Two Pastors File Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola was just hit with a lawsuit.

Two pastors from Washington D.C., are suing the company and the American Beverage Association saying the organizations have purposely deceived the public regarding the health hazards of the sugar-sweetened drinks.

"The background of this lawsuit is that there's an epidemic of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a range of other degenerative diseases in the black and Latino communities, and really throughout America. For me, as a pastor, I see the toll it takes on families and children when they lose their parents much too soon," Delman Coates, the pastor at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church, in Clinton, Maryland, told CBS News.

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The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of Coates and William Lamar, the senior pastor at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

"It is a matter of life and death in our communities," Lamar told CBS News.

According the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regular soda consumption was most common among black and Hispanic Americans. Although there isn't a direct link to the soda drink, half of all African-Americans and 42 percent of Latinos are obese.

"It breaks my heart and I'm saddened by the way in which we're losing so many people. I'm losing more people to the sweets than to the streets," Coates told CBS News.

The pastors believe Coke commercials are misleading since they only often feature young, slender people enjoying the beverages.

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"Marketing for Coca-Cola is focused around health and fun and showing very sexy bodies in their advertising. You never see an obese person. If the people are consuming Coca-Cola at this rate, there is no way those bodies would look like that," said Lamar.

"It's almost as if they are selling joy. They are equating this product with the things that people are hoping for – joy, smiles, family. But this product will not deliver that. It delivers the exact opposite. Silence around this issue is violence," Lamar said.

The lawsuit also states the soda maker tries to switch the focus of obesity from their sugar-sweetened drinks to the inactivity of a person's lifestyle.

Lamar said, "Our hope is that Coca-Cola will discontinue marketing these drinks as something that is healthful and healthy."

Coca-Cola released a statement denying the lawsuit. "The allegations here are likewise legally and factually meritless, and we will vigorously defend against them," the statement said. "The Coca-Cola Company understands that we have a role to play in helping people reduce their sugar consumption."

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