As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the government’s Responsibility deal, we have been working with PepsiCo and some of the UK's biggest cinema chains, Odeon, Empire and Reel Cinemas, to develop an innovative new approach that will encourage more people to choose low and no sugar soft drinks when they go to the cinema.
Retail employees working in each of these chains will be trained to actively encourage customers to choose sugar-free Pepsi MAX rather than a regular cola drink, in a move that will see Pepsi MAX become the default cola option across the nation's cinemas. We will measure how this change is impacting on purchasing habits by monitoring sales across these cinema chains.
The new agreement will also see all Pepsi branded serving cups and other branding converted to Pepsi MAX.
Public Health Minister Jane Ellison has been supportive of the new pledge and said:
"This is a welcome commitment from PepsiCo, Britvic, Odeon, Empire and Reel Cinemas, as it involves a whole supply chain and will help consumers to make healthier choices. This is also a challenge to other companies to follow suit."
This is another example of the work that we are doing across the business to address the public health challenge and we will be sharing further news on our health strategy in the coming weeks and months.