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SW: →ABA's School Vending Policy: additional information
== ABA's School Vending Policy==
In August 2005, the ABA announced a new school-based policy to provide lower calorie and/or nutritious beverages to schools and to limit the availability of soft drinks at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures <ref>American Beverage Association, press release [http://www.ameribev.com/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=53 "Beverage Industry Announces New School Vending Policy,"] August 16, 2005.</ref> "The first salvo in a broader public-relations counterattack by beverage companies to help the industry reverse its tarnished image", the ''Wall Street Journal'' reports, is voluntary restrictions on drink sales in schools. The guidelines, which will be touted "in full-page ads in several national newspapers," suggest that new school contracts remove carbonated soft drinks from elementary schools and remove sugary drinks from middle schools during school hours. All beverages will continue to be sold in high schools. [http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112423461722614960,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace]
Susan Neely, "the creator of the 'Harry and Louise' ads that helped torpedo President Clinton's health-care plan in the early 1990s," now heads the industry group American Beverage Association. She's and is leading the "multimillion-dollar advertising and PR campaign to show that the beverage industry derives a substantial portion of its sales and growth from healthier beverages." Neely told the ''Wall Street Journal'', "you have to have an industry voice." [http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112423461722614960,00.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace]
"Soda industry touts school ban to quiet obesity critics," reads the ''PR Week'' headline on a story outlining the soft-drink industry's latest defensive move in response to national concerns about childhood obesity. Even leading food-industry publication "Vending Market Watch" noted that, "This new policy is clearly designed to counteract criticism from consumer activists and politicians who say the beverage industry is profiting at children's expense" <ref>Elliot Maras, Beverage Industry Group Supporters Limiting Carbonated Soda in Schools, "Vending Market Watch," August 17, 2005.</ref> PR giant [[Porter Novelli]] is working with the American Beverage Association to promote the trade group's recently announced school vending policy. The voluntary code recommends some limits on the sale of sugary carbonated beverages in schools, but still allows for sales of juices and sports drinks. [http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=240429&site=3&setcookie=1]
According to ''PR Week'', Porter Novelli "will assist [ABA] in talking about the new policy with educators, parents, legislators, regulators, and other groups interested in school nutrition issues." The group has already run full-page ads in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''USA Today'' publicizing its new policy. Porter Novelli also worked on developing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid.
The ABA policy, however, has no government enforcement or oversight mechanism, and only applies to vending machines, imposing no restrictions on other venues where drinks are sold in schools, such as school canteens and sporting events. The policy applies only to new school contracts, too; it can be amended to old agreements only with the consent of both parties. Beverages are also sold to schools through local distributors, which operate under the jurisdiction of their parent companies, and as such, have the ultimate say regarding which products are made available to schools and under what terms <ref>Michele Simon "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Underminds Our Health and How to Fight Back," Nation Books: 2006, pg 14-15.</ref> This point is conceded by the ABA itself: "the success of the policy is dependent on voluntary implementation of it by individual beverage companies and by school officials" <ref>American Beverage Association, press release [http://www.ameribev.com/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=53 "Beverage Industry Announces New School Vending Policy,"] August 16, 2005.</ref>
In the months after ABA's announcement, Iowa lawmakers rejected a bill aimed at removing soda from schools. Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack supported the move and applauded the American Beverage Association for its leadership in "taking pop out of machines located in elementary and middle schools" <ref>Tom Dorman, Vilsack: Educate Kids on Making Good Food Choices, "Quad-City Times," February 16, 2006.</ref> Massachusetts legislators introduced a bill that basically mirrored the ABA's voluntary policy a few months later.<ref> Tracy Jan, A Sweet Tooth is Tough to Pull: Even When Schools Ban Candy Machines, Pupils Indulge, "Boston Globe," February 15, 2006.</ref>
Taking a different tack, in May 2006, the American Beverage Association joined with soda companies, the [[Clinton Foundation]] and the [[American Heart Association]] to announce a new voluntary school policy
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