The Crunch Campaign Read Online Free PDF Page A

drinks into the hands and down the throats of kids. They will sponsor Under 6 soccer teams and give free stuff to schools and kindies. They’ll put their logos on school uniforms. They’ll make their drinks cheaper than water, or even give them away free. Parfitt’s can’t afford to do that. And even if they could, they wouldn’t because it’s sneaky and they’re not sneaky people. Ads are out there. You can choose to believe them or not.
    Ms Whiting, it would be really great if I could meet with you. I don’t mean to dump on your idea – because I’m sure a lot of work has gone into it – but I think I’ve got a better one that could help.
    Yours sincerely,
    Katie Crisp,
    Mosquito Advertising
    As Katie pressed SEND, she knew her last sentence was a lie, but there was no time to waste. It was unlikely that the prime minister would even see her email, but there was no harm in putting it out there. By the time they heard back, if they heard back, they would have come up with an idea.
    At six, the car pulled up under the house, but it was a full ten minutes before she heard footsteps in the hall. That was weird – her mum normally came straight up. Katie assumed she was on the phone so she kept on cooking their dinner. She was making a curry out of the leftovers. When her mum finally appeared in the kitchen, her face was grey. Still, she forced a smile when she saw Katie.
    â€˜Hello, love. Did you have a good day? Feel a bit more normal?’
    â€˜Mum, what’s up?’ asked Katie, although she knew the answer. The ad ban.
    Her mother slumped onto a kitchen chair and buried her face in her hands.
    â€˜It’s okay, Mum, we’re onto it.’ Katie wiped her hands on a tea towel and sat down. ‘The government can’t do this. They just can’t. It’s – it’s unconstitutional.’
    â€˜I don’t think the constitution says much about soft drink ads. And I think it’s too late to change anything.’
    â€˜When does the ban start?’ Katie rubbed her eyes.
    â€˜First of January.’
    â€˜So we can still do the Christmas ad?’
    â€˜I’m not sure there’s much point in making an ad for just one year. We’d need to run it every Christmas for maybe five years to make it worthwhile.’ Her mother smiled. ‘We were really looking forward to your ideas. Liam is so excited about the product: the formula’s just about perfect. But it looks like that won’t matter.’
    â€˜Mum. Nothing’s ever wasted. I think we should just keep going. When the drink’s ready, we might as well try to sell it. It’s only the first week of October, so we’ve got three months before this stupid ban comes into play. Anything can happen between now and then.’ Katie sounded more optimistic than she felt, but her mum seemed to appreciate it.
    â€˜What are you going to do?’ her mother asked. ‘Call the prime minister?’
    Katie served the curry. ‘Actually, I just emailed her.’
    Her mum laughed.

CHAPTER THREE
    The following day Katie had to go to school. There was no getting out of it. Her mum seemed to have recovered from her despondency of the night before. At six-thirty she pulled the blankets off Katie as if they were a giant bandaid.
    â€˜Mum!’ she shrieked. ‘My body clock’s still way out. I was up at two and haven’t been back to sleep.’
    â€˜That’s probably not true, but even if it is, I don’t care. Nothing will get you back to normal like school will. Just the walk there will be good for you. Come on, up you get. I’ve even made your lunch.’
    â€˜Gee, thanks.’ Her mum’s packed lunches were even worse than her dinners. She’d put slices of tomato directly onto the bread and turn a sandwich into sloppy pink sludge by first break.
    â€˜I’ve got to go.’ Her mum ruffled her hair. Katie looked at