So if I'm understanding this correctly, there are three reasons for the bump in sales: 1) People can't afford the treats they otherwise would be buying, so they're getting the cheaper option of a $2 one liter. 2) People are drinking less alcohol (because of the price?) and moving to drinks made of soda + some other ingredients (pickle juice and Tabasco, for example). 3) Social media influencers are pushing soda as a "mindfulness" break or a low-vice reward.

I drank a ton of soda when I was a teenager. I got a job at 15, and realized that we lived close enough to a grocery store that I could easily walk there, so I would buy several two liters of soda, a few bags of chips, and then I would stay up until 3 AM playing Age of Empires 2 or Red Alert 2.

I put on 60 pounds doing that over three years and I've never been able to shed it.

I cut out soda for my twenties, but I have started drinking ginger ales again because I used to have a cup of coffee at 3 PM to help with the afternoon slump, but I wasn't sleeping well. It's not a hard choice, even knowing how bad this pure sugar water is for you. Stressed, overworked, exhausted, your body craves quickly available energy. People need a vice.

But I still hate that I'm drinking them, and I still blame soda companies for the weight gain.