I get where Coca-Cola is coming from, but their new ad campaign to reassure shoppers that aspartame (a.k.a. NutraSweet) is safe? Surprisingly unconvincing. And I happen to be someone who firmly believes that aspartame is harmless. But Coke's new ad campaign follows a long tradition of desperate corporate attempts to convince consumers to keep eating something they shouldn't, whether it's tobacco companies advocating for the safety of nicotine, or the corn industry lobbying to rename high-fructose corn syrup "corn sugar." It just comes off badly.
Coke is desperate due to falling sales of their diet brands. Diet Coke sales have dropped off 3 percent, which is a huge chunk of cash for a company that big.
Speaking for myself, I have cut back on my Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi consumption considerably in the last few years, due mainly to cost. Diet soda is a luxury item for me (coffee is my primary form of caffeine consumption). And it seems like soda gets more expensive every day.
There is no scientific evidence that aspartame is harmful. For those who believe that aspartame is bad for you, this is not a fact-based belief. But it's certainly true that aspartame doesn't do you any favors. Given the mass shift towards better quality ingredients and eating healthy, soda with any kind of artificial sweeteners fails that all-powerful "Michael Pollan test," and fails it badly.
Coke is never going to convince people that aspartame is safe. They need to just give up that fight. If they want to save Diet Coke, they are going to have to change the formula. I recently tried a sample of Nectresse, which is an artificial sweetener made from monk fruit. It was pretty convincingly sweet, and I would definitely try a diet soda that used it. (I hate the taste of stevia.)
Image courtesy Flickr/niallkennedy
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