Americans don’t want to drink soda anymore

[Jesus Malverde]

SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) Chief Executive Officer Daniel Birnbaum says he has an answer to the share slump that’s keeping him awake at night: sparkling water.

The company’s shares have tumbled 57 percent this year as demand for its at-home beverage maker has stalled. With a recent Gallup poll showing Americans souring on sugared drinks, Birnbaum is shifting the company’s strategy from touting SodaStream as an environmentally friendly alternative to billions of bottles of cola, to focus on another virtue, health.

“We realized that there is a major transformation going on in the beverage industry in America, and it’s that Americans don’t want to drink soda anymore,” Birnbaum said in an interview at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. “What they really want to drink is water. Our product is already licensed to make sparkling water.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-23/sodastream-ceo-offers-h2o-to-skeptical-investors-israel-markets.html

[Initech]

1. I don't drink soda, unless it's mixed with vodka or Jack.

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. For me it's Wild Turkey 101. If you have soda, I've got some Wild Turkey! n/t

[Initech]

19. Done and done!

[strawberries]

31. my thoughts exactly nt

[elleng]

2. I haven't drunk soda for years

but enjoy sparkling water, either straight, with lemon/twist, or fruit juice.

[msongs]

3. don't? they haven't been to costco lately lol nt

[onehandle]

4. We make several bottles of SodaStream a day.

We use the sugar-free additives. Or just add some lime or lemon.

My brother and his family, on the other hand, use a SodaStream machine just to make 'fizzy water' without anything added.

I haven't indulged in true sugar sweetened sodas in decades.

[Jackpine Radical]

39. We drink a lot of Sodastream fizzy water with no flavoring.

We also sometimes mix it with fruit juice.

[FirstClassTicket]

5. What's actually going on:

SodaStream has been a victim of the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" anti-Zionist movement. I'm surprised that Birnbaum doesn't understand that.

[doc03]

8. I don't drink anywhere near what I used to and I never heard about

any kind of boycott.

[FirstClassTicket]

11. I think a lot of people are trying to cut back on soda.

I'm an unrepentant cola-guzzler myself, but it's true that people are becoming more aware of the health risks of overindulgence. I'm just skeptical that it's enough to affect SodaStream's bottom line. I could be wrong, of course.

[pothos]

64. this.

i stopped buying the refilled canisters last year, because of the boycott.

[JI7]

6. is this reflected in soda sales elsewhere because this may have more to do with Israel boycott

[Jesus Malverde]

7. U.S. Coke Sales Have Dropped So It's Selling To Nations That Don't Have An Obesity Epidemic... Yet

All evidence suggests that Americans had read the writing on the wall long before Coke began writing its pledge. Over the past several years, many Americans have decided to dump soft drinks in order to cut fat. Between 2004 and 2014, sugary soft drink consumption declined by roughly 20 percent in the United States. Americans, in short, had already made their own pledge by 2014 and weren't waiting for corporate action.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bartow-j-elmore/us-coke-sales-nations-obesity_b_6057308.html

[Codeine]

48. I work grocery retail.

Soda sales have plummeted in recent years. People drink far less and far less often than before

[Trillo]

9. Sodastream is boycotted by the BDS movement.

"Our product is already licensed to make sparkling water."

Quite a few instructables online how to do it yourself. It's depressing to see Bloomberg shilling for Sodastream, but not really surprising.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Carbonated-Beverages/

Anyone who is a homebrewer can help you if you can't figure it out. You don't need Sodastream's gadgets.

[DawgHouse]

58. This in interesting! nt

[MrScorpio]

10. Thanks for nothing, Corn Lobby and your HFCS nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. Maybe if you had said "Americans don't want to MAKE THEIR OWN SODA before they drink it" this thread

would have more weight.

[Jesus Malverde]

15. see post #7...nt

[madville]

14. Not a soda drinker anymore

I stick to water, unsweet ice tea, black coffee, V8 and homemade beer and hard cider.

