Given the association between sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) and weight gain, the Cancer Council Australia, Diabetes Australia and the National Heart Foundation of Australia formed a partnership to develop a national digital campaign to encourage a comprehensive approach to reduce the demand of SSBs in the community. The aim of the campaign was to highlight the health impacts of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, reduce the supply of SSBs in community spaces frequented by children and reduce the marketing of SSBs to children.

To help facilitate this effort, a new website was launched, Rethink Sugary Drink www.rethinksugarydrink.org.au   using an Australian version of a commercial developed by the New York Health Department.

The launch of the campaign received significant national publicity and as a result the Beverage Council of Australia became vocal opponents. Since the launch, the second phase of the campaign has been developed with new additional partners, the Australian Dental Association and the Australian Medical Association also coming on board

The presentation will outline the campaign, the challenges associated with going up against major beverage multinationals, but also outline importantly what the future opportunities are from a policy and education perspective to drive down SSB beverage consumption into the future.