Don't Drink Soda! - Advertising & Profit Facts

Coca Cola and other soft-drink makers spend enormous sums to promote their products. Over the past decade in the United States, for instance, soft-drink companies have spent about $6 billion on advertising. Source: CSPI calculations based on Advertising Age.

	Advertising for Carbonated Soft Drinks in 2000 US$ million Coca-Cola Classic and Diet Coke 204 Pepsi 132 Dr Pepper (Cadbury Schweppes) 107 Mountain Dew (PepsiCo) 57 7Up (Cadbury Schweppes) 45 Pepsi One 37 Sprite (Coca-Cola Co.) 34 Source: CMR, 2000.

In 1999, Coca-Cola spent $511 million on promotional activities on top of $355 million in advertising. That same year, Coca-Cola spent $1.6 billion on marketing worldwide.
Source: Advertising Age, September 2000; February 1999.

Despite all the money being spent on advertising, Coca-Cola's profits dove from $4.1 billion worldwide in 1997 to $2.17 billion in 2000. Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, Douglas Daft, who made $92 million in total compensation last year, promised an aggressive advertising campaign to increase consumption and profits. Coca-Cola has signed up Christina Aguilera, Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers, Disney characters, Cal Ripken, and "Harry Potter" to promote Coca-Cola Co. products.
Source: Coca-Cola Co. Annual Report and financial filings; wire stories and press release.

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