Coca-Cola has scaled back its UK Christmas truck tour after opposition from local authorities and fresh demands from health bodies for it to stop handing out free sugary drinks.
Usually the tour, which first ran in 1995, is hosted by councils, shopping centres and other landowners as part of their Christmas festivities. This year more than a third fewer visits are planned than last time.
The tour kicked off in Glasgow last week and will visit 24 towns and cities, down from 38 last year, making its final stop in London on 16 December.
Last year, in response to considerable local opposition coordinated by the Sugar Smart campaign, Public Health England issued guidance to local authorities warning of the impact of such marketing promotions on the prevalence of diet-related issues such as obesity and tooth decay.
In the annual stunt, two 14-tonne lorries decorated with thousands of fairy lights and playing the Holidays are Coming jingle tour the UK offering free 150ml cans of Coca-Cola, Zero Sugar and Diet Coke.
Public protests against the promotion have taken place in Glasgow, Waltham Forest in London, Plymouth and Bristol. Some cities including Carlisle – where the council passed a motion not to invite the truck back – and Liverpool are not participating this year, and in other areas there have been complaints to Coca-Cola and local hosts including Asda and Tesco.
Eighty-three organisations and campaigners have signed a letter calling on Coca-Cola to hand out only sugar-free drinks.
Coordinated by the food and health charity Sustain, the signatories include the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, World Cancer Research Fund International, the Royal Society for Public Health and 27 local councils.
The truck is again visiting areas that have worse-than-average health problems relating to diet, the letter points out. Fourteen of the 19 stops in England have above-average prevalence of excess weight among 10- and 11-years-olds.
With fewer appearances on council-owned land, almost half of the truck’s stops this year are on supermarket land, with Asda and Tesco hosting five stops each.
Coca-Cola defended its use of the promotional Christmas trucks, which it said had made 397 stops in the UK to date and covered 737,000 miles.
In a reply to Sustain, Jon Woods, the general manager of Coca-Cola GB and Ireland, said the company expected 90% of the drinks sampled this year to be zero sugar, and drinks would not be given to children under 12 unless a parent was with them.
