Coca-Cola is about to put something on the front of its cans and bottles that few folks expect to find there: the calorie count.
The beverage behemoth said Wednesday that -- beginning later this year -- it will start placing calories-per-serving and servings-per-container on the front of nearly all of its bottles sold in the USA and Mexico. That will be extended to all of its beverages sold worldwide by 2011.
For Coke -- and all big players in the $110 billion beverage business -- pressure to be forthcoming about calories and ingredients is huge. The childhood obesity rate is at record levels, and much finger-pointing is directed at the soft-drink industry. Not only is pressure coming from consumers, but also from powerful lawmakers and influential special-interest groups.
"Now more than ever, people expect facts about the product they consume to be both readily available and visible," says Muhtar Kent, Coke's chairman and CEO, in a statement. "This global commitment is about making it easier for consumers to quickly see the calories information for our beverages."
Coke claims to be the first company in the beverage industry to make an international commitment of this scope. Pepsi officials did not immediately comment. John Sicher, editor and publisher of the trade publication Beverage Digest, says while Coke has announced first, Pepsi could still opt to make the change first.
"All the big consumer product companies need to work very hard to connect to consumers and to build consumer trust and confidence," Sicher says. "It can also build loyalty."
For all the hoopla, the new information on the cans and bottles isn't exactly eye-popping. The details will be displayed in black text in a small oblong box that -- while technically on the front of the product -- appears to be more-or-less off to the side. The size of the box will vary depending on the size of the package.
While one longtime critic is acknowledging the move as positive, he's hardly enamored.
"It's a useful step," says Michael Jacobson, executive director at the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest. "But listing calories on the front of a Coke is like putting lipstick on a pig. Coca-Cola is basically ... liquid candy."
The new labeling will show calories per serving on nearly all Coca-Cola beverages including soft drinks, teas, energy drinks, flavored waters, juices and fruit drinks. Excluded from the policy: fountain supplies, unsweetened water and returnable bottles.
Jacobson says the action is a "public relations" move, but hopes it ultimately results in consumers taking their own actions: buying zero-calorie beverages.
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