“Over the last year, Save the Children emerged as a leader in the push to tax sweetened soft drinks as a way to combat childhood obesity. The nonprofit group supported soda tax campaigns in Mississippi, New Mexico, Washington State, Philadelphia and the District of Columbia. At the same time, executives at Save the Children were seeking a major grant from Coca-Cola to help finance the health and education programs that the charity conducts here and abroad, including its work on childhood obesity. The talks with Coke are still going on. But the soda tax work has been stopped.”
When the COO for Save the Children was interviewed, she said there was no connection between the negotiations with Coke and the charity’s decision to drop its campaign advocating for a soda tax:
Needless to say:
“Both companies fiercely oppose soda taxes.”
The rationalized argument for halting the campaign was that it was “too controversial” and “[didn’t] fit with the way that Save the Children works.”
There are three types of organizations in society – for-profit firms, nonprofit organizations, and regulatory agencies. For-profit firms are the major organizations in society – they are able to utilize market forces to combine scarce and valuable resources in the most efficient ways. The value that nonprofits and regulators bring, however, is in acting to correct market gaps or abuses. All three sectors need to be strong and independent in order for social value to be maximized. To the extent that one organizational form is inefficient or corrupted by another, society loses.
It seems to me that, if there is any campaign in which a children’s charity that is concerned about childhood obesity should be involved, it is acting to limit the average daily calorie intake for the most impressionable among us.
“Representatives of both Coca-Cola and Pepsi said they had not asked the charity to alter its position on soda taxes.”
I am sure they didn’t have to.
Have a good weekend.
David
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Save the Children Backs Away From Soda Tax Campaign
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
1120 words
15 December 2010
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
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