March 14, 2019

Tobacco companies hook kids on sugary drinks

Tobacco conglomerates that used colors, flavors and marketing techniques to entice children as future smokers transferred these same strategies to sweetened beverages when they bought food and drinks companies starting in 1963. The study by researchers at UC San Francisco, which draws from a cache of previously secret documents from the tobacco industry that is part of the UCSF Industry Documents Library, tracked the acquisition and subsequent marketing campaigns of sweetened drink brands by two leading tobacco companies and found that as tobacco was facing increased scrutiny from health authorities, its executives transferred the same products and tactics to peddle soft drinks.