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==Tactics in the ABA Playbook==
Because most of the soda taxes that have been implemented were enacted by ballot initiative, the ABA has spent most of this money on television advertising campaigns. When the fight shifts to a state measure to preempt these local ordinances, it is likely that the ABA will inflate campaign and lobby spending as well in an attempt to influence state lawmakers.
In each locality that introduces a soda tax, the ABA quickly sets up a “grassroots” public relations front group whose primary purpose is to shields brand-name soda companies, like Coke and Pepsi, from responsibility and culpability. The Center for Media and Democracy calls the practice of a big dollar PR industry campaigns acting like an organic grassroots operation “astroturfing.”
In Richmond in 2012 for instance, the ABA front group fighting a soda tax referendum on the ballot was called “Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes.” In El Monte in 2012 the ABA front group was called “El Monte Citizens Against Beverage Taxes.” The overall PR campaign is also given a name, and TV ads, campaign websites, and social media accounts are created and commonly themed. Because residents only see the front group name or campaign name such as “Can the Tax Coalition,” the public is not generally aware of that it is industry behind the ads.
If one industry tactic is to hide behind a front group with a diverse array of spokespersons, another is to use the front groups to shift the terms of the debate or refocus the debate on a different topic altogether. Thus, we see ABA front groups and ad campaigns working hard to shift the discussion from “soda tax” to “grocery tax” and from the public health impacts of sugary drinks to the “high cost of living.” Many ABA ads in soda tax campaigns across the nation pound the “grocery tax” theme, claiming that it hurts small business and all consumers, even those who don’t drink soda.
==State Preemption of Local Ordinances==
When all else fails, powerful industries sometimes move to ban local control of policies they do not like, including nutrition-related policy. In this tactic, industry is taking a page from the big tobacco playbook. Tobacco has battled across the nation to preempt all sorts of local tobacco controls, for instance, twelve states preempt local smoke-free ordinances that are stronger than state standards.
There has already been preemption of local ordinances related to nutrition in nine states. <ref>Grassroots Change, [https://grassrootschange.net/preemption-watch/#/category/nutrition "Preemption Watch,"] April 2, 2018.</ref>
* Alabama
* Arizona
* Florida
* Georgia
* Kansas
* Mississippi
* Ohio
* Utah
* Wisconsin
* Michigan, 2017
* Arizona, 2018
