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Energy drinks are a fast-growing class of beverage containing high levels of caffeine and sugar. Advertising and marketing have been key to their growth in South Africa. This paper documents trends in energy drink consumption and energy drink advertising, and examines the relationship between exposure to energy drink advertising and consumption. Logistic regressions were estimated of categories of energy drink consumption on individual characteristics, as well as exposure to energy drink advertising. Exposure to advertising is measured by reported viewing of channels high in energy drink advertising. Energy drink consumption in South Africa is higher among younger, wealthier males. Spending on energy drink advertising is mostly focused on television. Targeted channels include youth, sports and general interest channels. Viewers of channels targeted by energy drink advertisers have higher odds of any and moderate levels of energy drinks consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa faces a severe and growing obesity epidemic. Obesity and its co-morbidities raise public and private expenditures on healthcare. Sugary beverages are heavily consumed in South Africa and are linked to the onset of overweight and obesity. Excise taxation of sugary beverages has been proposed and adopted in other settings as a means to reduce harms from their consumption. A tax on the sugar content of non-alcoholic beverages has been proposed for implementation in South Africa, however, the public health effects and revenue raising potential of this measure hinges on estimates of the targeted beverages own- and cross-price elasticities. This study applies demand system methods by combining expenditure survey data and sub-national price data to provide the first estimates of price and expenditure elasticities for categories of soft drinks that would be subject to South Africa's proposed sugary beverage tax. The results suggest that demand for these products is sufficiently price-elastic such that a significant reduction in consumption may result from a tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]