The Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour should be banned, public health experts say.

The bright red truck - which made 44 stops across the UK as part of a nationwide tour over Christmas - promotes the consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks, particularly to children, they argued.

SEE ALSO: Coca-Cola Christmas truck arrives in Watford

Last month, hundreds of people from Watford queued to see the truck as it called in at Tesco Extra in Lower High Street.

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Robin Ireland, director of Food Active, a campaign based in north west England to tackle rising obesity levels, and John Ashton, a public health consultant, said Coca-Cola was intent on shaping public opinion through its marketing techniques.

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

It said the company wants to "frame the debate around healthy weight" by sponsoring events, funding community sports activities and raising funds to distribute food for people in need.

Yet a single can of Coca-Cola contains seven teaspoons of sugar, according to information on the Coca-Cola website.

The experts wrote: "At Christmas, Coca-Cola's marketing goes into overdrive as newspapers across the country regurgitate press releases for its Christmas truck tour, with advertorials promoting the truck as a Christmas tradition.

"And of course the truck is just the latest of Coca-Cola's campaigns to become a holiday brand and, indeed, to help brand Santa Claus himself.

"This Christmas the truck visited five locations in north west England in the first week of December: two in Greater Manchester plus Lancaster, Liverpool, and St Helens.

"With figures showing that 33.8 per cent of 10 to 11-year-olds in the north west are overweight or obese and that 33.4% of five-years-olds have tooth decay, many public health departments have used their ever-squeezed budgets to launch campaigns about sugary drinks to try to help their communities reduce their consumption.

"So Coca-Cola's campaign was scarcely welcomed by local directors of public health, medical professionals, educationalists, or indeed members of the public."

Have you been to visit the Coca Cola truck? What do you think? Leave your comments below.