New York City resident perception of soda brands has taken a sharp hit in the aftermath of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s proposed sales ban on large sodas and other sugary drinks announced last Wednesday.
Since the mayor’s announcement, local New York perception of an index of the major soda brands has turned much more negative than positive, potentially having an adverse effect on the beverages long before the Board of Health has even approved the measure.
At the same time, an index of non-soda beverage brand as rated by New Yorkers has also declined. The non-soda index includes bottled waters, coffee, juices, energy drinks and teas – some of which would also be covered by the proposed ban.
Nationally, soda brand perception has trended slightly down since the Bloomberg news, but the decline is not statistically significant as of yet.
All major soda and non-soda brands were measured using YouGov BrandIndex’s buzz score, which asks respondents, “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" Research was filtered for adult 18+ respondents both in the New York City area and nationally.
YouGov BrandIndex measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
On May 31st, the day Mayor Bloomberg’s intentions hits the press, the New York area buzz score for the soda brands sector was 8. A day later, those soda brands had dropped to -10, meaning those brands received much more negative feedback than positive.
By comparison in the same time period, the New York area buzz score for non-soda brands inched down from 5 to 4.