[Retrograde]

23. The stuff is too sweet for me

I still like the first hit of Coke after a can is opened, but I can't drink much of it. Mr. Retro and I will split a can of Coke once a week or so, but otherwise water or iced tea is the lunch accompaniment of choice. I will indulge in a sharp ginger beer once in a while (ginger ale is too wimpy and too sweet) on occasion, but it's not a regular thing.

[Live and Learn]

16. I've always preferred water.

But I have seen a dramatic jump in coworkers and others just ordering water when we go out lately.

[SheilaT]

17. My own casual observation is that

soda drinking is as strong as ever.

I happen to be one of those who almost never drinks soda. I'm now at the point that if I have two a year that's a lot. But almost everyone else I know drinks them.

[Sherman A1]

20. I would disagree with your observation

there are several factors in play based upon my observations at the Retail level.

1). an aging baby boom who has changing tastes.

2). the price of the products which have escalated dramatically.

3). people looking for healthier alternatives.

4). dilution of the marketplace with a variety of other products.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

22. #4 = energy drinks and pseudo-healthy sugary fruit/veg drinks.

I guess that's also #3 to some extent. People really need to look at the ingredients in some of this "healthier" stuff. I looked at what was in a major brand of cranberry juice a while back and thought I might as well be drinking Coke.

[SheilaT]

27. Interesting points.

Since I haven't purchased soda at a store in over ten years, I honestly haven't a clue what it costs. Very rarely, perhaps twice a year, I'll get one at a restaurant, most often if it's a meal deal thing. Although I'm more likely to forgo the soft drink and have water instead.

And of course my anecdotal experiences have no larger meaning, but I haven't notice any lessening of soda drinking in my acquaintances, nor have I observed a switch to alternatives. I'm honestly horrified by the amount of soda so many people drink. It's hard to say what's worse, diet or regular, but most people's consumption is quite high.

It would be interesting to try to tease out any connection between soft drink consumption and various ills. Certainly the sugary stuff is a factor, although not the only one, in diabetes. But I wonder about other things. It would be very difficult to find any correlation, much less causation, but still, it could be an interesting thing to do.

Anyway, do you have any sense of what the drop in consumption is? Or what the switch to other products might be?

[tabbycat31]

33. I come from a family of (former) heavy soda drinkers

As in we'd buy 12 packs whenever they were on sale and go through at least 2-3 a week. Now occasionally my dad wants a soda, but he'll buy a 20 oz at a gas station about once a month (instead of multiple cans a day).

We haven't really bought other products for drinking. If anything, now that I rely on coffee for caffeine instead of soda, my milk consumption has gone up (I take my coffee with milk).

But mostly my family drinks water. Another informal observation (from going out to dinner with friends) is that they don't drink much soda anymore either (ie never order it at a restaurant). If the drink was not intended to include alcohol, it's just water or coffee.

I was a rare soda drinker (ie only for caffeine) until 2012 when I started drinking coffee. Now I'm coffee or water.

[SheilaT]

37. It's really good to hear this.

When I'm in a grocery store I'm often astonished at how many cartons and cases of soft drinks are in some people's carts.

I'm old enough that when I was growing up a soft drink was a treat, not a daily drink. I had gotten into the habit of having a soft drink with most of my meals, pretty much without thinking about it. I'm very glad I've gotten away from it.

[Sherman A1]

69. while there are many factors in play

that relate to the drop in what I am seeing and this is just my observation. I would say it is up to 2/3rds decline in the sale of traditional name brand sodas. I would note that over these last 10 years or so, I have seen a steady increase in the sale of bottled water some of which is by the traditional soda companies. In many cases their attempt to stabilize their market share has lead them to self competition between their own product lines.

[delrem]

18. Maybe, but SodaStream is one target of BDS in support of the Palestinian people,

Last edited Fri Dec 26, 2014, 03:57 AM - Edit history (1)

and for good reason.

The Palestinian people have as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as anyone.
But they are oppressed. For three generations long they have been oppressed, and it isn't right.

I think people ought to listen to the Palestinian's story -- not just the story of "Palestinian terrorists" and war, but the story of the lives of ordinary Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including the oppression that they are living under now.

