Individual Presentation or Panel Title
(Glo)besity
Abstract
In the past few years Mexico has passed the United States as the fattest country in the world. This is attributed to the richness of the traditional Mexican diet, lack of exercise, and over consumption of soda. Mexico is the largest consumer of soda in the world, with Coca-Cola providing 75% of its sodas. To address this issue Mexico decided to adopt a soda tax that would amount to one peso to discourage citizens from purchasing sugary drinks. My project is an evaluation of national forces for and globalized neoliberal forces against the adoption of the tax. I was originally concerned with whether the tax would be sufficient to fight Mexico’s obesity and diabetes epidemic. I found that the tax issue was really a struggle between Coca-Cola and the Mexican government. My process included reviewing articles of the following subjects: the efficacy of soda taxes in different countries, the rates of obesity in Mexico as they coincide with rates of increased soda consumption, water distribution problems, and water privatization by Coke. I found that the central issue is water distribution that is exacerbated by Coke, but a soda tax still unfairly punishes poorer Mexicans and would not solve the problem of obesity.
Location
Ballator Gallery
Start Date
3-5-2014 2:30 PM
End Date
3-5-2014 3:20 PM
(Glo)besity
Ballator Gallery
In the past few years Mexico has passed the United States as the fattest country in the world. This is attributed to the richness of the traditional Mexican diet, lack of exercise, and over consumption of soda. Mexico is the largest consumer of soda in the world, with Coca-Cola providing 75% of its sodas. To address this issue Mexico decided to adopt a soda tax that would amount to one peso to discourage citizens from purchasing sugary drinks. My project is an evaluation of national forces for and globalized neoliberal forces against the adoption of the tax. I was originally concerned with whether the tax would be sufficient to fight Mexico’s obesity and diabetes epidemic. I found that the tax issue was really a struggle between Coca-Cola and the Mexican government. My process included reviewing articles of the following subjects: the efficacy of soda taxes in different countries, the rates of obesity in Mexico as they coincide with rates of increased soda consumption, water distribution problems, and water privatization by Coke. I found that the central issue is water distribution that is exacerbated by Coke, but a soda tax still unfairly punishes poorer Mexicans and would not solve the problem of obesity.