Let’s end corporate sponsorship of sporting events

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 communicable diseases.

Sugar-sweetened beverages have been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Worldwide, it is estimated that consumption of sugar sweetened beverages contributes to approximately 242 218 deaths from chronic non-communicable diseases in 2019.6 The World Obesity Atlas predicts that by 2035, over four billion people globally will be living with obesity.7 In the coming years, the highest burden of diseases associated with obesity and non-communicable conditions is expected to be observed in low- and middle-income countries. The increase in consumption of sugar sweetened beverages can be partly attributed to aggressive strategies employed by multinational corporations, including targeted marketing to children, lobbying against local initiatives to reduce consumption, and public relations campaigns that undermine regulatory efforts.8

The WHO Acceleration Plan to STOP Obesity identifies significant dietary shifts—specifically the replacement of whole foods with ultra-processed foods, including sugar-sweetened beverages—as major drivers of the obesity epidemic.9 The plan encourages countries to incorporate fiscal measures such as taxes, warning labels, and marketing regulations and—jointly with UNICEF—to protect children from the harmful impact of unhealthy food marketing. The plan calls for efforts to improve the availability and consumption of water. Additionally, it recommends government campaigns aimed at educating the public about the detrimental health effects of sugar sweetened beverages.10

Despite WHO advice, the budgets of governments in low- and middle-income countries to promote healthy diets are negligible compared to the substantial investments made by large soda and food corporations worldwide to promote their products.

For nearly 100 years, Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the Olympic Games. It contributes approximately US$93 million annually to the International Olympics Committee, plus an additional US$18.6 million for the two-month Olympic torch's world promotional tour.11 This figure surpasses the domestic NCD budgets of many low- and middle-income countries, for example Sierra Leone at US$16 million and Madagascar at US$9 million in 2021.12 Olympic sponsorship and aggressive marketing strategies could undermine national efforts to curb consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, such as the introduction of sugar taxes.

The Olympics hold a unique power. They promote values of excellence, promising to contribute to building a better society. Mass global viewership, from all demographics, make for an excellent global platform to reinforce messages of health and responsible practices. Attempts have been made at other global sporting events to harness the potential. Guidelines to ensure healthy environments at sport events are a public health legacy of the Qatar FIFA 2022 World Cup.13 Co-developed by the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Public Health, Qatar, the guide recommends actions that can be taken during the planning, operational, and post-event phases of sports events, calling on organisers to be the driving force for healthier food at sports events.

Sports personalities also hold unique influence. The footballer Cristiano Ronaldo memorably removed the bottles of coke from a Euro 2020 press conference and called on everyone to drink water—an action that went viral.14 In the run up to the games some Olympic athletes urged Coca-Cola to end plastic pollution, but as far as we are aware they have been silent about the promotion of unhealthy soft drinks around them. This is at odds with the benefits of physical activity and disappointing.15 Olympians have a huge potential to effect the eating and physical behaviours of consumers around the globe. We encourage them to call for the end of Coca-Cola sponsorship of the Olympic Games.

Everyone everywhere can play a role in shaping the norms of what is acceptable at global sporting events. In the same way that tobacco sponsorship is no longer acceptable at the Olympics or other major sporting events, a groundswell of support could put pressure on games organisers to halt the impact of soft drink advertising on Olympic culture. We call on members of the public, and particularly the public health community, to oppose the partnership between Coca-Cola and the International Olympic Committee. We ask them to join the global call to “Kick Big Soda Out of Sport” by signing a petition that will be presented to the Olympic Committee at the close of the Paris games.16

Obesity is a leading global pandemic. We know that sugar sweetened beverages are one of the key vectors of obesity. We must adopt protective health measures in mega sporting events. In future tournaments, promotions should follow WHO guidelines to encourage healthy food and drink options, with matching pricing and food procurement strategies. They should promote only food and drink that aligns with healthy lifestyles and athleticism, and foster opportunities and partnerships with health-enhancing organisations, while tackling the risk of undue corporate influence.