The US was one of the last countries to recognize the oppression of apartheid South Africa. That was wrong! That was to be on the wrong side! Apartheid SA is gone now and that's a good thing, right? It's better, even with thousands of huge and small problems, it's still better, right?

eta:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_people

[Trillo]

25. Connections between Israeli police and our own U.S. Police

Last edited Fri Dec 26, 2014, 11:02 AM - Edit history (1)

There's also long been a reported connection between Isreali police and our U.S. police. NYPD and other police departments have reportedly been cross trained by Israeli cops and their tactics and procedures.

U.S.-Israel Strategic Cooperation: Joint Police & Law Enforcement Training

Are U.S. Police training with the Israeli Military?

Apparently so and for some time now. According to Max Blumenthal with the Nation Institute, police in the U.S. have gone to Israel to train with the Israeli military in the "handling" of civilians. According to Blumenthal, "Crimaterrorists" is a phrase coined by an Israeli military official that essentially puts forth the notion that civilians engaging in civil disobedience should be seen and treated as a kind of domestic terrorist with criminal intentions. Raw Story weighed in on Blumenthal's allegations on December 4th. Here's Blumenthal in his own words:

read more...

Bloomberg is on the record as supporting Israel. We know he was mayor of NY, and head of the NYPD, and said something along the lines that he had his own "army" or something similar. Unfortunately, today, when you financially support Israel, you also support the severe oppression of the Palestinians, but even more importantly, you support the training of our own cops in Israeli tactics, which are brutal and are everything our own forefathers warned us against.

The connection between our own cops, their treatment of, particularly black people in the U.S. (but not limited to black people), and the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, seems to be a similar pattern of lack of respect of life, extreme authoritarianism, and outright murder.

The problem seems to be institutional. Sodastream isn't getting one penny from me.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Ronald Reagan and his supporters refused to oppose South African apartheid.

I myself was officially banned from South Africa even ahead of the major boycott. Reagan, at the urging of his Party loyalists, vetoed the US sanctions on South Africa and Congress had to over ride that veto. All the while his Republicans were openly saying that apartheid was acceptable.
Pat Buchanan was Ronald Reagan's Director of Communications. Here's Pat Buchanan objecting to the idea that apartheid was morally wrong: "white rule of a black majority is inherently wrong. Where did we get that idea? The Founding Fathers did not believe this."
He asked this about sanctions on South Africa: "Why are Americans collaborating in a U.N. conspiracy to ruin her with sanctions?"

Some on DU are claiming that Reagan era Republicans were lovely moderates, charming people with good intention. They were monsters who spoke a language of hate. Those who present support for Reagan as an understandable choice need to be asked about South Africa.

[newfie11]

21. Tea or coffee for me

I hate soda pop

[etherealtruth]

35. I can relate to this

... Never have cared for soda (or as we in michigan call it "pop&quot

[newfie11]

46. Lol

Having lived all over the country I never remember was is correct. That's why I use soda pop.
Btw I lived near Petosky years ago. Loved the folks there.

[etherealtruth]

54. Petoskey remains beautiful

I have spent most of the summers of my life on the lake just a little north of there .... come back for vacation.

[tabbycat31]

24. Water or coffee for me

I used to be a heavy soda drinker (as in I'd buy 3 12 packs a week). But I gave it up about 5 years ago and haven't looked back.

Now it's water, coffee (with milk and organic sugar, but I control the amount), and the occasional adult beverage for me.

I don't miss it and neither does my waistline. I don't drink my calories.

[Sunlei]

28. Some soda corp. just sponsored a cockfight in the walmart in mexico.

Nothing says drink more soda like violent animal abuse with soda corp. sponsor money.

[trotsky]

29. "Our product is already licensed to make sparkling water."

You need a license to put bubbles in water??

We have one, don't use it to make soda a lot, but it has a very good secondary function: a very light touch of the button with the nozzle in the neck of your fine whiskeys will displace most of the O2 in the top of the bottle with CO2, thus reducing oxidation of the compounds therein and helping to retain the original flavors much longer.

[ladyVet]

30. Soda consumption down?

That's a good thing. I gave them up years ago, and rarely have one unless I'm out with my mother. No sodas, no caffeine except for what's in the occasional glass of tea I have. Even my boys have mostly given up sodas, and we used to drink a lot of them here. Three and four two-liter bottles a day.

