Eat, drink and gamble: marketing messages about ‘risky’ products in an Australian major sporting series

Abstract

BackgroundTo investigate the alcohol, gambling, and unhealthy food marketing strategies during a nationally televised, free to air, sporting series in Australia.Methods/approachUsing the Australian National Rugby League 2012 State of Origin three-game series, we conducted a mixed methods content analysis of the frequency, duration, placement and content of advertising strategies, comparing these strategies both within and across the three games.ResultsThere were a total of 4445 episodes (mean = 1481.67, SD = 336.58), and 233.23 minutes (mean = 77.74, SD = 7.31) of marketing for alcoholic beverages, gambling products and unhealthy foods and non-alcoholic beverages during the 360 minutes of televised coverage of the three State of Origin 2012 games. This included an average per game of 1354 episodes (SD = 368.79) and 66.29 minutes (SD = 7.62) of alcohol marketing; 110.67 episodes (SD = 43.89), and 8.72 minutes (SD = 1.29) of gambling marketing; and 17 episodes (SD = 7.55), and 2.74 minutes (SD = 0.78) of unhealthy food and beverage marketing. Content analysis revealed that there was a considerable embedding of product marketing within the match play, including within match commentary, sporting equipment, and special replays.ConclusionsSport is increasingly used as a vehicle for the promotion of range of ‘risky consumption’ products. This study raises important ethical and health policy questions about the extent and impact of saturation and incidental marketing strategies on health and wellbeing, the transparency of embedded marketing strategies, and how these strategies may influence product consumption.

Exploring the wicked problem of athlete and consumer vulnerability in sport

“…For example, Madrigal (2003) found that high team identification was associated with greater purchase intentions towards the products of the sponsoring brand. Unfortunately, and as alluded to earlier, many sports teams have developed sponsorship arrangements with brands of risky products that, if over-consumed, could give rise to consumer harms (Maher et al, 2006;Lindsay et al, 2013). High levels of team identification may consequently lay the foundation for consumer vulnerability by increasing 14 their propensity to purchase goods that are inconsistent with the pursuit of health and wellbeing.…”

Shaping pathways to gambling consumption? An analysis of the promotion of gambling and non-gambling activities from gambling venues

“…Recent research also illustrates that marketing is used effectively to normalise gambling through the alignment of sports betting with sport (Thomas, 2014;Lindsay et al, 2013;Thomas, Lewis, McLeod, & Haycock, 2012).…”

“…While significant research has focused on the role of individual pathology in the manifestation of problem gambling (Blaszczynski, Ladouceur, & Shaffer, 2004), much less has focused on industry tactics (Thomas, Lewis, McLeod, & Haycock, 2012), product designs (Dow-Schüll, 2012), and gambling environments (e.g. the clustering of gambling products and marketing for these products in specific environments) (Lindsay et al, 2013;Young, Markham, & Doran, 2012a). We know of no research to date that comprehensively considers how these factors work both independently and together to create and perpetuate problem gambling in communities.…”

“…Whilst this strategy has been used effectively for public health campaigns like those to improve eating and exercise habits, decrease road trauma or encourage individuals to quit smoking, there is also evidence that commercial organisations have used shaping techniques to indirectly encourage harmful behaviours amongst vulnerable populations. For example, it has been suggested that producers of adult-only products (alcohol and tobacco) may indirectly target children through a range of strategies that include alignment with sports stars and celebrities, promotion within specific environments such as sporting games and the sponsorship of activities with which children are associated (ANHPA, 2014;Lindsay et al, 2013;.…”

The effectiveness of advertising alcohol products in sports sponsorship

“…The impact of sports sponsorship is substantial given the public's increased exposure to alcohol products through sponsorship in sports broadcasts and sporting events (Chambers et al, ). These communication channels are increasingly being used, which raises the question of how marketing strategies might influence alcohol consumption (Lindsay et al, ).…”