New York City is trying a new approach to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's failed attempt to ban sugary drinks.
NYC's health department has released warning ads informing the public that drinking too much sweet teas, fruit-flavored beverages, sports and energy drinks can lead to obesity and other health problems.
Bloomberg attempted to sanction a city-wide ban on sugary drinks, with the exception of milk-based products and alcoholic beverages, larger than 16-ounces at food establishments monitored by the city's health department earlier this year.
The new $1.4 million campaign began appearing on TV and buses around the city on Monday, according to CBS New York.
The ads encourage consumers to drink fat-free milk, seltzer and water, and eat fresh fruit instead of drinking juice.
Typically, a 20-ounce Coke has 240 calories, while the same size Minute Maid lemonade with 3 percent juice has 260 calories. Even though fruit drinks are being advertised as healthier options to soda, the sugar contents of juice sometimes is equal or higher to soda.
"Non-soda sugary drinks have been marketed as being healthier, with references to fruit and antioxidants, vitamins and energy," New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, a medical doctor, told Bloomberg Businessweek. "We're trying to warn them that these drinks can have as much or more sugar and calories as soda because we still have a major epidemic of obesity."
According to reports, more than half of New Yorkers are overweight or obese and one in four children are obese.
The American Beverage Association expressed their disappointment in a statement to CBS News.
"Once again, the New York City Health Department is oversimplifying the complex set of factors behind obesity," Chris Gindlesperger, senior director of public affairs for the ABA, said. "Selectively picking out common grocery items like sugar-sweetened beverages as a cause of obesity is misleading. The public does not believe that solutions to obesity are as simplistic as a ban on the size of just one item that people consume, nor should they."
You can watch the campaign ad in the video below.
