Deakin University Media Release: Young Australians & SSB Tax Support

This media release, authored by a student, presents research findings from Richardson et al. (2018) indicating that young Australians are supportive of taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) if the revenue generated is used to promote healthy eating and exercise facilities. The release highlights the high consumption of SSBs in Australia, their link to obesity and related health issues, and the potential of taxation as a public health intervention. It includes a fact sheet detailing the importance of reducing SSB consumption, the negative health impacts of SSBs, and the role of taxation in obesity prevention. The media release emphasizes the use of evidence-based data and stakeholder perspectives to support the implementation of SSB taxation as a population health promotion tool. The author plans to utilize hashtags and social media to expand the reach of the message and engage the public in discussions about the issue.

Running head: MEDIA RELEASE
Media release
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Media release:
Young Australians agree with taxation on SSBs
To tackle the obesity epidemic in Australia, one of the interventions on obesity reduction
suggests introduction of tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) as an effective strategy. It is
estimated that this may lead to opposition from the young Australia. However, the picture is
contrary.
A team of researchers (Richardson et al., 2018) investigating about support for tax on
SSBs among young Australians that most young Australians support the idea of tax on SSBs
provided it is used to support healthy eating. The work of these researchers revealed that research
participants view SSBs as very unhealthy and they would view it unhealthier in case tax is
introduced on it.
Our research on the possibility of opposition from the public in response to taxation SSBs
has given encouraging results thus enhancing the possibility to engage in full-fledged
implementation of the taxation idea on cold drinks and other sweetened beverages. As mentioned
in the research study, it was found that ‘frequency of consumption negatively predicted the odds
of supporting a tax in a systematic manner’.
The research validates its point by stating that similar results have been found in other
studies and the consumption patterns aligns with national data. Hence, soft drinks are mostly
targeted because of their high rate of consumption in Australia.

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Another perception that supports taxation of SSBs is that the participant’s support for
taxation increased if the tax revenue generated was for the purpose of finding exercise facilities
and subsidizing fruits and vegetables.
It is time that policy makers actively engage in implementation of appropriate tax on
unhealthy food items like SSBs as it will acts as a population health promotion tool to change
public opinion about the healthiness of cold drink consumption.
To learn more about the research, refer to this link: https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/wiley/what-
young-australians-think-about-a-tax-on-sugar-sweetened-beverages-PmNkyRrDnS
Media Contact:
Tracy Phillips
Senior media coordinator, Deakin University
[e-mail]
Fact sheet:
 Importance of reducing SSBs in Australia: The prevalence of obesity and overweight in
Australia is the highest in the world. SSBs are the one of the major source of free sugars
in Australian diets and this is consumed mostly in the form of soft drinks, sports and
energy drinks. As excess consumption of free and added sugars are environmental drivers
of obesity, the main rationale behind reducing SSBs consumption rate is that it has no
nutritional value and it acts as a major risk factor of obesity and other disease like
diabetes and tooth delay. Unlike other countries, Australia lags behind in relation to

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regulatory response for SSB consumption (Miller et al., 2019). Hence, introducing
taxation is more important in the context of Australia. Negative impact of SSBs consumption: The understanding regarding negative impact of
SSBs can also motivate young Australians to avoid consuming SSBs. Review of research
evidence shows link between SSB consumption to number of health issues such as
weight gain, obesity, insulin resistance and risk of cardiovascular disease. In case of
Australia, positive findings those who consumed more than 250 g of SSB servings per
day was associated with 26% more chance of being obese or overweight (Bleich &
Vercammen, 2018). Yoshida and Simoes (2018) explained the mechanism behind the
links between SSBs and obesity and type 2 diabetes. Weight gain occurs because of high
sugar content and incomplete compensation for total energy. In addition, the risk of
diabetes increase because of high dietary glycemic load leading to inflammation and
insulin resistance. These evidences justify targeting reduction in SSBs to improve
children’s health.
 Role of taxation in obesity prevention: The main role of taxation in obesity prevention is
that since such initiatives has given success in other public health areas such as tobacco
consumption; proper implementation of tax on SSBs may improve health and discourage
consumption of food products low in nutritional value (Yoshida & Simoes, 2018). Various stakeholders view on taxation of SSBS: Apart from the opinion of young
Australians, the views of stakeholders from the field of health, nutrition, policy making
and economics also suggest that taxation should be part of multiple interventions to fight
against obesity. The research by Tamir et al. (2018) revealed that all stakeholders had the
perception that preventing obesity is a responsibility of the government. Only

