After 15 years as the drawcard to a Sydney swimming festival, a giant inflatable slide featuring two Coca-Cola bottles has been removed after claims it was marketing to children.
The slide was part of the Splash Festival event at Sydney Olympic Park, however, members of a parents advocacy group, Parents' Voice, formally known as The Parents' Jury, made calls to have the slide removed.
Parents' Voice campaigns' manager, Alice Pryor, said the inflatable bottles meant that Coca-Cola Amatil was “arguably in breach of its own Advertising and Promotion to Children Policy”.
In response to complaints, both Sydney Olympic Park and Coca-Cola Amatil agreed to remove the slide from future events.
“When we drew the issue to the attention of Coca-Cola Amatil and Sydney Olympic Park, we pointed out that one in four Australian children are obese or overweight and that sugary drinks play a major part in weight gain and tooth decay in children,” Pryor said. “Our members also believe that venues such as Sydney Olympic Park should be a safe space where children are not subjected to this type of promotion.”
“Our members are concerned about the environmental causes of obesity in children and we are very encouraged to see Coca-Cola Amatil and Sydney Olympic Park acting responsibly by responding to our call to remove this slide.
“We would like to see an end to all marketing of sugary drinks to children and we applaud this positive step of removing the promotional slide.”
The removal of the slide follows other recent backlash over sugary drinks, with Cancer Council Victoria just yesterday taking on soft drinks with a new campaign from Behaviour Change Partners.
Taking cues from graphic anti-smoking advertisements, the campaign takes a journey inside the body of a soft drinker, showing the impact of the beverage on vital organs.
Cancer Council Victoria has several anti-soft drink ads as part of a campaign called Rethink Sugary Drink.
However, the Australian Beverages Council CEO, Geoff Parker, responded to the ads, saying they are “distorting the reality of the health landscape in Australia”.
“To single out sugar-sweetened beverages as a primary factor of chronic disease oversimplifies a complex public health issue,” Parker said.
“The beverage industry continues to adapt to changing consumer tastes including increasing promotion of smaller packs and offering more lower kilojoule options.
“Three out of the four biggest selling soft drinks in Australia are low or no kilojoule and, as a category, beverages are unique in offering consumers alternative kilojoule options.”
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