Ignite Creation Date:
2024-05-06 @ 9:09 AM
Last Modification Date:
2024-10-26 @ 12:10 PM
Study NCT ID:
NCT02914821
Status:
TERMINATED
Last Update Posted:
2018-10-04
First Post:
2016-09-03
Brief Title:
Do Taxes Reduce the Purchasing of Soda
Sponsor:
Harvard University
Organization:
Harvard University
Study Overview
Official Title:
Do Taxes Reduce the Purchasing of Soda
Status:
TERMINATED
Status Verified Date:
2018-10
Last Known Status:
None
Delayed Posting:
No
If Stopped, Why?:
Harvard University dining workers went on strike we hope to relaunch in Fall 2017
Has Expanded Access:
False
If Expanded Access, NCT#:
N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status:
N/A
Acronym:
None
Brief Summary:
The study will take place at a cafe managed by university dining services and is located in a university building adjacent to the psychology building The cafe sells sugar-sweetened beverages and a variety of diet drinks The campus dining services and the manager of the cafe have given investigators permission to tax their sugar sweetened beverages and will provide their sales data for a 12 week period
The investigators will introduce four arms to the experiment One arm will be baseline data where business as usual will be conducted and no price increases will be implemented on SSBs In the general tax condition the investigators will introduce a 3 centounce tax on the five SSB flavors the café offers In the Pre-K tax condition the investigators will institute a 3 centounce tax but will label the tax as proceeds going to Pre-K education This is designed after the Philadelphia tax that was recently passed where funds were earmarked to benefit childhood education In the childhood healthy eating program condition the investigators will institute a 3 centounce tax but will label the tax as proceeds going toward childhood healthy eating programs In all tax conditions the firm will keep the proceeds but the research team will make a donation to a Pre-K education non-profit and a childhood healthy eating non-profit of the amount generated by the tax during the study period
Each experimental arm will run for 3 weeks total for a total study period of 12 weeks The conditions will alternate by week ie week 1 business as usual week 2 general tax week 3 pre-K tax week 4 childhood healthy eating tax week 5 business as usual etc A research assistant will visit the café each week to make any necessary changes to signs that will label the drinks
The investigators will change the signage of the drinks in the cooler during the study period For the baseline period there will be no changes to the signs made Currently all beverages are labeled with their name and cost eg Pepsi 189 In the tax conditions the investigators will change the price of the drink 3 centsounce and add a line notifying consumers of the soda surcharge note surcharge will be used in the study because no tax was actually passed by the local government An example of this sign would be Pepsi 229 includes 40 cent sugary drink surcharge In the Pre-K tax condition an added line will say Pepsi 229 includes a 40 cent sugar sweetened beverage surcharge Proceeds benefit Pre-K education In the childhood healthy eating programs condition the text will say Pepsi 229 includes a 40 cent sugary drink surcharge Proceeds benefit Childhood Healthy Eating programs
The investigators will introduce four arms to the experiment One arm will be baseline data where business as usual will be conducted and no price increases will be implemented on SSBs In the general tax condition the investigators will introduce a 3 centounce tax on the five SSB flavors the café offers In the Pre-K tax condition the investigators will institute a 3 centounce tax but will label the tax as proceeds going to Pre-K education This is designed after the Philadelphia tax that was recently passed where funds were earmarked to benefit childhood education In the childhood healthy eating program condition the investigators will institute a 3 centounce tax but will label the tax as proceeds going toward childhood healthy eating programs In all tax conditions the firm will keep the proceeds but the research team will make a donation to a Pre-K education non-profit and a childhood healthy eating non-profit of the amount generated by the tax during the study period
Each experimental arm will run for 3 weeks total for a total study period of 12 weeks The conditions will alternate by week ie week 1 business as usual week 2 general tax week 3 pre-K tax week 4 childhood healthy eating tax week 5 business as usual etc A research assistant will visit the café each week to make any necessary changes to signs that will label the drinks
The investigators will change the signage of the drinks in the cooler during the study period For the baseline period there will be no changes to the signs made Currently all beverages are labeled with their name and cost eg Pepsi 189 In the tax conditions the investigators will change the price of the drink 3 centsounce and add a line notifying consumers of the soda surcharge note surcharge will be used in the study because no tax was actually passed by the local government An example of this sign would be Pepsi 229 includes 40 cent sugary drink surcharge In the Pre-K tax condition an added line will say Pepsi 229 includes a 40 cent sugar sweetened beverage surcharge Proceeds benefit Pre-K education In the childhood healthy eating programs condition the text will say Pepsi 229 includes a 40 cent sugary drink surcharge Proceeds benefit Childhood Healthy Eating programs
Detailed Description:
Diet-related diseases such as diabetes and obesity have become pervasive global health challenges so much so that they are being called epidemics The problem is particularly acute in the United States where two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are overweight or obese A key contributor to increased dietary intake is the increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages
Sugar-sweetened beverages SSBs also known as soft drinks are beverages that are sweetened with sugar high fructose corn syrup or any other caloric sweetener this excludes noncaloric diet drinks The average American consumes approximately 47 gallons of SSBs per year Americans consume about 278 calories more each day than they did 30 years ago and nearly half of this increase is attributable to increased consumption of SSBs The consumption of SSBs has been cited as a key contributor to obesity and has been linked to other negative health problems such as diabetes heart disease and dental cavities Therefore the increase in SSB consumption and the concurrent increase in diet-related diseases pose significant direct and indirect costs to society
In response to these problems health experts laypeople and legislators alike advocate policies to reduce the consumption of SSBs Several municipalities and states have proposed policies such as taxes warning labels and calorie labeling and a few have passed such policies For example Berkeley CA recently adopted a SSB excise tax which charges an additional cent for each ounce of SSB sold In June 2016 Philadelphia passed a 15 cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks and diet sodas
The investigators believe it is critical to further test the effectiveness of taxes in the field In this study the investigators conduct a field experiment that tests different framing of taxes namely whether the money is earmarked for a particular cause
Sugar-sweetened beverages SSBs also known as soft drinks are beverages that are sweetened with sugar high fructose corn syrup or any other caloric sweetener this excludes noncaloric diet drinks The average American consumes approximately 47 gallons of SSBs per year Americans consume about 278 calories more each day than they did 30 years ago and nearly half of this increase is attributable to increased consumption of SSBs The consumption of SSBs has been cited as a key contributor to obesity and has been linked to other negative health problems such as diabetes heart disease and dental cavities Therefore the increase in SSB consumption and the concurrent increase in diet-related diseases pose significant direct and indirect costs to society
In response to these problems health experts laypeople and legislators alike advocate policies to reduce the consumption of SSBs Several municipalities and states have proposed policies such as taxes warning labels and calorie labeling and a few have passed such policies For example Berkeley CA recently adopted a SSB excise tax which charges an additional cent for each ounce of SSB sold In June 2016 Philadelphia passed a 15 cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks and diet sodas
The investigators believe it is critical to further test the effectiveness of taxes in the field In this study the investigators conduct a field experiment that tests different framing of taxes namely whether the money is earmarked for a particular cause
Study Oversight
Has Oversight DMC:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Device?:
None
Is an Unapproved Device?:
None
Is a PPSD?:
None
Is a US Export?:
None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?:
None