Soda Makers Claim Beverages are "Healthy"

The New York Times has a story about soda manufacturers claiming that vitamin-enhanced diet drinks are "health and wellness" products. Yup, it's a case of trying to change the mind of the populace by redefining reality. This is ultimately foolish. The tobacco industry did it for decades and is now reaping the law suits and tsunami of regulation. When a company tries to convince consumers that black is white, they're putting themselves on a treadmill of having to constantly reconvince people. What worries them is that soda sales decrease year after year.

In this case, consumers already have an image of soda not being healthy. The new products might be less unhealthy, but with the chemical sweeteners, who knows? Just say they taste as good but have fewer calories, as the story mentions Cadbury Schwepps having done with diet Dr. Pepper.