Update, August 18, 2017: This post was updated to clarify the number of stores included in a report on sales after implementation of the beverage tax. 

Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is bankrolling more than $2 million in ads supporting Cook County’s sweetened beverage tax. Ads on radio, TV, and online will start running as soon as Friday. During his mayoral term and as a private citizen since, Bloomberg has spearheaded health initiatives. In his 12 years as mayor, New York was the first city to ban smoking at bars, the first to mandate public displays of calorie counts at fast food restaurants, the first to make trans fats illegal, and barred shops from displaying cigarettes at registers to deter minors from exposure.