To think shock packaging on fizzy drinks might work in the same way as it does on cigarette packs?

[CheapSausagesAndSpam]

I gave up smoking two years ago thanks to the horrors of Australian cigarette packaging.

The images of damaged lungs etc were too awful and did work on me.

Why not have the same on bottles of fizzy pop and other unhealthy foods?

Because children have them and what is an appropriate image for an adult is not for a child

Well perhaps children shouldn't have them.

According to this research, obesity is a bigger problem in terms of chronic conditions than smoking, drinking or poverty.

www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB4549.html

Where do you stop?

If you do this they'll end up on everything.

I like a fizzy drink as a pre work out or during a long run.

The EU cigarette packaging hasn't put me off (yet). So similarly styled packaging on fizzy drinks, which I don't have a lot of anyway, and unhealthy food is unlikely to have much of an effect on me personally.

If people want to drink fizzy drinks let them not your business.

Also I agree with PP about them not being appropriate for children!

What do you think this image on fizzy drinks should look like OP?

Daft idea. Fizzy drinks aren't awful if given in moderation.

Clever the packs are worse in Oz to be fair.

Pre work out or during a run are examples of a useful way to benefit from glucose.

It's sort of like seeing it as a drug that can have its uses.

Which is in line with an approach that might entail a warning label. You get warnings on paracetamol or ibuprofen.

It's a drug. It relieves pain. It makes your body think it can push itself during exercise. It changes your mood.

Did you see the sugar tax that's coming in? I think I would prefer warning labels so I didn't have to start reading even more ingredient labels for sweeteners.

CheapSausages I just googled them and I quite like the the creepy eyeball one.

I really don't think we should be equating fizzy drinks with sugary drinks. From what I can see, the vast majority of fizzy drinks now have no added sugar, particularly supermarket own brand ones. Even growing up in the 80s/90s all our drinks were sugarfree (mum is a diabetes nurse).

I drink sparkling water every day. Sometimes the fruit flavoured stuff, or sometimes the plain stuff, with or without sugarfree squash. I also really like diet tonic water and lemonade and it wouldn't even cross my mind to buy the full sugar stuff.

I know aspartame has its own "issues". But just because a drink is carbonated doesn't mean it's going to make anyone fat.

Because children have them and what is an appropriate image for an adult is not for a child

Heck, I've been uneasy about this for cigarette packets since they started putting gross-out images on them. Even though children shouldn't smoke, they'll still encounter the packets. As a non-smoking adult I'm not best pleased that I have to see them.

I think there should be more concern about the effects of chemical sweeteners than the obesity risk to be honest. Its pretty hard to buy any drink other than water that doesn't have some form of sweetener in it now.

I know aspartame has its own "issues". But just because a drink is carbonated doesn't mean it's going to make anyone fat.

And just because you never touch a fizzy drink doesn't mean you are slim (says Cecily, sadly). There are 101 ways to become overweight, whereas smoking related deseases are almost all caused by smoking. So there really is no comparison!

No. For the reason that there is no safe level of cigarette to smoke whereas drinking the occasional sugary drink is not harmful.

Smoking will give you cancer if you are predisposed to it and can also effect your health very badly in other ways.

Drinking the odd fizzy drink will not harm you... drinking them excessively will. The type of people put off by that type of warning are not the people it would do the most benefit to either.

People dont binge eat crap because they just dont know its bad for them. Theres whole hosts of other factors that need to be addressed.

I would rather my kids occasionally have a drink with sugar in it than they have artificial sweeteners.

also worth adding that a fear of sugar and extreme diets where sugar is avoided completely actually statistically make being overweight more likely. No one can sustain these diets and by avoiding or demonising sugar you make it a sinful treat that people gorge on. Sugar should just be consumed in moderation not completely avoided.
Fizzy drinks are fine on their own. Its overdoing it that is the problem.
So i really dont think its comparable to smoking which you should not do AT ALL really.

How about some labelling like ‘Contains X teaspoons of sugar’ and ‘Your recommended daily allowance is X’. This would be a lot more meaningful and easier than reading tiny labels. The same should apply to cereals, cereal bars and ‘healthy snacks’ that give the impression they are a healthier alternative.

Interestingly I read an article about a study that showed that on teenagers the packaging has little effect on whether they will smoke or not. It works for adults but teens don't seem affected by it the same way. So if that is true (only 1 study so it may not be true) then who's to say it would work on fizzy drinks which as long as drunk in moderation are not anywhere near as dangerous as cigarettes.

FFS! People are actually equating a bottle of fizzy juice with fucking cigarettes? Jesus wept! Get a grip and a life!

just because a drink is carbonated doesn't mean it's going to make anyone fat.

Actually: fizzy drinks make you eat more

Oh don’t be so silly. Where does it end?

We’re all going to die. They’ll be pictures for fucking everything. Road accident pictures on cars. Blocked arteries on your butter. And on and on. You might as well just tape the Daily Mail to your eyeballs.

I think the difference is that the stuff in cigarettes is always bad for you but fizzy drinks and crisps are neutral/‘good’ in moderation

E.g. some sprite might settle your stomach if you have a bit of an upset stomach, something salty like crisps is a good pick me up if you have low blood pressure...