebrand at some stage, or launch a new product with its own distinct brand. But beware of walking before you run, as rebranding is a challenging exercise. So, too, is running multiple brands successfully. Be sure it’s really what you want to do, and perhaps call on a little expert advice before you go ahead.</p>
<h2>The herd mentality</h2>
<p>Be original, Following the crowd is a fatal error. The ultimate key to your success will be identifying a unique or intriguing selling point and aligning your brand with that, so don’t go with the flow. </p>
<p>You’re hopefully planning to keep your business going for a while, so steer clear of following popular trends – you don’t want your brand to <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=wTE-CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=logo+design+theory+study+coca+cola&source=bl&ots=Y2Q64KHpUO&sig=xWH9GG_qa7GJVJayoMKQqu_Sv6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIkam11-7SAhUhBsAKHf__BYYQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q=logo%20design%20theory%20study%20coca%20cola&f=false">date</a>. If you consider the <a href="http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/the-logo-story">Coca-Cola logo</a>, it hasn’t changed all that much since the 1800s.
Ask yourself: Will your brand still stand up to scrutiny in 10, 20 or 100 years’ time?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond van Niekerk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A significant portion of small business failures are caused by branding mistakes and owners who don’t understand the importance of branding. Here are the common mistakes.Raymond van Niekerk, Adjunct Professor, with expertise in Branding, Marketing, Business Strategy, Corporate Citizenship and Social Responsibility, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652912016-10-19T16:09:38Z2016-10-19T16:09:38ZHow Western companies can succeed in China<p>Not too long ago, when Western CEOs pondered China’s fast-growing market and billion-plus potential customers, their eyes would fill with dollar signs. But these days, thoughts of China are more likely to elicit serious soul-searching, as some of the companies that eagerly dove into China have withdrawn.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the car-hailing service Uber <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-s-didi-chuxing-to-acquire-rival-uber-s-chinese-operations-1470024403">surrendered</a> its China operations to arch competitor Didi Chuxing in exchange for a 17.7 percent stake in the combined company. Later this month, Yum Brands, the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, <a href="http://www.yum.com/press-releases/yum-brands-names-expected-board-of-directors-of-yum-china-holdings/">plans</a> to spin off its China unit amid growing competition in the food delivery business. Even Coca-Cola has <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/press-center/press-releases/the-coca-cola-company-announces-plans-to-significantly-accelerate-bottler-refranchising">announced</a> its intention to refranchise its company-owned bottling operations in China. </p>
<p>Was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ubers-didi-deal-dispels-chinese-el-dorado-myth-once-and-for-all-63624">China dream just a mirage</a> with Beijing simply using foreign ventures to import Western technologies and skills? Or is there a way to make money in the People’s Republic of China without giving away the store? </p>
<p>While finding success in the People’s Republic can be tricky, several Western companies have prospered – and even some of the companies that have “retreated” in recent years have profited handsomely from their China operations.</p>
<h2>Partnerships and profits</h2>
<p>While some research on joint ventures <a href="https://hbr.org/1994/07/collaborative-advantage-the-art-of-alliances">has tended to see success</a> in terms of harmony, longevity and the “ability to create and sustain fruitful collaborations,” other research has focused more on the <a href="https://hbr.org/1989/01/collaborate-with-your-competitors-and-win">benefits</a> of <a href="https://hbr.org/1991/11/the-way-to-win-in-cross-border-alliances">participation</a> in a joint venture and company profits. </p>
<p>Unduly attached to the longevity of a partnership as a measure of success, several recent articles seem dismayed by the retreat of some American companies from China. Reconsidering the activities of such companies from a profit perspective, however, reveals a somewhat different picture than the one <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21703409-chinas-didi-chuxing-and-americas-uber-declare-truce-their-ride-hailing-war-uber-gives-app">suggested</a> by the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/china/yum-brands-mcdonalds-look-for-buyers-as-chinese-tastes-shift-20160804-gqkzk3.html">headlines</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, the idea that China is a dangerous place for outsiders has been around for a while. Jack Perkowski, a Wall Street veteran who founded a Chinese investment firm, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1013037331816672480">famously dubbed</a> China “the Vietnam War of American business” – because so many promising young careers were lost there.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, international brewers arrived in China like “stampeding wildebeest,” <a href="https://www.amazon.com/China-Dream-Quest-Untapped-Market/dp/0802139752">according to journalist Joe Studwell</a>, opening 60 breweries and operating another 30 via licensing agreements. Not one of those 90 foreign breweries, however, is believed to have turned a profit. </p>
