Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenAlbert Heijn has removed the large cans of Monster Energy from the shelves. Who’s the next victim?
The sugar pogrom
Today I’m going to buy a large can of Monster Energy at Jumbo. Not to drink, it contains way too much sugar, but to collect. To show to my granddaughter later. I can already imagine the conversation in about ten years:
Me: “Careful, girl, those are very rare and valuable since the sugar pogrom.”
Granddaughter: “Sugar pokemon?”
Me: “Pogrom. ‘The Great Sugar Pogrom’ of 2016, which was followed by the ‘Great Fatze’, the campaign against fat. That was in the time when the General Recommended Food Bars we now get from the government didn’t exist. Back then, you decided for yourself what you ate, and there were a lot of different things you could eat.”
Granddaughter: “Decide for yourself what you eat? Don’t be silly, grandpa!”
Me: “Really, honey. We used to decide for ourselves what we ate and drank, whether it was healthy or not. Until the pogrom. It started on a hot summer day when the big monsters were no longer allowed in the AH.”
Granddaughter: “Aha?”
Me: “Albert Heijn. That was a supermarket. A building with all sorts of different things you could buy to eat. At least, until the big Monsters were no longer sold first.”
Later, the Monsters were also banned from public places like parks and swimming pools. They were bullied and humiliated, and there were even stories that they were being caught, destroyed, and recycled on a large scale. But we didn’t believe it at first. The Redbulls and Bullits laughed at first, but when they saw the Monsters come back as thermos bottles, they began to worry about their own future. Rightly so, ‘Team thermos bottle’ doesn’t sound really good for a Formula 1 team. Soon all energy drinks were lost, 6 million cans were crushed. It wasn’t until they then removed Coca-Cola from the shelves that we knew it would never be the same as before.”
Why Monster Energy?
AH has banned the large 0.5l cans of Monster Energy as part of a previously communicated plan to reduce sugar consumption among customers. But why tackle the large Monsters first? Why not all Monsters? Why not all energy drinks? And when it comes to sugar, aren’t there products that contain more sugar? What about a pack of sugar?
Far-reaching consequences
The consequences are not entirely foreseeable yet, but they will be greater than many expect. Who, for example, takes into account all those starving witches? Those poor ladies who see the children ignoring their sugar-free houses every day? “Hansel and Gretel and the sugar-free, gluten-free, E-number-free house” doesn’t sound so good either, does it?
Sugar tax
In America, we see a different solution. Recently, the city of Philadelphia announced that it will tax soda. About half a dollar per liter of soda. That’s a lot smarter. Not singling out just one brand as a scapegoat (and leaving the own-brand). Not only extending to all energy drinks but all soda. It is expected to bring the city about 90 million dollars a year, but it’s about health, of course.
Patronization
By imposing a tax, you have less of a patronizing effect. People still have the choice to buy a certain product, but they pay more for it. However, the problem remains that you immediately wonder where the limit lies. Now it’s only the large cans of Monster Energy, soon AH will have to be consistent and remove all energy drinks from the shelves. But even the own brand is not spared. Albert Heijn wants to reduce sugar in its own-brand products by 10 to 40 percent.
Then, as in Philly, the “normal” sodas may follow. Then people realize how much sugar is in fruit juices. Oh! And candy! Should I quickly stock up on sweet Harlequins before it’s too late? And, just in, the barbecue sauces. “As many as seven sugar cubes!” I just read on Nu.nl. And that in the summer! “Sugar cubes.” The word sounds more and more like units of death.
Where the responsibility of the consumer ends and that of the producer and government begins is always a subject of discussion. But kicking the big Monster out of Albert Heijn seems crazy to me. At least as long as tobacco is still being sold.
Sources
- ad.nl/dossier-nieuws/energiedrankje-monster-niet-meer-verkrijgbaar-bij-albert-heijn~a04c198e/
- nu.nl/lifestyle/4278994/philadelphia-eerste-grote-amerikaanse-stad-met-frisdrankbelasting.html
- nu.nl/eten-en-drinken/4303376/barbecuesauzen-bevatten-zeven-suikerklontjes.html