I like plain old water from the well, with some diatomaceous earth added.

[bigwillq]

32. I hardly ever drink soda.

When I do, it's usually ginger ale or sprite; I like the light-colored sodas better.
I rarely drink Coke or Pepsi (I don't drink caffeine).

I would rather have vitamin water or just regular water. Just my choice. Not really so much because of the health reasons, I just like my vitamin water.

[Atman]

34. I stopped using Rumsfeldtame anyway. But SodaStream just doesn't save any money.

Anymore, the only carbonated beverages I drink are craft beers, and 100% pomegranate juice cut with sparkling water. To many scary stories about aspartame and sugary carbonated drinks in general. I was never one of those six-pack-a-day soda drinkers, and we generally eat healthy anyway (we grow our own produce and avoid meat or giant agri-biz foods), so it wasn't that hard to ween away, but the more I hear about SodaStream in general the more I dislike them...not to mention the fact the soda you make yourself is just as expensive, if not more-so, than store-bought crap.

[Orrex]

36. In my time I've guzzled enough soda to fill an Olympic swimming pool.

I never wanted to dignify it by calling it an addiction, but...

Anyway, I quit more or less cold turkey in October and have dropped about 25 pounds. I don't like to preach about it, but I can't help marveling at the tons' worth of empty calories I've ingested over the decades.


If there's a general trend away from high-volume consumption of soda & soda-equivalent beverages, it can only be good for the nation's health.

[Jesus Malverde]

55. "dropped about 25 pounds"

[Orrex]

59. Thank you, but honestly I wish that I could take more credit for it.

I'm lucky that it required little more effort than "lay off the candy bars and fizzy sugar water."

[wyldwolf]

38. My wife uses my soda stream for that.

Sparkling water, some lemon or orange slices. Sometimes mint.

[Wounded Bear]

40. When it comes to 'sodas' or soft drinks, I average about a 12 pack...

a year, maybe less.

[roody]

41. I love carbonated water but will not knowingly buy something

made in Israel.

[glennwills]

42. Soda isn't going anywhere...

Last edited Sun Jan 25, 2015, 03:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Sure, it might change in certain ways, but people love sweet drinks. Nothing you can do about it.
__________________________________
how to get rid of love handles

[hlthe2b]

43. Stopped drinking when they replaced sugar with that crappy HFCS... then got hooked on

diet Coke until four years ago when I gave up all soft drinks and drink only unsweetened tea, coffee, water.

I feel SOOOO much better and I'm betting a large number of people are waking up to the same--nor will they allow their kids to get hooked on the crap.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

44. I've recently switched from diet sodas to lightly sweetened tea.

I don't have a hard and fast rule I've enacted, but I like tea better, and I'd like to keep the sodas few and far between, and that includes diet sodas.

[Reter]

56. Coffee is more addicting than crack

Every work the morning shift in a restaurant? The mindless "I need my coffee!" zombies disgusted me so much I quit coffee for good.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

70. People who cannot function until they have their coffee might have a medical problem.

I used to be unable to open my eyes and walked around like a zombie. Thought I was just not a morning person. I was a night owl. I'm still a night owl, but I can get up and be functional if I have to in the morning.


Well, as it happened, I stopped breathing many times an hour in a sleep study and now have a CPAP machine, which is a hose attached to a thing strapped on your nose that pushes air into your lungs to make sure you don't stop breathing. CPAP stands for "Continuous Positive Airway Pressure". The doctor adjusts the pressure on a follow-up visit.


Now that I'm fully oxygenated, even if I don't get enough sleep for the day, I don't have that feeling of "I can't stand to be up, it takes a huge act of willpower to not go back to bed."

It's made a tremendous difference in my quality of life and how alert I am. I was killing brain cells and not knowing it when I stopped breathing over one time per minute, for half a minute or more. Eventually, your lizard brain kicks in and tells your body to start breathing again. Your brain interprets it as a panic attack, because you're not getting enough oxygen.
It probably causes nightmares.

That's called CNS sleep apnea. There is also sleep apnea caused by nasal or other airway blockage.