<h2>Not so fast</h2>
<p>The picture, however, is more mixed than the above stories and anecdotes suggest. While Bank of America, Yahoo and Uber all engaged in well-publicized retreats, such moves were far from disastrous.</p>
<p>Bank of America, for example, made headlines when it sold the remainder of its stake in China Construction Bank in 2013 after once owning as much as almost a fifth of the Chinese lender. The <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324432404579052401692576092">move was seen as a retreat</a> at the time, but the eight-year relationship was <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324432404579052401692576092">certainly profitable</a> for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, producing an annual return of over 10 percent.</p>
<p>Yahoo had a similar experience with Alibaba. Yahoo invested US$1 billion in Alibaba in 2005 and handed over all of its China operations in return for a 40 percent equity stake. It <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-closes-7-6-billion-deal-alibaba-group-161614948--finance.html">sold half back</a> for about $7.6 billion in cash and preferred stock in 2012. Considering Yahoo still owns a sizable stake, its return looks pretty impressive. </p>
<p>Even Uber’s retreat is less than a total rout. Assuming a $35 billion valuation of the combined Uber-Didi Chuxing entity that remains, Uber’s 17.7 percent stake is worth about $6.2 billion. While this represents a haircut of nearly 25 percent from the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-uber-china-valuation-idUSKCN0UT0C9">$8 billion value</a> placed on Uber’s China operations before the surrender, Uber stands to make more from its investment. In the two years before Uber decided to fold its operations into Didi’s, Uber <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21703409-chinas-didi-chuxing-and-americas-uber-declare-truce-their-ride-hailing-war-uber-gives-app">lost $2 billion in China</a>. Now, with the Uber – Didi price war in the rearview mirror, the future seems fairly promising for Didi shareholders like Uber. </p>
<p>On top of that, for a favored few, China has been a gold mine, and both Coca-Cola and GM represent examples of American companies that have achieved some version of the China dream.</p>
<h2>Coca-Cola: From ‘bourgeois’ to dominance</h2>
<p>Coca-Cola had an auspicious start in China a century ago, some trouble with Communists in the mid-20th century, and enormous success in more recent years. </p>
<p>The soft-drink maker <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/opening-happiness-an-oral-history-of-coca-cola-in-china/">had been successful</a> in China as early as the 1920s. But Mao Zedong, who <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/opening-happiness-an-oral-history-of-coca-cola-in-china/">deemed</a> the company’s fizzy brown drink a “<a href="http://thesilkinitiative.com/5-things-to-learn-from-cokes-brand-building-story-in-china/">bourgeois concoction</a>,” nationalized the bottling companies after the Communist takeover in 1949. The company would have to wait nearly thirty years for another crack at the market. </p>
<p>That came in 1978, when efforts to reach out to state-owned import-export companies led to a meeting with the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation. After that, <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/celebrating-35-years-of-coca-cola-in-china">things moved quickly</a> and rapidly led to a deal, helped by the Carter administration’s <a href="http://millercenter.org/president/carter/speeches/speech-3935">normalization of diplomatic relations</a> around the same time. </p>
<p>Things did not, however, always go smoothly. Initially, Coca-Cola <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/celebrating-35-years-of-coca-cola-in-china">only received permission to sell</a> to international visitors in foreign hotels and “friendship” stores in three cities, and the company <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/opening-happiness-an-oral-history-of-coca-cola-in-china/">lost a lot of money</a> in the first two or three years shipping Coke from Hong Kong. In the early 1980s, the company was <a href="http://fortune.com/2014/09/11/opening-happiness-an-oral-history-of-coca-cola-in-china/">barred from selling</a> its products in the country for a year.</p>
<p>Over time, however, restrictions on company sales were loosened, and the company began to see real growth in the market. From a shipment of <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/celebrating-35-years-of-coca-cola-in-china">20,000 cases in January 1979</a>, Coca-Cola was <a href="http://www.joc.com/maritime-news/coca-cola-uncaps-plan-build-bottling-plants-chinese-venture_19930721.html">operating 13 bottling plants</a> in China by 1993 and controlled 23 percent of the country’s carbonated soft-drink market by 1996. By 2010, it <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903596904576515553953471040">held a 60 percent share</a> and <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/celebrating-35-years-of-coca-cola-in-china">owned 43 bottling plants</a> in 2014. Today, the country is now Coca-Cola’s <a href="http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-breaks-ground-on-45th-plant-in-china-as-part-of-4-billion-investment">third-largest market</a> in the world after the U.S. and Mexico.</p>
