Soft drink manufacturers collude to stay out of schools?

Is this anti-competitive behavior in the public interest?

Let’s face it. The real reason the competing beverage companies agreed to this campaign is because they want to preempt more onerous regulation and/or “sin taxes” on sugary drinks. (See these articles from Advertising Age.) Unlike the purported goal of enhancing output by creating goodwill, this goal is best served by concerted, rather than individual, action. That’s because voluntary action to preempt more onerous regulation is subject to a collective action problem. Any firm that voluntarily cuts back its sales to forestall regulatory action will want to sacrifice as few sales as possible. Each firm also knows that in deciding whether to impose restrictions, regulators tend to look at overall industry trends. Each firm therefore wants its rivals to cut back a lot (so that the industry as a whole appears to be acting responsibly) while it cuts back only a little (thereby minimizing the cost of its preemptive strategy). If every firm has this attitude, though, the total voluntary reduction by the industry as a whole won’t be sufficient to prevent regulatory action. Thus, rivals seeking to forestall more onerous regulation need to commit to each other that they will each achieve specified reductions.