Teens, Lawmakers, and Groups Launch "Flatten Big Soda" Billboard in Times Square

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NEW YORK, NY (07/23/2026) (readMedia)-- Today, at Times Square at the cross-section of dozens of ads for soda and energy drink products, more than a dozen leading health advocates, lawmakers, doctors, and community groups launched the billboard "Flatten Big Soda," a campaign to make sugary drink ads history. Beyond traditional TV and billboard ads, sugary drink marketing now runs through sporting events, music festivals, social media feeds, and influencer content-making it even harder for kids and families to recognize. The public health campaign unites public pressure with policy action, calling on industry leaders Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, and their advertising partners to scale back sweetened beverage advertising.

View photos of the billboard attached and watch a recording of the event here.

Last year, Big Soda spent over $11 billion marketing products high in sugar, and disproportionately targeting communities of color with aggressive campaigns. Research shows that Black and Latino children are exposed to significantly more junk food advertising than their white peers. These same communities often face a higher concentration of fast food restaurants, where menu items routinely exceed recommended limits of sugar and other nutrients of concern, contributing to poor diet quality and increasing the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.

"As we launch the campaign to flatten Big Soda once and for all, the Center for Science in the Public Interest is proud to stand alongside the Interfaith Public Health Network and our community partners. Big Soda is spending billions of dollars every year to surround our children with ads on nearly every screen they use-from television and video games to social media and streaming platforms-normalizing sugary drinks and putting corporate profits ahead of kids' health. The consequences are real: diets high in added sugar contribute to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable chronic diseases that are affecting families across New York. Albany has both the power and the responsibility to put commonsense guardrails in place so billion-dollar corporations can no longer exploit children through predatory marketing. We're calling on state leaders to protect kids, empower families with honest nutrition information, and make sugary drink ads a thing of the past," said Dr. DeAnna Nara, Campaign Manager, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

"Big Soda is harming kids-especially kids of color-with its aggressive marketing tactics, pattern of healthwashing, and opportunistic sponsorship of sporting events. Faith communities know that these companies are not promoting the common good but instead putting profit over people. That's why we at the Interfaith Public Health Network are linking people of faith with leading public health and health care organizations to demand that Big Soda stop pushing sugar-laden drinks to kids and vulnerable communities. We're especially proud to center and empower youth voices in this effort," said Bob Pezzolesi, Convener, Interfaith Public Health Network.

"As a student in the Bronx, I've grown up surrounded by advertisements for sugary drinks and junk food, plastered on buses, social media, and in stores. Many of my friends and family don't realize how much these marketing tactics dictate our choices because they're designed to make unhealthy food seem like a normal part of daily life. I hope young people can help and contribute to passing policies that offer families accurate and reliable nutritional information," said Liyana Hossain, Muslim Community Network.

NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: "Good nutrition is a foundation of good health. New York can address health disparities in low-income communities and communities of color by stopping Big Soda's predatory marketing practices and ensuring residents have clear, accessible nutrition information."

"In clinic, I watch kids as young as four and five years old reaching for sports drinks and soda like they were water. Even at that age, they've already seen countless advertisements telling them that sugary drinks are fun and should be part of everyday

life. As a result, we are seeing more children with type 2 diabetes, liver disease, metabolic dysfunction, and other diet-related chronic diseases that used to be far less common in childhood and young adulthood. As pediatricians, our job is to help children grow up healthy. But that work shouldn't begin when they arrive in our office-it should begin with the policies and environments we create for them every day," said Dr. Deniz Catatelpe, Pediatric Gastroenterology Fellow Physician in New York City.

"For $11 billion a year, Big Soda isn't selling drinks, they're buying our children's habits before those children are old enough to know it's happening. New Yorkers deserve leaders who will put their health above corporate profit, and we're proud to stand with the next generation of advocates who are demanding exactly that," said Husein Yatabarry, Executive Director, Muslim Community Network.

"Fiona first learned how our food system actually works on the TFFJ farm at the Murry Bergtraum Educational Campus. Today, as a TFFJ alumna, she's standing in Times Square holding the industry accountable for how it markets to kids like her. That's exactly what this work is supposed to do. Young people deserve a direct say in how advocates and lawmakers respond to predatory marketing, and we're proud to help build that with IPHN's new Youth Advocacy Council," said Meghan Groome, PhD, CEO of Teens for Food Justice.

"Sugar is not necessary for human survival. Why is it everywhere and in our kids' drinks?" said Amber Perez, Altagracia Faith and Justice Works/Obras de Fe y Justicia Associate Program and Events Coordinator.

The billboard launch echoes the aims of the Kick Big Soda Out campaign, a global movement backed by over 810,000 supporters and 105 civil society organizations, that calls on sports governing bodies, including the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, to end their partnerships with Big Soda. There are also a few bills in the New York State Legislature that will help flatten Big Soda and provide consumers with the knowledge to make informed decisions. Those include:

• Predatory Marketing Prevention Act (S397A/A2584A Myrie/Reyes) which will restrict misleading targeted food and beverage marketing aimed at children and adolescents
• Sweet Truth Act (S427A/A5305A Rivera/Reyes) which will require clear added-sugar warning icons on chain restaurant menus, and extend the protections from NYC's existing Sweet Truth Act to families statewide
• Sodium Warning Bill (S428A/A5207A Rivera/Reyes) which will require clear sodium warning icons on chain restaurant menus to ensure transparency and help consumers make informed choices

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