Pastors sue Coca-Cola: The black community is 'losing more people to sweets than the streets

Two pastors are suing Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association for alleged “deceptive marketing campaigns” which, according to the complaint filed Thursday in the Washington D.C., Superior Court, have negatively and disproportionately affected the African-American community.

The complaint alleges that Coca-Cola contains harmful ingredients such as sugar and high-fructose corn syrup which leads to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease; information the pastors say Coca-Cola advertisements purposely omit.

The complaint also stated that consumers are not scientifically well versed in these matters which leaves them vulnerable to Coca-Cola’s “false, deceptive, and misleading advertising and promotion of sugar-sweetened beverages.”

The lawsuit was filed by Pastor William Lamar of D.C.’s historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and Delman Coates, pastor at Maryland’s Mount Ennon Baptist Church along with the public-health group, Praxis.

According to the Washington Post, Lamar is tired of seeing parishioners die of disease, strokes, and diabetes from what he believes is caused by sugary beverages.

“It’s become really clear to me that we’re losing more people to the sweets than to the streets,” Coates told the Post.

This morning on “Pat & Stu” the guys questioned where the personal responsibility lies in all of this.

“There’s no question that having too much sugar is bad for you,” said Stu. “But it’s such a strange idea that you would sue a company for delivering a product that gives you all the ingredients on the bottle.”

To see more from Pat & Stu, visit their channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “Pat & Stu” with Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 5–7 p.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.