Polar bear video aims to show dark side of pop

Video plays off Coca-Cola polar bears; exposes health risks of soda pop

NEW YORK – A new video featuring a family of polar bears getting sick after drinking too much pop is trying to counter Coca-Cola's advertisements by showing health risks related to sugary drinks.

In the online video funded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the bears start off happily guzzling bottles of caramel-colored soda. However, the beasts soon suffer health problems, including weight gain, tooth decay, erectile dysfunction and diabetes. The ad finishes with the family dumping their drinks into the ocean.

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The video is a sharp contrast to some advertising messages from the soda industry, particularly the "open happiness" campaign from Coca-Cola. The soda giant has also featured iconic polar bears in its ads for decades.

"Their ads show a happy-go-lucky spirit as their polar bears guzzle Coca-Cola, and we thought another view was necessary," said George Hacker, senior policy adviser for health promotion at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the advocacy organization behind the video.

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The ad features a song called "Sugar" written by Jason Mraz specifically for the campaign.

Our principle objective with the video is to start people talking about some of the unhappiness associated with excessive soda consumption in this country," Hacker said. "It's not solely intended as an effort to change their behavior."

Watch the video and tell us what you think:

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