Some media couldn't wait to jump all over the almost non-existent attendance this week at the"Million Gulp March" near City Hall in New York against Mayor Bloomberg's proposed soda ban.
Organized by a gaggle of Republicans, libertarians, Ron Paul supporters and ad hoc protesters, the so-called New Yorkers for Beverage Choices protest at New York's City Hall on Monday drew only about 50 people, according to local reports, while organizers had predicted attendance of about 500 — never mind the "million" moniker in its name.
"Before, the government was instituted to protect the rights of everyone and prevent crime, and now it's cracking down the rights of everyone," Zach Huff, a spokesman for NYC Liberty HQ, toldCBS News. "It's astonishing we have a mayor who is pro-choice when it comes to what a woman can do with her body but isn't pro-choice with simple choices, like soda-container sizes."
Bloomberg retorted, "If you want to kill yourself, I guess you have the right to do it. We’re trying to do something about it."
The move came as 7-Eleven this week — not a brand to lose a low-hanging promotional opportunity — gave away free 7.11-ounce Slurpees across the US to celebrate the chain's 85th birthday. While that size was less than one-half of the 16oz Slurpee that would violate Bloomberg's ban, the context for the giveaway was obvious in the Big Apple, some protesters at the march hoisted 7-Eleven's Super Big Gulp cups as a symbol of their right to drink big drinks.
Other brands, of course, have come out strongly against the intentions behind Hizzoner's nanny-state idea, such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, part of a US beverage-industry effort to persuade New Yorkers to oppose establishment of the ban proposal that remains open for public comment this month.
Meanwhile, media snarks had a field day with the low turnout and amateurish execution of the Million March affair, noting that two in attendance were women dressed as giant sodas and that an American flag blew a mic stand to the ground.
All of which left some observers just askin' two things: Have any of these reporter types pooh-poohing the intentions behind the fizzled "march" ever heard of a slippery slope? And: Just which one of them reported in the same smug manner about any of the dozens of lamely attended "Occupy" protests over the last couple of years?
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