A study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that teenagers in low income areas responded more to information about how much exercise it would take to burn off the calories from a sugary soda than the caloric information itself.

Researchers taped signs to cooler doors in convenience stores located near high schools and middle schools across Boston where students from low-income families might attend. The signs that told potential buyers that it would take 50 minutes of jogging to burn off the calories from one soda showed a 50% decrease in sales to teenagers. Meanwhile signs indicated that a soda had 250 calories each, or that a soft drink accounts for 11 percent of recommended daily calories had less effect.

The signs stating the percentage of daily intake seemed to diminish sales by 40% while merely listing the calorie count had little to no effect at all.

“Why is it that the minutes of jogging was most effective?” asks Sara Bleich, an assistant professor of health policy at the University. “My personal feeling is that jogging works because it’s a negative thing.”

So there you go. Everyone hates jogging and exercise still. But they hate it more than they like soda. So I guess that’s progress. I guess.

(Source: NPR)