Coca-Cola responds to pressure antiaçúcar

Coca-Cola will try to deal with the growing concerns around the world that sugary drinks contribute to an obesity epidemic.
The largest global manufacturer of soft drinks has announced that it will put nutrition information on the front of all packages, promote dietary drinks in emerging markets, leaving advertisements for children under 12 years and encourage consumers to adopt a more active lifestyle. The measures will be taken forward in all 200 countries where Coca-Cola operates. The company did not specify time limits nor the cost of initiatives.
The new policy comes amid heavy fire from health experts and parliamentarians, both in the United States as in other countries, against Coca-Cola and its competitors by the high degree of the caloric its main products.
"They need to take such an initiative given the pressure they face, certainly, and regulators undoubtedly also the consumer," says analyst Ali Dibadj, Bernstein investment group. He added that total sales of soft drinks have been falling in the United States, by "self-regulation" of health-conscious consumers.
As a result, the manufacturers of beverages have been expanding in emerging countries such as India.
Analysts said Coca-Cola and its rivals fear a wave of tightening measures around the world. "They are trying to anticipate it," Dibadj said.
The soft drink industry won a dispute this year when a judge vetoed the attempt by the city of New York to ban sugary drinks in packs "Giants". In other regions of the United States, efforts to tax fizzy drinks-similar to a tax approved in France in 2011-failed.
Coca-Cola tried to take the lead in the war against obesity, promoting ads that encourage consumers to burn more calories and highlighted their drinks with few or no calories.
"There is a place for all of our drinks in a healthy lifestyle," says the CEO of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent, adding that the company is not abandoning its main brand, nor suffering fall in worldwide sales of its carbonated drinks.