Coca-Cola threat to quit schools

[Maggy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4771676.stm

Coca-Cola warned the education secretary it might withdraw its vending machines network from schools over her ban on "junk food", letters show. The company told her last November that the proposed ending of fizzy drinks sales would make the business unviable.


Should we worry?

[Leapy Leo]

Er...no. Are you serious Incognitas or is your post a wind-up?
Somewhere along the line CC must have contributed funds to the school budget. Business is business and companies like CC do not do anything out of a deep love for the children of the world, the arrangement is bound to have been mutually benificial in a financial sense, but you've got to think that what we allow kids to put into their bodies during the years when bones are growing, height and bone density is determined etc. sometimes you have to look beyond the immediate financial benefits and keeping taxes down.

[Macca371]

Great news. Replace them all with water.

---------- Post added at 20:13 ---------- Previous post was at 20:09 ----------

At our old school they started to serve coke at dinner and the teachers could tell straight away apprently - classes were hyperactive and uncontrollable after dinnertimes.

[Gareth]

My son's school has already banned fizzy drinks. Kids are allowed water, fruit juice or milk-based drinks only.

[ellie]

My secondary school did away with fizzy drinks in the vending machines and we could only get juices and water, college Im at now doesnt sell fizzy drinks either.

[Kliro]

Yeah, I notice myself, that if I eat rubbish at dinnertime (albeit rarely) then I'm uncomfortable and restless in the afternoon lessons, and find it hard to sit and concentrate.


On the issue in hand; for them to be able to pose this as a threat to the education secretary, their funding must be, in some way, vital to the wellbeing of schools?

[ellie]

Yeah, I notice myself, that if I eat rubbish at dinnertime (albeit rarely) then I'm uncomfortable and restless in the afternoon lessons, and find it hard to sit and concentrate.

So that is you on your avatar then :p: ;)

[Maggy]

Er...no. Are you serious Incognitas or is your post a wind-up?
Somewhere along the line CC must have contributed funds to the school budget. Business is business and companies like CC do not do anything out of a deep love for the children of the world, the arrangement is bound to have been mutually benificial in a financial sense, but you've got to think that what we allow kids to put into their bodies during the years when bones are growing, height and bone density is determined etc. sometimes you have to look beyond the immediate financial benefits and keeping taxes down.

No I was being sarcastic..or is it ironic?As far as I'm concerned CC should NEVER have been allowed to install their machines in the first place.

[Kliro]

No I was being sarcastic..or is it ironic?As far as I'm concerned CC should NEVER have been allowed to install their machines in the first place.

Sarcastically ironic?

And yes, that is me. :cool:

[punky]

I do kind of like the idea of a free state.. So people should be discouraged from drinking soft drinks in schools rather than outright banning them. Oh well... So I do worry about that, and Labour's grand idea about bullying everyone into following their rules wether they like it or not.

[Angua]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4771676.stm

Coca-Cola warned the education secretary it might withdraw its vending machines network from schools over her ban on "junk food", letters show. The company told her last November that the proposed ending of fizzy drinks sales would make the business unviable.

Should we worry?
no

[Stuart]

Punky: I agree. This current government is regulating too much.

[punky]

Punky: I agree. This current government is regulating too much.

Littlejohn came out with a beauty in the Mail the other day... There was an Iranian woman on C4 news the other day complaining that as she wouldn't be able to sit in a coffee house and have a smoke if she was deported, so her human rights would be violated. Littlejohn commented that come next summer, she won't be able to do that here either, thanx to Labour's 'Ayatollahs'. :)

[Shaun]

.....in the Mail the other day...

Punky :(:dozey:

[kronas]

the few problems i can see affecting the total ban on junk foods is who will provide the infrastructure to replace coca-colas ? i mean they say it would be 'unviable' to have the current state of vending machines, so who is going to foot the bill?

[punky]

.....in the Mail the other day...

Punky :(:dozey:

Err.. sorry? Don't worry, I haven't turned into a racist homophobe just yet. :)

[danielf]

the few problems i can see affecting the total ban on junk foods is who will provide the infrastructure to replace coca-colas ? i mean they say it would be 'unviable' to have the current state of vending machines, so who is going to foot the bill?

I think the wider concern is obesity in children, and the associated cost to the NHS of this ticking timebomb (diabetes, coronary disease etc). In the long term this should save money.

[kronas]

I think the wider concern is obesity in children, and the associated cost to the NHS of this ticking timebomb (diabetes, coronary disease etc). In the long term this should save money.

dont get me wrong, i didnt mean to push that issue to one side, but thats been done to death, i was rather correlating to something that needs focus, i know 'its only a threat' but the government needs its head out of its behind and look at the things logically, what will happen if they do pull out, whos going to go through the whole procedure of sending vending machines full of water, fruit juice, smoothies, milk etc and refilling these.

you say it will save money but shoppers pay a price for healthy alternatives, in comparison to mass produced sugary beverages.

[Paul]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4771676.stm



Should we worry?Yes we should, since the nanny state is clearly out of control, what will they move onto next in order to control our lives :erm:

[patrickp]

I think the wider concern is obesity in children, and the associated cost to the NHS of this ticking timebomb (diabetes, coronary disease etc). In the long term this should save money.

dont get me wrong, i didnt mean to push that issue to one side, but thats been done to death, i was rather correlating to something that needs focus, i know 'its only a threat' but the government needs its head out of its behind and look at the things logically, what will happen if they do pull out, whos going to go through the whole procedure of sending vending machines full of water, fruit juice, smoothies, milk etc and refilling these.

you say it will save money but shoppers pay a price for healthy alternatives, in comparison to mass produced sugary beverages.


Erm, you don't actually need vending machines. There's this stuff called water and things called taps...

Actually, there is an organisation called the Drinking Fountain Association (http://drinkingfountains.org/) (formerly the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association) who will put drinking fountains in schools for a nominal sum (can't remember how much, but not a lot). I work for an LEA, and every now and then we put schools in touch with them to get a fountain.

[LSainsbury]

Great news. Replace them all with water.

Bloody right!!!! I'm sure Evian will be quite happy to do a deal and keep the ex-CocaCola funding in place!

[Derek]

Or if Dasani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani) hadn't been such a failure they could have used that.

[Damien]

Littlejohn came out with a beauty in the Mail the other day... There was an Iranian woman on C4 news the other day complaining that as she wouldn't be able to sit in a coffee house and have a smoke if she was deported, so her human rights would be violated. Littlejohn commented that come next summer, she won't be able to do that here either, thanx to Labour's 'Ayatollahs'. :)

Pretty Typical Mail, ignore the human rights violations in countrys and then complain about the appaling human rights 'abuses' here. As well as making light of this woman.

God i hate the mail.

Anyway Coca-cola and go screw themselfs. The schools are not a place for business, there will be mcdonalds in schools if industry had its way all the time.

[punky]

Pretty Typical Mail, ignore the human rights violations in countrys and then complain about the appaling human rights 'abuses' here. As well as making light of this woman.

God i hate the mail.

It wasn't the Mail, it was an column by Littlejohn who is pretty outspoken about human rights abuse, especially ones in the name of Islam like with the Taliban & Iran.

[Damien]

I remember little johns show where he was kind of a bully. I think he tried to humilate a gay woman on it at one point.

Can anyone remember something like that?

[punky]

I used to watch his show a bit. He gets accused of being racist & anti-gay, so therefore he is always on the back foot... Everyone is trying get override him so he has to stand his ground. I've never see him be outright racist, anti-gay nor abusive.

This is getting OT I think...