The Great NYC Soda Debate...Is It Just A Big Waste Of Time?

After chowing down on several Hot Dogs at the Nathan's July 4th Hot Dog eating contest, Michael Bloomberg was spotted drinking what looked like a giant, oversized soda. No, not really. I just wanted to put an amusing spin on an already ridiculous debate. Personally I think both sides of the argument are silly.

First you have the Mayor who wants to decrease the size of soda's offered in the City of New York, so no more super-sizing available and no more giant soda's at the theater either. He believes that reducing the size of drinks will help to decrease obesity in the city, but he does acknowledge that it's more than just the soda making people fat. That's all well an good, but what's to stop someone from buying two soda's? How about a restaurant that offers free refills?

Of course you haven't heard anything yet, the other side of the argument is even more ridiculous. The other day I was driving home when a commercial came on the radio that was against the beverage ban. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Someone actually paid for an ad promoting our right to drink soda...and they even had fake testimonials. I couldn't help but laugh, however after thinking about it I just thought it was a big waste of time. I guess the ads may be working since recently 100 protestors showed up at City Hall wearing t-shirts that read...'I picked out my beverage all by myself.' Ooohhh. Wow, 100 people out of a city of 8 million, outstanding support so far.

For people to make this about the right to choose or to suggest that the government needs to stay out of their soft drinks is utterly insane. No one is saying anyone can't have whatever they want to drink. You can still get your Coke when you go to McDonald's, it just won't be as big as it used to be. Is that really something to argue about? You can still go to the supermarket and buy as many 2-Liter bottles of soda as you want.

Honestly, is this really worth the trouble Mike Bloomberg? It just seems a bit misguided to try to limit the size of beverages when you can buy a many as you want. Do you honestly believe the cost of cigarettes are a deterrent to smokers? Don't you think an alcoholic will pay for liquor no matter what the cost? The trouble is he is going after the wrong people. He should be going after the soft drink companies and not the consumers, but he would never do that. He should get behind education to show the effects of drinking sugary drinks like soda. How about putting larger warning labels on the bottles and cans? How about ad campaigns showing diabetics suffering and dying from what they eat?

How about this Mike...don't show up for the Hot Dog eating contest next year instead of showing support of people overeating for no apparent reason...it's completely hypocritical.