Keith Vaz wants to ban the coke truck

[cassity]

So it seems Mr Vaz wants to ban the Christmas coke truck from visiting Leicester this year. He claims it advocates the popular fizzy drink as OK, but says the drink has too much sugar and is a major cause of obesity and tooth decay.

 

Is he being a killjoy??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-34718933

 

I think we should have santas on Coke bikes.

[scania]

False

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/santa/cocacola.asp

 

Not entirely. Coke has been synonymous with Christmas for a long time. I remember having Fine Fare and Presto supermarket own brand pop through the year, then getting Coca Cola as a treat at Christmas.

 

The truck is a fairly recent addition to the fizzy pop giant, but still shouts Christmas every time the Holidays are Coming song comes on the telly.

 

---------- Post added 05-11-2015 at 13:23 ----------

 

I think we should have santas on Coke bikes.

 

Now I wouldn't mind that, providing they use the cyclist paths :hihi:

[999tigger]

Didn't Coca Cola create the stereotypical Santa we all know (red jacket, beard) or is that an urban myth?

 

Notwithstanding regrets link about the origins of Santa from St Nicholas etc the modern Santa old man with beard etc seems to have come from an illustration by cartoonist Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly beginning in 1863. Nast’s Santa owed much to the description given in Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “"A Visit from Saint Nicholas."”

 

Coke didnt start hijacking santa till 1931.

 

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Santa-Claus

[Berberis]

I don't know if Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz is a practising Christian, but he's from a Christian family via Goa.

 

The name Vaz is from Portugal.

 

My Bad, I assumed, as he had led a march of several thousand Muslims in Leicester calling for banning of the book The Satanic Verses that he was Muslim.

 

I have always thought he was a Muslim

 

Ignore my stupid comment.

[leviathan13]

Do you also resent that say for example Indian food is a deeply ingrained part of our culture too now? Or is it just American things you don't like?

 

They hooked me young, and whilst I don't drink much coke, and certainly don't consider it a Christmastime drink, I get a tiny little buzz of nostalgia and excitement when I hear that 'holidays are comin', holidays are comin'...' refrain and see the red truck on the adverts. I had no idea that they'd actually started driving them around and presumably selling coke from them.

 

Well, considering many of the 'curry' dishes we do consume were invented by the British in India, it's hardly an invasion by foreigners. The ratio of authentic 'Indian' food (some of these dishes come from other countries in that area as well) is quite minimal in relation to the amount of those created by the British a looooong time ago in a far away land.

 

I haven't got a problem with 'influence' as that's basically all this island is - a melting pot of other cultures over time. My problem is when you get certain people saying that foreigners (generally those of a different colour) are attacking our way of life and using American corporations and businesses as an example. Like the heat around KFC apparently selling halal chicken - in effect, they were disgruntled that a foreign religious/cultural practice was being applied to a foreign food chain, but trying to claim that KFC is 'our way of life'.

 

Coca Cola is now a staple of Christmas, along with 'The Sales', business advertising in October and debt. I don't like Christmas for a number of reasons, this being one of them and I shudder when that ad comes on TV. Me watching Christmas is like the reformation of Alex in A Clockwork Orange...

[Penistone999]

So it seems Mr Vaz wants to ban the Christmas coke truck from visiting Leicester this year. He claims it advocates the popular fizzy drink as OK, but says the drink has too much sugar and is a major cause of obesity and tooth decay.

 

Is he being a killjoy??

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-34718933

 

Id rather ban Keith Vaz

[Anna B]

I never drink fizzy drinks (apart from the occasional gin and slimline tonic) but am still overweight. People can chose not to drink pop.

 

I'd be much more impressed if they got on to the food manufacturers and stopped them putting the sugar and corn syrup going into processed food. People eat this without realising how much hidden sugar is in even savoury foods. That is far more insidious, and a major cause of obesity.

[esme]

The coke truck is a mobile tourist attraction, people travel for miles to see it, but if Mr Vaz doesn't want people visiting his town, bringing their money with them which will they will then spend locally, then he can have that if he wants.

[Vague_Boy]

....and to be fair Coke do have a range of zero sugars pop that is very popular.

 

Full of lovely Aspartame.

[mickey finn]

No. Hes got a good point. Its tooth rotting swill owned by a huge greedy company with some suspect practices . Anyone getting upset about it needs to take a step back and just think a bit.

 

Judging by your post that includes you