12.04.2017

A series of journalism conferences on obesity received covert funding from Coca-Cola. Paul Thacker investigates

Coca-Cola’s secret influence on medical and science journalists

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) "Industry money was used to covertly influence journalists with the message that exercise is a bigger problem than sugar consumption in the obesity epidemic, documents obtained under freedom of information laws show. The documents detail how Coca-Cola funded journalism conferences at a US university in an attempt to create favourable press coverage of sugar sweetened drinks.

(...) For drinks manufacturers such as Coca-Cola the idea that consuming their products is fine as long as you exercise—reinforced with expensive advertising campaigns associated with sport—has been an important one." (Photo: Baudouin/Rayon limonades/flickr,CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)