The evolution of Coca-Cola Australia's soft drink reformulation strategy 2003–2017: A thematic analysis of corporate documents

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Governments around the world are pressuring the soft drink industry to reformulate sugary drinks, in particular through taxes on sugar content or front-of-pack labels identifying products high in sugar. Even in countries with no sugary drink tax, such as Australia, the soft drink industry has a reformulation policy. While reformulation is often framed as a “win-win” solution for business and public health, many public health experts consider it to be a political strategy to improve corporate reputations and minimise the threat of regulation. We use a case study of Australia's largest soft drink company, Coca-Cola Australia, to examine the evolution of corporate reformulat..