🔵 Let's end corporate sponsorship of sporting events

Health

Mega sporting events matter. They inspire athletes and the general public, they inspire national pride, and they inspire corporate advertisers. The latter is not surprising, as over one billion people were estimated to have tuned into the Paris Olympics last week—a truly global captive audience.Olympic spectators will have been subject to a deluge of advertising and promotions, including from top-tier and long-time sponsor Coca-Cola. While the company promises to “refresh” athletes, officials, and spectators at the event, the real prize lies in associating its brand with the world’s most prestigious sporting contest.1 By positioning its suite of sugar sweetened beverage brands alongside sporting achievement—it “sports washes” negative associations with unsustainable water extraction,234 single use plastic,5 and non ...

BMJ     Aug 07, 2024