American Beverage Association

The American Beverage Association (ABA) is a Washington D.C.-based trade association for the soft drink industry that lobbies, channels political contributions, and engages in public relations on behalf of its member companies. On its website it describes itself as comprising the "trade association representing the non-alcoholic beverage industry."

History
The American Beverage Association, previously known as the National Soft Drink Association, was founded in 1919 as the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages as the trade-industry representative of the non-alcoholic beverage industry. In November 2004, the National Soft Drink Association announced that it was changing its name the American Beverage Association (ABA) "to better reflect the expanded range of nonalcoholic beverages the industry produces." To help spread the message of its name change the ABA also issued a video news release.

ABA's School Vending Policy
In August 2005, the ABA announced a new school-based policy to provide lower calorie and/or nutritious beverages to schools and to limit the availability of soft drinks at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures "The first salvo in a broader public-relations counterattack by beverage companies to help the industry reverse its tarnished image", the Wall Street Journal reports, is voluntary restrictions on drink sales in schools. The guidelines, touted "in full-page ads in several national newspapers," suggest that new school contracts remove carbonated soft drinks from elementary schools and remove sugary drinks from middle schools during school hours. All beverages will continue to be sold in high schools.

Susan Neely, "the creator of the 'Harry and Louise' ads that helped torpedo President Clinton's health-care plan in the early 1990s," heads the industry group and is leading the "multimillion-dollar advertising and PR campaign to show that the beverage industry derives a substantial portion of its sales and growth from healthier beverages." Neely told the Wall Street Journal, "you have to have an industry voice."

"Soda industry touts school ban to quiet obesity critics," reads the PR Week headline on a story outlining the soft-drink industry's latest defensive move in response to national concerns about childhood obesity. Even leading food-industry publication "Vending Market Watch" noted that, "This new policy is clearly designed to counteract criticism from consumer activists and politicians who say the beverage industry is profiting at children's expense" PR giant Porter Novelli is working with the American Beverage Association to promote the trade group's school vending policy. The voluntary code recommends some limits on the sale of sugary carbonated beverages in schools, but still allows for sales of juices and sports drinks.

According to PR Week, Porter Novelli "will assist [ABA] in talking about the new policy with educators, parents, legislators, regulators, and other groups interested in school nutrition issues." The group has already run full-page ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today publicizing its new policy. Porter Novelli also worked on developing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Guide Pyramid.

The ABA policy, however, has no government enforcement or oversight mechanism, and only applies to vending machines, imposing no restrictions on other venues where drinks are sold in schools, such as school canteens and sporting events. The policy applies only to new school contracts, too; it can be amended to old agreements only with the consent of both parties. Beverages are also sold to schools through local distributors, which operate under the jurisdiction of their parent companies, and as such, have the ultimate say regarding which products are made available to schools and under what terms This point is conceded by the ABA itself: "the success of the policy is dependent on voluntary implementation of it by individual beverage companies and by school officials" In the months after ABA's announcement, Iowa lawmakers rejected a bill aimed at removing soda from schools. Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack supported the move and applauded the American Beverage Association for its leadership in "taking pop out of machines located in elementary and middle schools" Massachusetts legislators introduced a bill that basically mirrored the ABA's voluntary policy a few months later.

Taking a different tack, in May 2006, the American Beverage Association joined with soda companies, the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association to announce a new voluntary school policy to limit the portion size and number of calories available to students

Political contributions
The American Beverage Association made the following political contributions to federal candidates through its political action committee as of December 2010:

Lobbying
The Association spent $18,850,000 for lobbying in 2009.

ABA has lobbied on behalf of Coke and other soda companies against legislation that would limit consumption of their products. It has claimed that "sugar-sweetened beverages are not driving health issues like obesity and diabetes." Yet, a Centers for Disease Control Study has found that "sugared beverages... "have been linked with weight gain, obesity, poor diet, and, in adults, type 2 diabetes."

In 2009, the ABA spent $18.9 million on lobbying, much of which was directed towards an ad campaign trying to stem efforts to implement a federal soft-drink tax to finance the Obama health care bill.

The ABA partnered up with Coke in Philadelphia to lobby against similar legislation: "In Philadelphia, they defeated a modest tax on soft drinks by using the tobacco industry tactic of applying strategic philanthropy to purchase leverage in the form of goodwill. The ABA formed a deceptively-named front group, the Foundation for Healthy America, that they then used to funnel a $10 million donation to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to, of all things, expand its obesity program."

Personnel
As of December 2010 includes:
 * Susan Neely, President
 * James A. McGreevy III, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
 * Maureen Storey, Senior Vice President, Science Policy
 * Kevin W. Keane, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
 * Barbara Hiden, Vice President, Federal Affairs
 * Tracey A. Halliday, Vice President, Communications

Board:
 * Chair Tom L. Bené (Tom L. Bene), President, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages
 * Vice Chair Claude B. Nielsen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Coca-Cola Bottling Company United
 * William B. Cyr (Billy Cyr), President and Chief Executive Officer Sunny Delight Beverages Co.
 * Jim Johnston, President, Beverage Concentrate Sales and Latin American Beverages, Dr Pepper Snapple Group

Associations

 * Alliance for Better Foods, ABA was associated with this front group when it was called National Soft Drink Association
 * American Council for Fitness and Nutrition, ABA is a member
 * American Council on Science and Health, front group supported by ABA
 * Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, ABA is a member of front group opposing unions
 * International Food Information Council, when ABA was called National Soft Drink Association

Contact details
American Beverage Association 1101 16th St. NW Washington, DC 20036 Main Telephone Number: (202) 463- 6732 Fax Number: (202) 659-5349 Press Questions: (202) 463-6770 Email: info AT ameribev.org Web: http://www.ameribev.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Industry-funded organizations
 * International Bottled Water Association
 * Obesity PR
 * The Food Industry Campaign to Undermine 'Chew On This'

External articles

 * "It's a‘Bevolution': National Soft Drink Association Changes Name To American Beverage Association to Reflect Wide Range of Beverages Industry Produces", Media Release, November 11, 2004.
 * Betsy McKay, "Soda Marketers Will Cut Back Sales to Schools", Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2005. (Sub re'qd).
 * Laura Miller, "ABA's School Vending Policy Fizzes On Obesity Prevention", PR Watch Blogs, August 23, 2005.
 * John N. Frank, "Soda industry touts school ban to quiet obesity critics", PR Week, August 26, 2005. (Sub req'd).
 * Michele Simon, "Big Soda's Puyblicity Stunt: The trade group responsible for pushing sugary drinks to children of all ages has just trumpeted another set of useless new guidelines", AlterNet, August 29, 2005.
 * Anemona Hartocollis, "Failure of State Soda Tax Plan Reflects Power of an Antitax Message", The New York Times, July 2, 2010.