Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

First Page

S88

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In June 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his plans for a ban on the sale of sugary beverages in containers larger than 16 ounces. Shortly thereafter, the Center for Consumer Freedom took out a full-page ad in the New York Times featuring Bloomberg photo-shopped into a matronly dress with the tag line "New Yorkers need a Mayor, not a Nanny."1 On television, the CATO Institute's Michael Cannon declared, "This is the most ridiculous sort of nanny state-ism; [ilt's none of the mayor's business how much soda people are drinking." And in news- papers around the country, editorial pages featured headlines such as "Gulp! Yet Another Intrusion of the Nanny State." Just like that, the public debate about this measure became focused on government over- reach, while the public health problem of obesity (and of overconsumption of soda in particular) faded into the background.

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