NYC to Ban Super-Sized Soft Drinks? Does This Affect 7-11?

New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg Floats Ban on Large Sodas

If NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg gets his way, New York City's restaurants and food carts would be banned from selling soft drinks larger than 16 ounces.

This would affect any establishment that requires a letter grade from the Department of Health.

While there are compelling health reasons behind such a ban, Bloomberg's press conference only cemented the fact that he's rather out of touch with everyday New Yorkers. Bloomberg, a billionaire, said that, if local businesses found themselves losing too much money, they could simply charge more for 16oz drinks. Yeah, Mike, because NYC is so cheap as it is. Not all of us have a private helicopter; you'd do well to remember that.

7-11 vs NYC Bodegas

The Village Voice article discussing the super-sized soft drink ban does not mention 7-11, which is about to make inroads into New York City. 7-11 sells hot food, and, in theory, should be graded on food safety. Does this mean that 7-11 would be banned from selling its signature big gulps?

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Locals against the 7-11 expansion argue that neighborhood bodegas would be decimated by the invasion of the global convenience-store chain. The ban would strip away one of 7-11's biggest selling points.

Will a Super-Size Soft Drink Ban Accomplish Anything?

Also, the ban would not affect diet sodas or unsweetened drinks. How, precisely, would this ban be enforced? The only realistic way of enforcing a ban of this nature would be to target the cup size, and not the content of the cup. Anything else would be pointless.

Let's say that the ban comes into effect in March 2013 as planned. For the sake of argument, let's also say that the ban affects drink cup sizes. Will it matter? Can you not just get two smaller drinks? Or a refill? The amount of soda Americans consume is not dictated by the size of the container, but by the amount of soda available. No two-liter bottle? Just drink several cans. We're simply used to drinking soda all the time, and therein lies the true health problem.

(What we hate most is when pedestrians leave half-finished giant drinks on the sidewalk when entering a shop, and those drinks become magnets for swarms of bees. This is most problematic, it seems, in the East Village.)