This NY Times column criticizes Beyonce for taking part in Pepsi's upcoming SuperBowl promotion:
Knowles is renting her image to a product that may one day be ranked with cigarettes as a killer we were too slow to rein in. From saying, as she once did in referring to Let’s Move, that she was “excited to be part of this effort that addresses a public health crisis,” she’s become part of an effort that promotes a public health crisis.
"[R]anked with cigarettes"? Maybe it's because I don't smoke and I do drink soda (it's my vice), but I see a substantial difference between the two. The primary harm from soda, it appears, is the empty calories from the sugar. Too much sugar = too many excess calories = weight gain. But a can of regular soda has about 150 calories, which is equivalent to running 1.5 miles or so. So if I drink a can of soda a day, that would take 15 miles of running a week to burn off. Since I run ~30 miles a week, I'm 15 miles ahead!
Now, would I be healthier if I skipped the soda and took in 150 calories of, say, chocolate soy milk? Undoubtedly, but the point is that the primary harm from soda can be neutralized. I'm not a smoker, so I have no first hand experience, but it doesn't seem like the harm from smoking can be so easily neutralized by running.