Sports Sponsorships

Foods and drinks of low nutritional value are often promoted by associating them with physical activity and sport. This association is made through several means:

• sports sponsorship of local teams, including youth teams, and amateur athletes
• sponsorship of sports events or competitions
• association with star athletes and professional teams
• using references to sports in advertisements and on packaging

Why is the food industry associated with sport?

Associating with sports is lucrative for the food industry. It allows them to:

Embodying health, sport and entertainment

Athletes symbolize excellence, performance and determination and are seen as models to follow in terms of healthy lifestyle habits. In the eyes of the public, they can even act as credible sources of information⁴. Sports teams benefit from a strong emotional attachment from their supporters.

Food marketing by association with sports is not without consequences.

• it often features low-nutrition, high-calorie products;
• it wrongly gives a “healthy” halo to the food products it promotes;
• it associates regular consumption of these products with a healthy lifestyle or the practice of a sporting activity;
• it influences parents’ behaviours, who are at least twice as likely to purchase foods that are promoted by a sports star;
• it exerts a strong attraction on pre-teens, especially young boys.

Become a model

Some sports facilities offer healthy food options. For their part, some athletes choose to refuse to promote poorly nutritious food products and actively denounce such promotional agreement.

Regulating sports sponsorship

Until recently, the tobacco and alcohol industries were the main sponsors of many major sporting teams and events5. Since 1988, sports sponsorship by tobacco companies is prohibited in Quebec.

This approach is worth considering for sponsorships by companies offering unhealthy food products. Often seen as a “necessary evil” for financing organized sports, sporting activities or elite sports, this type of sponsorship is certainly not essential to making physical activity accessible to young people.

1. Gomez, L. (2011). Sponsorship of physical activity programs by the sweetened beverages industry: public health or public relations? Rev Saude Publica, 45(2), 423-427.
2. Borwnell, K.D., Warner, K.E. (2009). The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco PLayed Dirty and Millions Died. How Similar is Big Food. The Milbank Quartely, 87(1), 259-294.
3. Hawkes, C. (2007). Regulatory and Litigators in the Public Interest. Regulating Food Marketing to Young People Worldwide: Trends and Policy Drives. American Public Health Association, 97(11), 1962-1973.
4. Bragg, M.A., Yanamadala, S., Roberto, C.A., Harris, J., Brownell, K.D. (2013). Athlete Endorsements in Food Marketing. Pediatrics, 132(5), 805-810.
5. Lamont, M. Hing, N., Gainsbory, S. (2011). Gambling on sport sponsorship: A conceptual framework for research and regulatory review. Sport Management Review, 14(3), 246-257.