Health and Me

Rachel V Thomas

Exclusive: From IPL To Olympics — How Sport Became A Marketing Tool For Junk Food And Sugary Drinks

Major sporting events such as the <span>IPL</span>, <span>FIFA World Cup</span>, <span>Olympics</span> and <span>Asian Games</span> have become powerful platforms for brands to promote unhealthy products through sponsorships, endorsements and social media.

In an exclusive interview with <strong><em>HealthandMe</em></strong>, Dr. <span>Robin Ireland</span>, public health activist and honorary research fellow at the <span>University of Glasgow</span>, UK, discussed how the commercialization of sport has helped normalize junk food, sugary drinks and alcohol, and its impact on children “who may not always recognize the difference between advertising and fact”. 

“It's an awful lot healthier to play sport than to watch it, because sport is now associated with junk food, sugary drinks and alcohol,” he said.

<strong>Excerpts from the interview </strong>

<h2><strong>Q:</strong> How does unhealthy-product marketing in sport affect children? And do “zero sugar” or “alcohol-free” labels change that?</h2>

<strong>Dr. Robin: </strong>I think it has a huge impact. Worldwide, we're seeing major problems with overweight and obesity from a very early age, as well as type 2 diabetes. Many causes of cancer and heart disease are preventable through healthier lifestyles, yet we're constantly being promoted things that aren't good for us. 

Alcohol companies often promote alcohol-free products. In India, I'm aware of surrogate marketing, where alcohol companies produce packaged drinking water using the same brand, colourway and distribution networks. So it's hardly surprising these brands are normalised to young people. Even where alcohol advertising is banned, alcohol can still be heavily promoted. 

A lot of this comes down to what we eat, but very specifically what we drink — alcohol, sugary drinks and now energy drinks. For most of us, we're much better off drinking water. 

<h2>Q: Does elite sport give sugary drinks, fast food and alcohol a “health halo”?</h2>

Dr. Robin: Sport presents glamour and excitement, and children look up to big performers and superstars who often promote products they probably don't consume themselves because they're not good for sporting performance. Yet their names and images are used to create that excitement and, as you described, a health halo.

Brands want to be associated with that healthy image. Athletes think that if they want to perform like a Sachin Tendulkar or another superstar, they need a sports drink or energy drink. And of course, they don't. But that's what the brands are trying to do.

<h2>Q: <span rel="noindex">Cristiano Ronaldo</span> famously pushed away a soft drink and asked for water. Where should athletes and sports bodies draw the line on unhealthy-product sponsorships?</h2>

<strong>Dr. Robin: </strong>It was one of those iconic moments, wasn't it, where he pushed the sponsored bottle away and said, “Agua.” The line is difficult for sportspeople. I don't necessarily want to blame them. It's the rules set by the governing bodies. I've just looked up the IPL sponsors, and you immediately find cola brands across the teams and on shirt branding. It's everywhere.

So it's hard to criticise individual athletes. Some earn huge sums of money, so perhaps it would be nice if one or two took the Ronaldo position. There are also athletes who, because of their religion, will not drink alcohol or associate themselves with alcohol products. 

But I think it's the governing bodies. How have we allowed this to happen? This deluge of sugary drinks at a time when we have high levels of type 2 diabetes and children living with overweight and obesity. It's really wrong.

<h2>Q: What can sport learn from the ban on tobacco advertising when regulating alcohol, sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods?</h2>

<strong>Dr. Robin: </strong>The short answer is I believe yes, but I think we're quite a long way from that. I grew up with tobacco advertising all over the place, particularly in cricket and F1. I remember F1 saying, “We're not going to be able to survive without tobacco advertising.” They were basically mobile tobacco packet ads with Marlboro ads on the cars going past; it was completely absurd. And we've got rid of it.

That was partly through the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. We simply have to take these things much more seriously. 

I get very cross with people who say we couldn't survive without this. I love sport, but I think we probably could. Across pretty much all sport, there is a lot of money coming in from other places. We don't have to be dependent on junk food and alcohol. It's completely inappropriate. 

<h2>Q: Are food labels enough, or should sports advertising also be restricted?</h2>

<strong>Dr. Robin: </strong>Labelling helps, but it's only part of the solution. Not everybody has the time or resources to read labels, and people will still buy what they can afford and what is accessible.

In the UK, we've had some advertising controls, but as we saw with tobacco, sport does its own thing. Sport seems to be allowed a free ride. 

In India and the UK, sport is huge, and politicians are in love with it. Advertising, particularly for junk food, is everywhere. Sport will find a way around restrictions unless it's specifically mentioned. In India, you're not allowed to have alcohol advertising, but sport seems to have found a way around it. 

We need to take regulation more seriously and recognise that people will find ways around it. It has to be robust to work.

<h2>Q: What would effective regulation of unhealthy-product marketing in sport look like?</h2>

Dr. Robin: We could be talking about that a long time, so let's come up with one or two manageable measures. I don't think sugary drinks companies or alcohol should be named in event titles. I also don't think brands should appear on the front of shirts or uniforms.

You can also have rules around advertising when events are broadcast. In the UK, we've taken steps around gambling. In the English Premier League, gambling brands have been removed from the front of shirts, and gambling ads can't be shown during the advertising break in the middle of games. It's a limited move, but it's a start. 

