Many foods and drink produced by food industry comprise high volumes of sugar which might have detrimental effects on consumers’ health. One suggested way to alleviate this negative effect is to increase the price of these sugary products in order to promote people to consume less sugar. I believe that this strategy may hinder consumers from eating sugary products.
To begin with, if people pay more for sugary products than healthy foods, they will likely be more reluctant to buy these unhealthy products. A dramatic increase in the price of food products containing high levels of sugar would make the customers to realize that they are able to buy more healthy foods with the same amount of money. Thus, they will find it extremely irrational to pay more and eat unhealthy food in return. Instead, they can buy healthier and more nutritious foods with the half of money they spend for junk food.
Furthermore, the high costs of junk food not only can change the customers decision about buying a product containing high amounts of sugar, it could influence the marketing policies of manufacturers to utilize healthier ingradients in their products. Although the food industries might lose part of their loyal consumers by changing the formula of their sugary products, they can gain more profit in a long term run by convincing the consumers, via their advertisement, that they care about the well-being of their customers.
In conclusion, despite the manufactured sugary foods might adversely influence the health condition of consumers, this consequence can be mitigated via making these unhealthy foods more expensive. This would be beneficial both for customers and food industries.