Abstract Governments around the world are pressuring the soft drink industry to reformulate sugary drinks, in particular through taxes on sugar content or front-of-pack labels identifying products high in sugar. Even in countries with no sugary drink tax, such as Australia, the soft drink industry has a reformulation policy. While reformulation is often framed as a “win-win” solution for business and public health, many public health experts consider it to be a political strategy to improve corporate reputations and minimise the threat of regulation. We use a case study of Australia’s largest soft drink company, Coca-Cola Australia, to examine the evolution of corporate reformulation policies. We analysed a dataset of 144 corporate documents published between 2003 and 2017 to analyse how Coca-Cola’s policies changed and how it described and justified its reformulation initiatives. Between 2003 and 2017, Coca-Cola Australia shifted its reformulation strategy from “offering choice” to “systematic” sugar reformulation. It also presented two predominant rationales for reformulation: that it would grow its business and that it was “part of the solution” to obesity. We discuss these findings in relation to market and regulatory challenges facing the soft drink industry globally, including the spread of sugary drink taxes as well as consumer rejection of artificial sweeteners. This paper examines how a regional branch of the world’s largest soft drink company is adapting to pressures to reduce the sugar in its products as well as the tensions and barriers it faces in negotiating different consumer and public health interpretations of healthy beverages.

中文翻译：

---

可口可乐澳大利亚公司 2003-2017 年软饮料再配方战略的演变：公司文件的专题分析

摘要 世界各国政府都在向软饮料行业施压，要求其重新配制含糖饮料，特别是通过对含糖量征税或在标识高糖产品的包装正面标签上。即使在澳大利亚等没有含糖饮料税的国家，软饮料行业也有重新制定的政策。虽然重新制定配方通常被认为是商业和公共卫生的“双赢”解决方案，但许多公共卫生专家认为这是提高企业声誉和最大限度减少监管威胁的政治策略。我们使用澳大利亚最大的软饮料公司 Coca-Cola Australia 的案例研究来研究公司重新制定政策的演变。我们分析了 2003 年至 2017 年间发布的 144 份公司文件的数据集，以分析可口可乐的政策如何变化以及它如何描述和证明其重新制定举措的合理性。2003 年至 2017 年间，澳大利亚可口可乐公司将其重新配制战略从“提供选择”转变为“系统”糖重新配制。它还提出了重新配方的两个主要理由：它将发展其业务，以及它是肥胖“解决方案的一部分”。我们讨论了与全球软饮料行业面临的市场和监管挑战相关的这些发现，包括含糖饮料税的蔓延以及消费者对人造甜味剂的拒绝。