Many experts blame sugary drinks like those in Shaq's new line as a culprit for obesity. Health activists call foul on Shaq

Health activists have called a technical foul on Shaquille O’Neal as the latest spokesman for Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, saying the basketball icon pitches “disease-promoting sodas.”

O’Neal is one of several famous athletes expected to appear at an event Friday, at a Washington, D.C., elementary school, to promote the Let’s Move! Active Schools campaign, part of the first lady’s campaign to fight childhood obesity. Also expected: gymnast Dominique Dawes and runner Allyson Felix.


The problem? Shaq has a new line of sugary drinks, which many experts blame as a key culprit for the nation’s obesity epidemic.

( Also on POLITICO: Michelle Obama, Shaq team up)

“No one’s a bigger fan of the first lady’s Let’s Move initiative than we are,” said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “But it’s not appropriate to include prominent endorsers of sugary drinks and junk food in photo-ops or events aimed at promoting Let’s Move or other anti-obesity initiatives.”

CSPI, which advocates for stricter nutrition policies, has called on Shaq — who they call a “junk drink pitchman”— to “reconsider whether he wants to promote a product that contributes to weight gain, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.” Soda Shaq, made by AriZona Beverages, comes in vanilla, strawberry and orange cream soda, and each can has 270 calories and 17 teaspoons of sugar, according to CSPI. Shaq’s face is prominently featured on each can.

The consumer advocacy group, in a statement issued Wednesday, also points out that the retired basketball player has publicly said he stays away from soda and is particularly health conscious after watching friends and family suffer from diabetes.

“A celebrity like him shouldn’t have it both ways,” added Wootan. “You can’t do a photo-op with the first lady promoting exercise one day, and sell disease-promoting sodas the rest of the year.”

Back in January, healthy food advocates lodged similar complaints about Beyonce’s singing the national anthem at President Obama’s inauguration because the popstar, who is also a prominent partner with Let’s Move, has a $50 million, multiyear deal to market PepsiCo products.

Those critics posted a petition on the White House “We the People Site” asking that Beyonce be dropped from the inaugural program, but the petition was removed by the administration. An Obama aide told the blog Obama Foodorama it was taken down because the inauguration is “not something the White House actually has jurisdiction over.”