Marketing Food and Beverages to Youth Through Sports

Abstract

Food and beverage marketing has been identified as a major driver of obesity yet sports sponsorship remains common practice and represents millions of dollars in advertising expenditures. Research shows that food and beverage products associated with sports (e.g., M&M's with National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing logo) generate positive feelings, excitement, and a positive self-image among adults and children. Despite this, self-regulatory pledges made by food companies to limit exposure of unhealthy products to children have not improved the nutritional quality of foods marketed to children. We reviewed the literature about sports-related food marketing, including food and beverage companies' use of sports sponsorships, athlete endorsements, and sports video games. This review demonstrates that sports sponsorships with food and beverage companies often promote energy-dense, nutrient-poor products and while many of these promotions do not explicitly target youth, sports-related marketing affects food perceptions and preferences among youth. Furthermore, endorsement of unhealthy products by professional athletes sends mixed messages; although athletes may promote physical activity, they simultaneously encourage consumption of unhealthy products that can lead to negative health outcomes. We argue that more athletes and sports organizations should stop promoting unhealthy foods and beverages and work with health experts to encourage healthy eating habits among youth.

The marketing of sugar‐sweetened beverages to young people on Facebook

“…Advertising food and beverages through sport is not a new technique 20 and was largely reflected in content shared by SSB brands on Facebook. Sport drink brands use popular sporting athletes in conjunction with nutritional science to position their products as performance‐enhancing.…”

“…In doing so, they are capitalising on the current era of ‘functional nutritionism’ in which a reductive approach is taken to emphasise the role that isolated nutrients play in bodily functions 57 . Sports drinks therefore gain a ‘health halo’ whereby their association with sporting prowess may result in perceptions of health benefits associated with consumption 20,58 . Achieving sporting prowess is considered by young people to be an important part of the Australian identity 42 .…”

“…In Australia, those aged 14 to 18 are the highest consumers of soft drinks and sports drinks while consumption of energy drinks peaks for those aged 19 to 30; consumption is highest among males 11 . SSBs are heavily advertised to young people through television 12–14 as well as through several other environments and media including schools, sport sponsorships, retail environments, video games and the internet 15–20 . The proportion of expenditure for SSB advertising through traditional media such as television is decreasing, while expenditure for advertising through online channels such as social media platforms is increasing 21 .…”

Buying behaviour and symbolic consumption of food and alcoholic beverages among people with religious affiliations in Bogota, Colombia

“…In fact, for the consumer, religion is of great importance due to the symbolic meaning it places on food, depending on their religious affiliation and religiosity, which may be highly heterogeneous (White, Samuel, Zhou, Razak, & Thomas, ). Likewise, the food industry, with its increasing advertising investment exceeding thousands of millions, is willing to reach its audience (Bragg, Roberto, Harris, Brownell, & Elbel, ), making it a matter of priority for consumer behaviour research.…”

Peer Review #1 of "Healthy eating promoting in a Brazilian sports-oriented school: a pilot study (v0.3)"

“…Female adolescents who 230 consumed soft-drinks had a higher body-fat percentage than those who did not consume (Sousa et 231 al., 2008). Despite knowing the harmful health effects of the consumption of soft drinks, food 232 companies' use of sports to promote unhealthy consumption of food/beverage by young athletes 233 is associated with healthy products (Bragg et al, 2018). This fact intensifies the need for 234 implementation of public health policies, such as school garden programs.…”