Is the Association Between Beverage Taxes and Reductions in Sales Driven by Communication of Health Consequences in Addition to Price Increases?

Grummon, Anna H.; Roberto, Christina A.; Krieger, James

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.32537

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Indeed, the increase in price is hypothesized to be the primary way in which sweetened beverage taxes work to decrease purchasing, and consumers with lower incomes may be especially sensitive to these price changes and respond accordingly. However, the media coverage associated with these taxes, along with any explicit pro- or anti-tax media campaigns, may also serve to reduce sweetened beverage consumption by increasing awareness of its harms, and thus open a second pathway (i.e., an “awareness” pathway) by which the existence of sweetened beverage taxes may operate to change public preferences for sweetened beverages [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax on the Perceived Healthfulness of Sweetened Beverages

et al. 2022

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Sweetened beverage taxes are associated with significant reductions in the purchase of sweetened beverages. However, it is unclear whether these taxes play a role in shifting perceptions about sweetened beverages and their health impacts. We utilized pre- and post-tax survey data collected from residents in Seattle, WA, a city that implemented a sweetened beverage tax in 2018 and from residents in an untaxed comparison area. We used income-stratified difference-in-difference linear probability models to compare net changes in the perceived healthfulness of overall sweetened beverage consumption and of different types of sugary beverages over time and across income groups. We found significant increases in the percentage of Seattle respondents with lower incomes who agreed that sweetened beverage consumption raises the risk of diabetes (DD = 9 percentage points (pp) (95% CI: 5 pp, 13 pp); p = 0.002), heart disease (DD = 7 pp (95% CI: 2 pp, 12 pp); p = 0.017), and serious health problems (DD = 12 pp (95% CI: 5 pp, 19 pp); p = 0.009), above and beyond changes in the comparison area. The most prominent changes in perceived health impacts of sweetened beverages were found among lower-income Seattle respondents, while fewer changes were found among higher-income Seattle respondents. Future work could examine the relationship between exposure to pro-tax messaging and changes in consumer perceptions of sweetened beverages.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax on the Perceived Healthfulness of Sweetened Beverages

et al. 2022

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“…Proponents, including grassroots groups, have argued that beverage taxes can advance health equity by generating revenue for programmes benefitting low-income communities, who are most affected by nutrition-related diseases ( 14 ) . However, no prior studies have documented whether low-income communities agree with this view ( 15 , 25 ) . We found that many low-income Philadelphia parents supported the policy as long as its revenue is directed to programmes meaningful to them, such as early childhood education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tobacco taxation, paired with public health messaging about the health risks of smoking, serves as a strong historical precedent for the synergy of tying a health promotion campaign to economic disincentives ( 35 ) . Evidence is mounting that the same approach may be effective for sweetened beverage taxes ( 25 ) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The extent to which there is ‘signalling’ of the harms of sweetened beverages through the presence of a tax on its own has been examined in other cities with beverage taxes, with mixed results depending on local context and whether the tax was paired with a public health campaign at its outset ( 25 ) . In Cook County, Illinois, where there was not a concerted public health campaign accompanying the tax, consumers bought fewer sweetened beverages when the tax was in place and sales returned to pre-tax levels after it was repealed, suggesting no persistent signalling effect ( 36 ) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-income parents’ perceptions of a sweetened beverage tax in Philadelphia

et al. 2022

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Objective: To characterise perceptions of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax among low-income parents. Design: We conducted semi-structured interviews and administered demographic questions via telephone. We based the interview guide and initial codebook on a conceptual model illustrating perceived fairness and effectiveness as essential for successfully adopting food policies. We performed thematic analysis using NVivo 12. Setting: We recruited from a primary care paediatrics clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from July to August 2020. Participants: Philadelphia parents/caregivers of 2- to 11-year-old children with Medicaid insurance. Results: Participants were predominantly African American (97 %), female (100 %), and had annual household incomes <$50 000 (80 %). Participants were 26- to 72-years old, with an average aged child of 5 years (range 7 months to 20 years). Themes emerged regarding tax perceptions, revenue use and behaviour change due to the tax. Using revenue for highly valued programmes and accountability of city government to use revenue as promised were critical elements in perceptions of tax fairness. Some parents avoided the tax through cross-border shopping and buying drink powders or concentrates, influencing perceptions of tax effectiveness. The tax signalled the health dangers of sweetened beverage consumption to most parents. Conclusion: Our findings bring to light four key takeaways for policymakers designing sweetened beverage taxes. (1) Dedication of tax revenue to programmes highly valued by parents and (2) transparency in revenue spending may improve acceptability. (3) State or national taxes may be more effective at decreasing consumption due to cross-border shopping. (4) Pairing taxes with health promotion campaigns may enhance behaviour change.

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“…To date, academic attention has mainly been focused on agenda-setting (facilitators and barriers) [22,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44] and the impact of taxation on price, purchasing, consumption, revenue streams and other outcomes [45][46][47][48][49]. The actual implementation processes (transposition into administrative regulations, implementation, monitoring and enforcement), however, have rarely been analysed [22,[50][51][52].…”

Section: Health Risks Nature Of Evidence Key Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugar-sweetened beverage tax implementation processes: results of a scoping review

Forberger

Reisch

Meshkovska

et al. 2022

Health Res Policy Sys

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Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) is seen as a win–win situation for governments. It is argued that SSB taxes are relatively easy to implement from a practical perspective compared to for example other nutrition policies. However, the implementation of SSB taxation laws does not happen by itself. Therefore, this work examines implementation processes for SSB taxation in terms of (1) pre-implementation context, (2) taxation instruments used and (3) interactions in the implementation process. Ten databases and grey literature were systematically searched for studies reporting on SSB taxation implementation processes up to February 2020. All studies (N = 1248) were screened independently by two reviewers according to predefined criteria. The selection of variables to be extracted was based on the policy cycle heuristic and informed by intervention implementation research. Information on the process of implementing SSB taxation is limited. Only six cases based on three publications were identified, indicating a gap in this research area. SSB taxation implementation was accomplished by hiring a subcontractor for the implementation or using pre-existing tax collection structures. Political and public support within the implementation process seems to be supportive for the city of Berkeley and for Portugal but was not reported for the Pacific Islands. However, the existing data are very limited, and further research on SSB taxation implementation processes is needed to determine whether the aim of the policy and the envisaged outcome are linked in practice. Registration The protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework (OSF) (osf.io/7w84q/)

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Is the Association Between Beverage Taxes and Reductions in Sales Driven by Communication of Health Consequences in Addition to Price Increases?

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Impacts of the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax on the Perceived Healthfulness of Sweetened Beverages

Impacts of the Seattle Sweetened Beverage Tax on the Perceived Healthfulness of Sweetened Beverages

Low-income parents’ perceptions of a sweetened beverage tax in Philadelphia

Sugar-sweetened beverage tax implementation processes: results of a scoping review

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