Pastors in U.S. suing Coca-Cola
‘WE’RE LOSING MORE PEOPLE TO THE SWEETS THAN TO THE STREETS’
William Lamar, the senior pastor at D.C.’s historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, is tired of presiding over funerals for parishioners who died of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
So on Thursday, he and another prominent AfricanAmerican pastor filed suit against Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association, claiming soda manufacturers knowingly deceived customers about the health risks of sugar-sweetened beverages — at enormous cost to their communities.
The complaint, filed in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of the pastors and the Praxis project, a public health group, alleges that Coke and the ABA ran an intentional campaign to confuse consumers about the causes of obesity.
Lamar and Delman Coates, pastor at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in suburban Clinton, Md., claim soda marketing has made it harder to protect the health of their largely black, D.C.based parishioners.
Their case is similar to another suit that was filed, and later withdrawn, last January by the same legal team in California.
The lawsuit marks a break with tradition for African-American and Latino community groups who have been reliable allies of Big Soda for years in policy fights nationwide — despite overwhelming evidence that the harms of drinking soda disproportionately affect their communities.
Obesity, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and lower-extremity amputations are all far higher among people of colour than among whites. These communities also drink more soda and are exposed to more soda advertising.
“It’s become really clear to me that we’re losing more people to the sweets than to the streets,” said Coates, who said he has seen parishioners give bottles filled with sugary drinks to their infants. “There’s a great deal of misinformation in our communities, and I think that’s largely a function of these deceptive marketing campaigns.”
In a statement, Coca-Cola dismissed the pastors’ charges and the merits of the earlier lawsuit in California, which lawyers say they withdrew in order to refile with the new plaintiffs.
“The allegations here are likewise legally and factually meritless, and we will vigorously defend against them,” the statement said.
The suit argues the beverage industry deceived consumers about the unique link between soda consumption and such diseases as obesity and Type 2 diabetes using messaging tactics similar to those once used by tobacco companies.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity affects nearly half of all African-Americans and 42 per cent of Latinos, versus just over onethird of whites. A 2016 study in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities found soda consumption was a particularly strong predictor of future weightgain for black children.
“There’s a health crisis in the U.S., especially in our communities, and especially among children,” said Javier Morales, director of the Praxis Project. “They target our communities with their marketing. We’re going into those communities trying to save lives, and they’re going out and erasing our message.”
The soda industry argues it has done a lot to support communities of colour and the fight against obesity. In recent years, these companies have increased their portfolios of low-calorie and nocalorie beverages.
Soda companies have also, through the American Beverage Association, funded nutrition and healthy cooking programs in low-income neighbourhoods.
But soda companies market more to Latino and black communities. Multiple studies by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut have found soda ads appear more frequently during TV shows targeted to black audiences. Black teens see three times as many CocaCola ads as white teens do. Billboards and other signs for low-nutrient foods show up more in black and Latino neighbourhoods.
Coke and the American Beverage Association do not need to respond to the complaint until September.
In the meantime, Lamar and Coates say they’ll continue visiting hospitals, and overseeing funerals, for members of their churches suffering from obesity-related illnesses.
“I am disgusted by the number of hospital visits I make,” Lamar said. “It just adds to the injustices all around us.”
WE’RE GOING INTO THOSE COMMUNITIES TRYING TO SAVE LIVES, AND THEY’RE GOING OUT AND ERASING OUR MESSAGE — JAVIER MORALES, DIRECTOR OF THE PRAXIS PROJECT