The IPL has a cola sponsor and a packaged drinking water sponsor that happens to be an alcohol brand. We need to get away from that. It's inappropriate. The Asian Games, interestingly, has 62 sponsors. As far as I can tell, only one is particularly unhealthy, and I'd rather they weren't there either, because it's an official hydration partner that is yet again a sugary drink. But it shows there are people willing to support sport outside these industries, and we perhaps need to look at them more.

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Major sporting events such as the IPL, FIFA World Cup, Olympics and Asian Games have become powerful platforms for brands to promote unhealthy products through sponsorships, endorsements and social media. In an exclusive interview with HealthandMe, Dr. Robin Ireland, public health activist and honorary research fellow at the University of Glasgow, UK, discussed how the commercialization of sport has helped normalize junk food, sugary drinks and alcohol, and its impact on children “who may not always recognize the difference between advertising and fact”. “It's an awful lot healthier to play sport than to watch it, because sport is now associated with junk food, sugary drinks and alcohol,” he said. Excerpts from the interview Q: How does unhealthy-product marketing in sport affect children? And do “zero sugar” or “alcohol-free” labels change that?Dr. Robin: I think it has a huge impact. Worldwide, we're seeing major problems with overweight and obesity from a very early age, as well as type 2 diabetes. Many causes of cancer and heart disease are preventable through healthier lifestyles, yet we're constantly being promoted things that aren't good for us. Alcohol companies often promote alcohol-free products. In India, I'm aware of surrogate marketing, where alcohol companies produce packaged drinking water using the same brand, colourway and distribution networks. So it's hardly surprising these brands are normalised to young people. Even where alcohol advertising is banned, alcohol can still be heavily promoted. A lot of this comes down to what we eat, but very specifically what we drink — alcohol, sugary drinks and now energy drinks. For most of us, we're much better off drinking water. Q: Does elite sport give sugary drinks, fast food and alcohol a “health halo”?Dr. Robin: Sport presents glamour and excitement, and children look up to big performers and superstars who often promote products they probably don't consume themselves because they're not good for sporting performance. Yet their names and images are used to create that excitement and, as you described, a health halo. Brands want to be associated with that healthy image. Athletes think that if they want to perform like a Sachin Tendulkar or another superstar, they need a sports drink or energy drink. And of course, they don't. But that's what the brands are trying to do. Q: Cristiano Ronaldo famously pushed away a soft drink and asked for water. Where should athletes and sports bodies draw the line on unhealthy-product sponsorships?Dr. Robin: It was one of those iconic moments, wasn't it, where he pushed the sponsored bottle away and said, “Agua.” The line is difficult for sportspeople. I don't necessarily want to blame them. It's the rules set by the governing bodies. I've just looked up the IPL sponsors, and you immediately find cola brands across the teams and on shirt branding. It's everywhere. So it's hard to criticise individual athletes. Some earn huge sums of money, so perhaps it would be nice if one or two took the Ronaldo position. There are also athletes who, because of their religion, will not drink alcohol or associate themselves with alcohol products. But I think it's the governing bodies. How have we allowed this to happen? This deluge of sugary drinks at a time when we have high levels of type 2 diabetes and children living with overweight and obesity. It's really wrong. Q: What can sport learn from the ban on tobacco advertising when regulating alcohol, sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods?Dr. Robin: The short answer is I believe yes, but I think we're quite a long way from that. I grew up with tobacco advertising all over the place, particularly in cricket and F1. I remember F1 saying, “We're not going to be able to survive without tobacco advertising.” They were basically mobile tobacco packet ads with Marlboro ads on the cars going past; it was completely absurd. And we've got rid of it. That was partly through the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. We simply have to take these things much more seriously. I get very cross with people who say we couldn't survive without this. I love sport, but I think we probably could. Across pretty much all sport, there is a lot of money coming in from other places. We don't have to be dependent on junk food and alcohol. It's completely inappropriate. Q: Are food labels enough, or should sports advertising also be restricted?Dr. Robin: Labelling helps, but it's only part of the solution. Not everybody has the time or resources to read labels, and people will still buy what they can afford and what is accessible. In the UK, we've had some advertising controls, but as we saw with tobacco, sport does its own thing. Sport seems to be allowed a free ride. In India and the UK, sport is huge, and politicians are in love with it. Advertising, particularly for junk food, is everywhere. Sport will find a way around restrictions unless it's specifically mentioned. In India, you're not allowed to have alcohol advertising, but sport seems to have found a way around it. We need to take regulation more seriously and recognise that people will find ways around it. It has to be robust to work. Q: What would effective regulation of unhealthy-product marketing in sport look like?Dr. Robin: We could be talking about that a long time, so let's come up with one or two manageable measures. I don't think sugary drinks companies or alcohol should be named in event titles. I also don't think brands should appear on the front of shirts or uniforms. You can also have rules around advertising when events are broadcast. In the UK, we've taken steps around gambling. In the English Premier League, gambling brands have been removed from the front of shirts, and gambling ads can't be shown during the advertising break in the middle of games. It's a limited move, but it's a start. The IPL has a cola sponsor and a packaged drinking water sponsor that happens to be an alcohol brand. We need to get away from that. It's inappropriate. The Asian Games, interestingly, has 62 sponsors. As far as I can tell, only one is particularly unhealthy, and I'd rather they weren't there either, because it's an official hydration partner that is yet again a sugary drink. But it shows there are people willing to support sport outside these industries, and we perhaps need to look at them more.

exclusive: from ipl to olympics — how sport became a marketing tool for junk food and sugary drinks

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