While this situation has been underpinned by the emergence of a thriving middle-income class, it has also contributed to the growth of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The product of global economic integration, foreign trade and economic growth, in recent years Mexico has seen one of the highest levels of per-capita consumption of sugary-beverage and fast foods in the Americas ( Luxton, 2015).

The author’s proposed analytical political science framework can be applied to other emerging economies and help to explain why big soda industries continue to interfere in policy and research despite increased government support for obesity and type-2 diabetes prevention policies. In order to fully understand Coca-Cola’s policy and research influence in Mexico, we need to better understand the company’s historical institutional connections and capacity to divide civic mobilization. Political science theory can go far in helping to unravel and understand how major soda industries in Mexico, such as Coca-Cola, can continue to influence regulatory policy and scientific research. Additionally, my proposed framework provides several real-world policy recommendations for how governments and civil society can restructure their relationship with the soda industry, such as the government’s creation of laws prohibiting the industry’s ability to influence NCD policy and fund scientific research. My proposed analytical framework helps to underscore the fact that Coca-Cola’s influence is not solely shaped by the corporation’s increased economic importance, but more importantly, its access to politicians, institutions and strategies to divide civil society. Methodologically, I employ qualitative single case study analysis, combining an analysis of 26 case study documents and seven in-depth stake-holder interviews. Devised from political science theory and subsequently applied to the case of Coca-Cola in Mexico, my framework, titled Institutions, Interests, and Industry Civic Influence (IPIC), emphasizes Coca-Cola’s access to institutions, supportive presidents and industry efforts to hamper civic mobilization and pressures for greater regulation of the soda industry. To better understand why this has occurred, this article introduces a political science agenda-setting framework and applies it to the case of Coca-Cola in Mexico. Nevertheless, major industries, such as Coca-Cola, have been able to continuously obstruct the prioritization of those policies targeting the consumption, marketing and sale of their products. In response to Mexico’s burgeoning industrial epidemics of obesity and type-2 diabetes, triggered in part by sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages’ ability to readily market their products and influence consumption, the government has responded through a variety of non-communicable disease (NCD) policies.

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