The Coca-Cola Calculator

Want to know how long it will take you to burn off that can of Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, Powerade or bottle of Glaceau Vitamin Water? Coca-Cola has just released a new online calculator that tells you how long it will take to work off the calories of each drink.

The calculator was developed in conjunction with UK doctor, Dr Greg Whyte a specialist in Exercise Physiology, Sports Performance and Rehabilitation.

Coca-Cola says the aim is to “to highlight some of the unusual, fun and interesting ways you can achieve energy balance.”

For instance, click on a can of Cherry Cola and the calculator tells you it will take 24-minutes of aerobics, 25-minutes of bowling, 56-minutes of easy canoeing, or 75-minutes of ironing to work those calories off.

On the one hand it’s nice to see the drink manufacturer making steps in the right direction, although with quotes inside the calculator that state, “did you know ironing can be an effective calorie burner? Especially if you do the odd star jump in between items!,” it seems to be a little off point at times.

The real question is how many people will actually use the calculator before making the decision to down their second or third sugary beverage for the day.

A campaign such as this would be much more effective if the company were willing to display some of these calculations on the product itself. So if a person were to pick up a can of regular Coca-Cola they could immediately see it would equate to 17-minutes of running.

What do you think? Is this calculator a good initiative by the Coke, or just another marketing angle?