Is the Soda Trend Fizzing out?
Photo by Rachel Van Leeuwen
Most of us like to enjoy a cold soda here and there, but we seem to enjoy our fizzy friends a little too much.
Soda has been around for all of our lives, seeing that the first soda was invented in the 1880s and it seems difficult to imagine soda not being as popular as it has been. In reality, it has already started happening. For example, The New York Times states that in 2003 the average number of children who drank soda was 79.7%, compared to the 60.7% of children in 2014. The truth is that even though there are an increasing number of companies like Sodalicious and Fiiz that are focused primarily on soda. The soda trend will probably stay for a pretty long time, seeing that it does seem to be on a pretty slow decline, with only a 19% decrease over the 11 years that this study took place in, along with the fact that there are new businesses that seem to be pretty popular throughout schools.
Places that specialize in soft drinks, like Sodalicious and Fiiz, seem to be trying to make sure that this market still stays relevant, especially when you look at the fact that there is two different soda companies within about five minutes of Bingham, making it easily accessible to teens. With these new businesses increasing in popularity at a surprising rate, the soda trend may just stay at a constant instead of having any more decrease, at least in Utah anyway, where it is most popular.
A study at Harvard showed that those who drank one to two cans of soda were 26% more likely to get type two diabetes than those who didn’t, along with being 20% more likely of having a heart attack. A lot of us know these facts, we know it isn’t healthy or nutritious, but we drink it anyway.
The truth is that the soda industry is one that has stayed popular for a surprisingly long time, and it won’t go out without a fight. It will, most likely, stick around for a long time considering the decline, along with the fact that our generation is one that really likes caffeine. It probably won’t last forever, but for the time being, this trend won’t go flat any time soon.
