VIDEO: Coca-Cola CEO Chats Obesity War on CBS THIS MORNING

By: May. 08, 2013
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Coca-Cola Company Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent revealed that his company's new efforts to combat obesity, including greater transparency in calorie count, sponsoring fitness programs and limiting advertising to children will "create awareness around the importance of active, healthy lifestyles," in an interview broadcast live today, May 8, 2013 on CBS THIS MORNING (7:00-9:00 AM) on The CBS Television Network. Watch the appearance in full below!

"It is a very complicated societal issue that impacts everyone, every family, and therefore we want to be part of the solution," Kent told co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell when asked about Coca-Cola's role in the growing obesity problem. "We cannot be the only single entity that solves this, government, business like us, and civil society."

"This isn't about one category, one food, one product; the whole food industry needs to also come in and partner with the governments, with the civil society," Kent added.

Excerpts from the interview are below.

Charlie Rose: The Coca-Cola Company is launching a global plan to fight obesity. That includes listing calorie counts on the front of its labels. Coke will sponsor fitness programs and it will limit advertising to children. Muhtar Kent is Coca-Cola's Chairman and CEO. He joins us from Atlanta. He is a friend of mine, in the interest of full disclosure, and his company underwrites my public television program. So what makes you believe, what's the plan and what makes you believe it'll make a difference?

MUHTAR KENT: Because, Charlie, when we take all these new commitments, including making all of our low or no calorie beverages available in every country where we do business together with our caloric beverages, in terms of ensuring that we have nutritional front-of-pack labeling on all our beverages, transparent and traditional front-of-pack labeling on all our beverages. Ensuring that we have effective active lifestyle programs in every country where we do business, and also responsible marketing. When you take these in total and execute them effectively on a global basis with partners around the world, effective partners around the world, in government, business and civil society, then we believe this will begin to make a difference. To create the awareness around the importance of active healthy lifestyles. And we all know that taking in calories is more fun than spending calories, and we want to make spending calories also a little bit of fun and also create awareness around the importance of also spending calories.



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