Abstract
Despite a growing body of evidence showing that sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes nudge consumers away from SSBs, we lack an understanding of people’s awareness and perceptions of SSB taxes and whether tax awareness and perceptions differ based on sociodemographic characteristics. We used serial cross-sectional study intercept surveys (n = 2715) in demographically diverse neighborhoods of Berkeley and Oakland in 2015 and 2017, and San Francisco and Richmond in 2017. In the year following successful SSB tax ballot measures, 45% of respondents correctly recalled that an SSB tax had passed in their city. In untaxed cities, 14% of respondents incorrectly thought that a tax had passed. Perceived benefits of SSB taxes to the community and to children’s health were moderate and, like correct recall of an SSB tax, were higher among respondents with higher education levels. Awareness of SSB taxes was low overall, and perceptions about taxes’ benefits varied by educational attainment, reflecting a missed opportunity to educate citizens about how SSB taxes work and their importance. Public health efforts should invest in campaigns that explain the benefits of SSB taxes and provide information about how tax revenues will be invested, both before and after a tax proposal has passed.
Highlights
In the year following successful sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax ballot measures, 45% of respondents correctly recalled that an SSB tax had passed in their city (Figure 2), with greater awareness in Berkeley (52%) than in Oakland (39%; p < 0.01) or San Francisco (30%; p < 0.01)
We find that awareness of SSB taxes is low overall and that perceptions about taxes’
Benefits vary by educational attainment, reflecting a missed opportunity to educate citizens about how SSB taxes work and why they are important
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are significant contributors to poor long-term health outcomes, including dental caries, obesity, and cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes [1,2]. SSB taxes, an increasingly popular prevention strategy, have been implemented by local governments in seven. US jurisdictions and by 35 nation states around the world [4,5]. A growing body of evidence shows that SSB taxes reduce purchases of SSBs, achieving their intended purpose of “nudging” consumers away [6,7]. The demonstrated declines in purchasing are consistent with a priori estimates of price elasticity of demand, suggesting that consumers are responding to higher SSB prices [8,9,10,11]
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