<h2>GM’s late start</h2>
<p>In contrast to Coca-Cola’s long history in China, General Motors is a relative newcomer to the People’s Republic – even compared with other foreign automakers.</p>
<p>While Jeep formed its first joint venture in China in 1984 and Volkswagen entered in 1985, GM didn’t make <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1992-01-16/business/fi-377_1_auto-markets">its first investment</a> until January 1992. Even less auspicious, GM <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/23/business/gm-to-expand-investment-in-building-trucks-in-china.html">abandoned</a> that investment three years later, before local production had even begun.</p>
<p>In retrospect, the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-11-05/how-gm-got-the-inside-track-in-china">key to GM’s long-term success</a> in China would have to wait until the fall of 1995, when China’s leading car maker, Shanghai Automotive Industry, <a href="https://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1995,_GM_Links_with_SAIC">picked the company</a> as its foreign partner in a billion dollar project to build sedans. </p>
<p>The deal was significant enough that then-Vice President Al Gore and Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng presided over the signing ceremony of the 50/50 joint venture in 1997, and by 1999, Shanghai GM <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB940882358599254880">was selling Buicks</a> as fast as it could make them.</p>
<p>Since then, GM’s partnerships in China have thrived. In 2015, GM’s automotive China joint ventures <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTEwNzA4NjE4JkRTRVE9MSZTRVE9NzMmU1FERVNDPVNFQ1RJT05fUEFHRSZleHA9JnN1YnNpZD01Nw%3d%3d">generated</a> roughly $45 billion in net sales and nearly $4.3 billion in net income, and the country accounted for <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTEwNzA4NjE4JkRTRVE9MSZTRVE9NSZTUURFU0M9U0VDVElPTl9QQUdFJmV4cD0mc3Vic2lkPTU3">37 percent of its total vehicle sales</a>. Despite being late to the party, the Shanghai partnership put GM on top of the pack.</p>
<h2>How to understand China</h2>
<p>Despite this kind of success, there have been frequent concerns raised in the press about the long-term costs of doing business in China, ranging from fears of regulatory fallout to the common allegation that Western businesses get pushed out once domestic companies are able to acquire and master key technologies. </p>
<p>Back in 1998, The Wall Street Journal <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB887147472543929500">reported</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“While the world’s biggest auto maker wants access to what one day may become the world’s biggest auto market, China wants the technology and training to build its own cars – and possibly compete with GM.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And others have gone further, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324482504578451410328454302">suggesting GM</a> – through its technical partnership with its Chinese partners – is gradually transitioning from a company that wraps its cars and trucks in the patriotism of "Old Glory” to one selling vehicles with “Made in China” stickers affixed on the bumper.</p>
<p>Having thought about China’s <a href="http://thediplomat.com/2016/10/the-race-to-chinas-19th-party-congress/">politics</a> and <a href="http://www.fletcherforum.org/2014/11/14/brookfield/">business environment</a> for a number of years, I think that being in China, when done right, can yield significant benefits. Moreover, if one believes that China’s renminbi is only going to get stronger, then there may be no better time than the present to invest in China. The tuition for learning about the place will never be smaller, the cost of mistakes will never be lower, and a long-term presence in the country may open the door to increasingly valuable sales over time.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many different factors that go into a successful investment decision, and it may be that Clint Eastwood’s character Harry Callahan was on to something. At a certain point, a CEO has got to ask him or herself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do you?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bwSxtPEZz9A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Feeling lucky?</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Brookfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Uber’s ‘retreat’ from China has led to soul-searching about whether the country is worth it. Don’t tell that to Coca-Cola and GM, however, which have found great success in the People’s Republic.Jonathan Brookfield, Adjunct Associate Professor, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.