Pharmacies offer health care services and hold themselves out as helping people on the path to better health. But placing soda and candy at checkout is an effective marketing strategy that elicits unplanned, impulse buys. Industry research shows that 72 percent of people shopping at drug stores bought an item at checkout in the past year. Even if shoppers resist temptation at checkout most of the time, giving in occasionally could be enough to tip their scales.

Walgreens can sell candy and soda if it wants to. But the nation’s largest pharmacy should not be inducing people to buy these products when they didn’t plan to. Better to put soda and candy in the center of the store, where people can choose to shop those aisles if they want to.

If Walgreens really wants its customers to be happy and healthy, it should keep the checkout area healthy and free from junk food.

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In the summer of 2015, San Francisco Supervisors and Mayor Ed Lee unanimously passed the first-ever law to require a warning message on all SSB advertising in San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, industry sued to block the law. Learn more about the legislation or read the public documents related to the lawsuit.

The World Health Organization recommends that the average person should consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day. That means one 12 oz. can of Coca-Cola, which contains approximately 9 teaspoons of added sugar, is 3 teaspoons more than the daily maximum. Get more information here.

As the science continues to grow about the link between sugary drinks and chronic disease, more jurisdictions across the country are proposing policies to protect public health. Get more information here.