SYDNEY - The soda wars are heating up Down Under, with the launch of a new campaign designed to lower soft drink consumption and to drum up support for a soda tax, the Australian reports. The Rethink Sugary Drink campaign is based on New York??s anti-soda ads.

The Cancer Council, Diabetes Australia and the National Heart Foundation joined together to produce and fund the ads, which are aimed to curb obesity. Besides a tax on sugary drink, the group also wants marketing and sales of such beverages restricted to school children and limited availability at workplaces and public arenas.

Already the campaign has garnered a backlash. Australian Beverages Council chief executive Geoff Parker called it misguided. "Focusing on a single source of kilojoules [a measurement like calories] in the diet hasn't worked in the past and ignores the concept of the total diet," he said. "No one food or beverage causes overweight or obesity. Consuming more kilojoules than what is burnt through physical activity is what leads to weight gain."

"The economic ramifications for manufacturers, suppliers and retailers would be immense, yet the potential for such measures to achieve improved health outcomes is unknown," said Jeff Rogut, executive director of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores. "Applying tax to certain items because those items have an emotional association to obesity in the minds of some groups is not only flawed, it's short-sighted and lazy."