Mayor Bloomberg's big soda ban plan has drawn equal amounts of cheers and jeers, with everyone from Michelle Obama to McDonald's to Big Soda weighing in. But who cares about 16 ounce drinks when they can have 20, 30, 40, even 50 ounces? Because in the future, we'll all just drink Big Gulps, Super Big Gulps, and perhaps even Double Gulps.
Bloomberg's ban would only outlaw sweetened drinks over 16 fluid ounces from eating establishments regulated by the Health Department—and convenience stores and groceries are the big exceptions. A 50 ounce Double Gulp—the little big sugary drink that could—filled with Coca-Cola has about 600 calories, which definitely puts your 20 ounce Starbucks hot chocolate into perspective. In a lot of ways, this is the best possible outcome for 7-Eleven: managers of the 92 NYC-area 7-Eleven franchises told the Times they estimate that almost 10 percent of their overall store income comes from the sale of Big Gulps.
Dilip Chaudhari, the manager of a 7-Eleven on 42nd Street near Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, pointed out that even if all of NYC doesn't become addicted to Big Gulp's, there are other repercussions to the soda ban: “They’re going to just buy two or three cups instead,” Chaudhari said of the soda addicted. “Who’s going to stop them? If anything, pollution will go up with all the extra cups people might buy.” And if that isn't enough to make Bloomberg think twice about his plan, just wait till New Yorkers start driving en masse to Jersey City to visit Johnny Slurp's Sodateria:
