Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t want New Yorkers anywhere near sugary drinks — so stay away from the ones on tap at the city’s Department of Health.
Weeks after the city unveiled an advertising blitz on subways that depicts sugary drinks morphing into yellow globs of human fat when poured over glasses of ice, The Post spotted a vending machine in the agency’s main lobby at 125 Worth St. stocked with the beverage no-nos.
In addition to diet sodas, some of the drinks on hand are Gatorade, Snapple and Coca-Cola — the trio the city singled out in the ads with pictures of anonymous bottles that closely resemble those beverages.
“It seems as if it’s ‘Do as we say and not what we do.’ It’s certainly interesting that that’s the case,” said lobbyist Richard Lipsky, who represents the beverage company Good-O, makers of Arizona drinks, Orange Crush and Coco Rico.
“The fact that they haven’t removed the soda machine just shows you that we shouldn’t allow the Department of Health bureaucrats to make decisions for us, because their decision-making process is often jaundiced.”
The city’s campaign, which is its latest attempt to target obesity, cost taxpayers $277,000. A private donor gave $90,000 to the effort.
City Hall officials declined comment.
One source pointed out that vending machines in city buildings, which are generally handled by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, cannot have marketing slogans for high-calorie drinks on them.
Bloomberg has taken heat for a number of his health initiatives, including a citywide smoking ban in bars and restaurants, the prohibition of trans fats in eateries, and the requirement that chain restaurants post calorie counts. He also criticized Gov. Paterson earlier this year for “walking away” from a proposal to tax nondiet sodas.
Paterson had pitched the idea as a way to raise revenue for the state’s faltering budget while encouraging healthier behavior, but he quickly dropped it amid a crush of opposition.
At the time, Bloomberg said it is the government’s obligation to educate people about health risks, and he blamed sugary drinks for contributing to high rates of obesity in America. He has not indicated he plans to push for any such tax in the city.
The ads also came under fire from beverage makers, who insisted it was unfair for Bloomberg to single out soda while ignoring the negative health effects of junk food.