This week, Sacramento city councilman Kevin McCarty proposed a new tax on soda.  His reasoning is mainly centered on our country’s obesity problem.  He stated that

“No one is saying soda is the only contributor (to obesity), but it’s one, if not the leading contributor…Our body thinks it’s water and it’s not.  It’s like every time we’re thirsty, we’re drinking a piece of chocolate cake.”

The tax would be in line with national efforts to curb obesity and encourage kids to eat healthier.  Last week marked the one year anniversary of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.  The campaign’s goal is to help Americans make small changes to their diet and exercise patterns that will eventually add up to ending obesity in the next 20 years.

However, as with any tax, not everyone agrees.  Opposition has already started sprouting up, and no bill has even been officially introduced yet.  People who are not overweight claim that they would be punished for others’ unhealthy habits.

While McCarty’s intentions are likely in the spirit of encouraging Americans to make healthier choices, a tax is an indirect route to making such changes.  I took a Psychology class once, and learned that punishment is the least effective way to change someone else’s behavior.  And that’s just what a tax is – a punishment for choosing to drink soda instead of a healthier beverage.

A more effective alternative would be to REWARD those who chose healthier alternatives to soda and other sugary snacks.

Healthy vending machines do just that.  The healthier snacks and drinks offered in vending machines like these automatically reward customers by helping them to feel more energized throughout the day – without any of the sugar highs and crashes associated with soda and other traditional vending snacks.  And on top of that, they taste great.

Vending machines like these also offer a rewarding user experience.  Buying from machines that feel clean and new create that feeling of, “I’m doing something nice for myself by buying from this machine.”

And best of all, no one feels like they are being punished for the greater good.

So while adding taxes to unhealthy foods may turn out to be a viable approach to helping this country’s obesity problem, simply making healthy food and drink more available by getting healthy vending machines into schools and other locations is clearly a much better option!