In this opinion piece, Julie O'Toole, Director and Country Lead, Coca-Cola Oceania and Chris Litchfield, Managing Director, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners New Zealand, discuss why Coca-Cola is reducing the amount of sugar in its drinks.
Actions, not words, are the true test of commitment. And at Coca-Cola in New Zealand, we believe this same principle applies to our efforts to help Kiwis consume less sugar.
People's tastes and preferences are changing and so, we're changing too, taking action by reducing sugar in our recipes, offering more no and low sugar options and smaller packaging sizes, and ensuring we are transparent with the information we provide to people about our products.
Many New Zealanders are actively trying to eat and drink less sugar and we've been working to reduce sugar in our recipes, while keeping the great taste people know and love.
Since 2015, we have reduced sugar across our portfolio of drinks by 13 per cent, and today in New Zealand one in two Coca-Cola's purchased have no sugar. We have an ambitious goal to reduce sugar by 20 per cent (across our portfolio of drinks) by 2025 and we're on track to achieve this.
Recent examples of our efforts include reducing sugar in two of our most popular sparkling beverages; Fanta Orange now has 35 per cent less sugar and Schweppes Sparkling Duet Orange & Lemon now has 26 per cent less sugar.
We also continue to increase the availability of our smaller packs, with 97 per cent of major retailers now selling pack sizes 300ml or under.
At Coca-Cola, we are listening to what Kiwis want and helping to drive change by transforming our portfolio of drinks and actively promoting our Coca-Cola no sugar soft drinks by heavily featuring it in Coca-Cola advertising.
Over half our brands in New Zealand now offer a low or no sugar option, and we're pleased that one in two Coca-Cola's purchased from supermarkets, petrol stations, some convenience stores and licensed retail outlets contain no sugar which demonstrates a shift in behaviours – or actions – among New Zealanders.
Across our portfolio of drinks, the sales of low and no sugar drinks have jumped 23 per cent in the past two years, with four out of ten of our drinks purchased now low or no sugar. More and more people are choosing low or no sugar products.
The Coca-Cola Company has a long-standing policy not to market beverages to children.
We are also committed to the NZ Advertising Standards Authority Children's and Young People's Code, ensuring those under 14 are not directly targeted by our advertising or promotions. This means we carefully assess the appeal of our marketing and the placement of ads and promotions.
Additionally, we are a founding signatory to the New Zealand Beverage Council's public commitment to only directly sell water into primary and intermediate schools, and to avoid directly selling sugar-sweetened soft drinks or any energy drinks to secondary schools.
But we're not just focused on what goes in the bottle, it's also about what is outside the bottle and providing more information to people to help make informed choices for themselves and their families.
Coca-Cola in New Zealand continues to support the voluntary front-of-pack Health Star Rating (HSR) system and we are transitioning from the energy icon to stars on our packs.
The move to the star icon is an example of how seriously we take our responsibility to provide meaningful information to consumers.
We have supported the New Zealand government's HSR initiative since it was established in 2014, adding the HSR energy icon on packs across our portfolio of products. We also highlight via our 'multi-serve icon' the number of 250ml serves on our larger packs.
Understanding nutritional information on food and beverage labels shouldn't require serious homework and the HSR icon is designed to provide an easy way to compare similar food or beverage categories when you are shopping, to help you make the choice that is right for you.
One of our first packs to carry the HSR icon is Coca-Cola Classic, which has a half star rating, and we continue to roll out more stars on packs across our portfolio. The HSR icon will be applied to all products over time, whether it's Schweppes Ginger Beer (half star) or Kiwi Blue Water (five stars).
At Coca-Cola in New Zealand, we're committed to giving people more of the drinks they want. And, as a leader in the beverage industry in New Zealand, we choose to do more – not just say more – when it comes to helping Kiwis consume less sugar from our beverages.
We want to be as open and transparent as possible in our actions. We will continue to report on progress against our commitments in this and other areas.
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