Just saw a media advisory from Contra Costa County's health department announcing that to protest a deal recently struck between Coca-Cola and the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. William Walker - the county's Health Director - will be withdrawing his membership from the association.
Press conference is set for Wednesday at 12:15 at CCRMC in Martinez.
Here's a good summary from NPR on the Coke-AAFP alliance, noting that the doctor's assn will be paid "in the strong six figures" and will use the funds to teach people how to incorporate soft drinks into a healthy lifestyle.
In the press release, Dr. Walker draws an apt comparison between the Coke-AAFP deal and doctors' endorsements of cigarette health in the 50's.
For my part, I think Coke should consider continuing its PR blitz - clearly geared to head off soda tax proposals - by putting its famously rotund Santa Claus icon on a diet. What better way to demonstrate to kids how healthy it is to guzzle liquefied corn sugar by the liter than by posing a slimmed down St. Nick with that famous Coke bottle in hand?
After all, as the company itself claims, Coca-Cola's done as much as anybody to create and solidify our image of the man from the North Pole. I'll leave you with these words from the official Coke website:
Most people can agree on what Santa Claus looks like -- jolly, with a red suit and a white beard. But he did not always look that way, and Coca-Cola® advertising actually helped shape this modern-day image of Santa.... Through the centuries, Santa Claus has been depicted as everything from a tall gaunt man to an elf.... For inspiration, [Coke artist] Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas"... Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human. For the next 33 years, Sundblom painted portraits of Santa that helped to create the modern image of Santa -- an interpretation that today lives on in the minds of people of all ages....