Even my piano playing has improved!!!

Sleep apnea is pretty common and as I understand it, people who snore tend to have it. It seems to be a tremendously undiagnosed problem.

Just a word to the wise.

[GreatGazoo]

47. You're wrong -- welcome to DU!

Decline in Soft Drink Sales Accelerates Despite Big Marketing Investments

Carbonated soft drink volume declined 3% in 2013, compared to a 1.2% decline in 2012 and a 1% decline in 2011, according to Beverage Digest. The category has seen declines for the last nine years, despite the industry's massive advertising and marketing outlays.

http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/soft-drink-sales-decline-accelerates/292409/

[daredtowork]

50. I think they only reason they have any market share is

fast food restaurants still "bundle" sodas into "value meals". It costs more to get a different type of drink. You could drink water, but the soda is seems to be coming "free" with the meal. Many fast food places do not offer any drink options besides soda.

[RebelOne]

45. I only drink water, fruit juices, vegetable juice or wine.

I don't think I have had a soda in about 30 years.

[daredtowork]

49. Like cigarettes and grease-fried fast food

We will instead impose these killers on third world countries through various market domination/colonization/exploitation techniques. Ultimately those countries will realize this is US/capitalism warfare by other means as their population develops nutrition and metabolism related chronic conditions and their population becomes increasingly debilitated, unproductive, and in need of aid (which the US may give them for "certain concessions&quot .

[appalachiablue]

65. Amen. That's the truth.

[Go Vols]

51. 99% of what I drink

is water or beer.Never was a big Coke drinker.

[napi21]

52. Yea, they've stoppd drinking sodas and now spend $$$ on bottled water!

I think it's really stupid because lots of bottled water is no diff. than your tap water, and you contribute all those empty platic bottles to the trash too!

I have a close friend who won't drink anything but bottled water. She doesn't care what brand it is, of where it comes from. I asked her why, and she said all the impurities and added stuff has been taken out. I quit arguing with her about it. I just make sure her bottles go in the plastic recycle bin and not the regular trash.

[liberal_at_heart]

53. I drink all kinds of things including water, milk, coffee, green tea and yes even

soda. I love Dr. Pepper, always have always will.

[WestCoastLib]

57. Anecdotally, soda drinking seems to be much less in my life

Personally, I almost never drink soda anymore. As a kid in the 80's I remember drinking huge big gulps of fountain soda from convenient stores all the time and we had a lot of cans in our home as well.

I don't see nearly as much soda drinking in kids anymore and most adults I know how have cut way back if not mostly given it up. Honestly I think advertising has a lot to do with it. You don't see as many ads for it any more and, especially with on-demand and Netflix, my kids barely ever watch TV with commercials anymore.

The prevalence of bottled water is probably a big cause as well. I would have thought it ridiculous that people would pay so much for water in the 80's.

[B Calm]

60. I quit drinking pop about 5 or 6 years ago. I drink well water and have saved lots of $$$$!

[Ramses]

61. I rarely drink soda poo

Bottled iced tea mostly. An energy drink occasionally. It would be interesting to see statistics on drinking pattern

[AgingAmerican]

62. Soda?

Oh, you mean pop!

[cwydro]

63. I haven't drunk soda since they went to corn syrup ages ago.

So I lost my taste for it.

Didn't grow up with it anyway.

If I want a soda, then it has to be the kind with cane sugar.

But I'm a seltzer drinker.

[alp227]

66. For me soda is for occasions like going to football games or eating out. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

67. True

[laundry_queen]

68. All the young kids want fancy coffee now

When I was 17 everyone in my high school would get several cokes a day (for sugar and caffeine) from the vending machines. We all drank soda/pop constantly. A very tiny percentage would sometimes go to the coffee shop to hang out. Like 10 kids out of a couple hundred. Now my 17 year old hangs out at the local Starbucks with her friends - this is what all the kids at her school do. They drink fancy lattes and cappuccinos. They also no longer have a vending machine at school.

Most of the young 20-somethings at work drink coffee and energy drinks. I think there's me and one other person that drinks soda pop (I drink diet). I think it's just less trendy than it used to be.