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New Delhi , Aug. 14

A MASSIVE dip in sales in the capital and all over the country, despite conforming to the relevant food laws - though, however, lax - is something that the cola majors perhaps had not bargained for. Driven to the wall, even as Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo are fighting it out in the courts to "absolve" themselves of the charges levelled by CSE with regard to pesticide residues in their soft drinks, the two multinationals, it appears, have a much tougher fight at hand - that of wooing consumers back. And that involves clearing the consumers' "clouded" perception, which is a different ball game altogether.

Interestingly, in keeping with the marked dip in consumption of soft drinks are the findings of a public perceptions survey and this should make the cola majors sit up. The random sample survey conducted in the capital a few days ago by the market research services division of Shyam Vyas MARC Pvt Ltd has revealed that a majority 65 per cent of the respondents firmly believe that the findings of the study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) with regard to the presence of "dangerous levels" of pesticides and other toxins in popular soft drink brands is correct.

Worse still - for the cola majors - that 76 per cent of the respondents were in agreement to the fact that when these soft drink brands have been banned from sale in Parliament, keeping in mind the health and safety concerns of members, the same action ought to be taken in the market place in view of the safety of the ordinary consumer.

And not just that. An overwhelming 82 per cent of the respondents to the survey were of the view that the Government should encourage "such NGO initiatives", the kind of research study undertaken by CSE while only 16 per cent felt that such "unbridled encouragement" to NGOs may lead to chaotic and baseless charges which may gain the limelight and create public panic.

Moreover, 94 per cent of the respondents agreed with the view that the Government should step in with a major initiative and set strict norms for all food products.

Coming to specifics, while only 52 per cent of the respondents agreed that the issue of pesticides in soft drinks would result in people avoiding these brands, the figure rose to 70 per cent when asked whether they themselves would consume less. Clearly, it follows that while the respondents do not believe vehemently that the controversy will lead to people avoiding the popular soft drinks, they themselves appear to be more conscious of their health and, therefore, consume much less.

Among other issues, the responses by those surveyed brings out the majority view that the Government should view the matter seriously and serious action must be taken with regard to the report in an objective manner and not be partial. The Government, the respondents noted, should ensure consumer safety by enacting strict norms and implementing them.

And if a third party "objective" probe revealed that the soft drink brands actually contain unacceptable levels of pesticides and other toxins, then it should ban those beverages to protect the health of the masses.

By and large, the survey revealed that the people were not rushing to a judgement but want an impartial and serious probe. They were confident that if the Government actually decides to, it could get to the bottom of the controversy.

At the same time, the Delhiites are equally determined that the guilty should be punished - but only if the companies concerned are "actually guilty." They are not interested in a show of "multinational bashing" as it were.

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