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stakeholders from economic sectors had positive perception about tax on SBBs, whereas
those from other fields such as health sector and public advocacy revealed that such tax
would not be acceptable. However, one similarity in view of the stakeholders compared
to that of young Australians was that they also opined that they would support such tax it
is for the purpose of achieving health promoting plan. However, there is a need to review
whether tax rate would lead to reduction in consumption rates or not as such tax can
affect only people from low socioeconomic background. This also suggests conducting
research on the consumer response to risk information and perception about substituting
beverages with fruit juice.
Strategy/rationale:
The strategy that I have used to increase the chance of printing of the story related to
‘Young Australians support tax of sugar sweetened beverages’ is that I have focused on using
evidence based data to make my point valid and trustworthy. This strategy will also enhance the
likelihood of increasing the chance of printing the story. The main purpose of my media release
is to give the idea that young Australians are likely to embrace the idea of taxation on SSBs if
they are communicated that it is for health promotion purpose. I used the research by Richardson
et al. (2018) to validate my point and trigger quick actions related to the systematic introduction
of SSBs in Australia. A media release related to public health works to enhance the gap between
public heath knowledge in application in practice settings. A media can work to disseminate
findings of a useful research in specific public health context. The reporting about findings from
the research in the form of a media release can act as an important channel for reaching policy
makers and practitioners (Brownson, Colditz & Proctor, 2018). By using the research by
Richardson et al. (2018) to prove that young Australians support taxation if it is for health

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promotion, the media release works to plan systematic ways to implement the taxation regime in
Australia.
While constructing the media release package, I have focussed exploring the
consequences of taxation from various angles such as from the point of view of a youths who
consume SSBs, from the view of policy makers as well as the stakeholders involved in fighting
against obesity. For example, while constructing the media story, the main perspective of young
Australians has been defined. Secondly, the introductory paragraphs gives hint to policy makers
regarding encouraging findings obtained in relation to perception of young Australians on SSBs
taxation. To give more convincing points to the media agency, the fact sheet also focus on
exploring the benefit of the initiative of taxation from different angles. Firstly, the rationale for
reducing SSB consumption has been defined based on links between SSB and health outcomes.
In addition, the view of stakeholders from the field of economics and health sector has been
explored to understand how far the initiative can be successful in the Australian context.
Although relevant photos has been added in the media release to make it more appealing
to the media house, however quotes from the research evidence has been used to get a realistic
understanding about public’s opinion on the topic. Quotes can contribute to authority of a
statement and makes the story more insightful (Bossema et al., 2019). In addition, the main
rationale behind not exploring any photo opportunities is that the target media story did not
needed any imagery or photo to increase the chances of getting printed. Instead the media story
required a valid argument and evidence to have effect on policy makers on public health. Hence,
the same strategy was utilized. If my media article is published, I plan to publish the story within
one month so that policy makers meet and decide the way forward in response to evidence
presented.

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To expand the reach of my media release, I would also utilize the advantage of hashtag to
ensure that my message reaches the target audience. By the smart usage of hashtags, I can use an
attractive and catchy phrase like ‘#SSBtaxationworks’ to spread my message to the Australian
public. This will also help me to explore opinions of the wider community as it will promote
response from the wider community. The main advantage of hashtag campaign is that it can
mobilize audience for collective action regarding an important public health issues that can have
long term health consequences. George et al. (2018) also supports that use of twitter and
Instagram is an integral platform for dissemination about major communications that is of health
importance. This strategy will help me to share my contents to a wider audience and get
maximum popularity too. The quality of the message can be improved. I will use the strategy of
credibility, authentication and message-conveying power to facilitate uptake of my media story
and ensure that the key goal of media release is achieved.

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References:
Bleich, S. N., & Vercammen, K. A. (2018). The negative impact of sugar-sweetened beverages
on children’s health: An update of the literature. BMC obesity, 5(1), 6.
Bossema, F. G., Burger, P., Bratton, L., Challenger, A., Adams, R. C., Sumner, P., ... & Smeets,
I. (2019). Expert quotes and exaggeration in health news: a retrospective quantitative
content analysis. Wellcome Open Research, 4.
Brownson, R.C., Colditz, G.A. & Proctor, E.K. eds., (2018). Dissemination and implementation
research in health: translating science to practice. Oxford University Press.
George, N., Britto, D. R., Krishnan, V., Dass, L. M., Prasant, H. A., & Aravindhan, V. (2018).
Assessment of hashtag (#) campaigns aimed at health awareness in social media. Journal
of education and health promotion, 7.
Miller, C., Wakefield, M., Braunack-Mayer, A., Roder, D., O’Dea, K., Ettridge, K., & Dono, J.
(2019). Who drinks sugar sweetened beverages and juice? An Australian population
study of behaviour, awareness and attitudes. BMC obesity, 6(1), 1.
Richardson, T. E., Yanada, B. A., Watters, D., Stupart, D., Lamichhane, P., & Bell, C. (2019).
What young Australians think about a tax on sugar‐sweetened beverages. Australian and
New Zealand journal of public health, 43(1), 63-67.
Tamir, O., Cohen-Yogev, T., Furman-Assaf, S., & Endevelt, R. (2018). Taxation of sugar
sweetened beverages and unhealthy foods: a qualitative study of key opinion leaders’
views. Israel journal of health policy research, 7(1), 43.

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Yoshida, Y., & Simoes, E. J. (2018). Sugar-Sweetened Beverage, Obesity, and Type 2 Diabetes
in Children and Adolescents: Policies, Taxation, and Programs. Current diabetes
reports, 18(6), 31.