How Tobacco Companies now Hook Kids on Sugary Drinks

Documents obtained by researchers expose how Tobacco Companies hook kids on Sugary Drinks, which clearly outline the unethical and immoral actions.

Many moves made by multiple big corporations are extremely unethical, immoral, and downright shocking.

These corporations have completely compromised our federal health regulatory agencies, and it’s quite clear that they do not care about the health of the human race.

Because these companies need to make money to keep their so-called stockholders pleased they will do anything when it comes to the success of the products they manufacture, including taking illegal and/or immoral actions.

One of the more recent examples comes from the tobacco industry. Companies within the industry used colors, flavors, and marketing techniques to lure and entice children as potential future smokers.

They actually used and applied these same strategies to sweetened beverages starting as early as 1963, according to a study conducted by researchers at UC San Francisco.

R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris found out that as tobacco was facing increased scrutiny from health authorities, its executives now transferred the same products and tactics to peddle soft drinks.

Executives in the two largest U.S.-based tobacco companies had developed colors and flavors as additives for cigarettes and used them to build major children’s beverage product lines, including Hawaiian Punch, Kool-Aid, Tang and Capri Sun.

The R.J. Reynolds tobacco giant acquired Capri Sun and Tang, and used similar child-focused integrated marketing strategies to drive those sales.

The industry claims that these tobacco-inspired marketing strategies are not actually targeting children and should be excluded from these industry-led agreements,” said author Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH, of the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

But the evidence cited in our research shows that these product lines and marketing techniques were specifically designed for and tested on children.

Tobacco competitor Philip Morris had acquired Kool-Aid, via General Foods, in 1985.

The company flipped its marketing audience from families to children, created its “Kool-Aid Man” mascot, and launched collaborations with branded toys, including Barbie and Hot Wheels.

It also developed a children’s Kool-Aid loyalty program described as “our version of the Marlboro Country Store,” a cigarette incentives program.

At the end of the day, it’s important to recognize that government health authorities and the corporations we buy our food from, among other things, really don’t care about us.

This has become extremely evident, as they are responsible for the sharp rise in numerous diseases.

It’s not uncommon to see parents buy their children products similar to the ones listed above, and that’s due to mass brainwashing and the fact that we’ve been made to feel that these products are actually safe. This is why awareness is so critical.

Collective Evolution / ABC Flash Point News 2019.