Marie A. Bragg, PhD,a,​ b​ Alysa N. Miller, MPH,​a Christina A. Roberto, PhD,c​ Rachel Sam, MPH,d​ SportsVishnudas Sarda, MBBS, Sponsorships MPH,e​ Jennifer L. Harris, PhD, MBA,​f Kelly of D. Brownell, Food PhDg and Nonalcoholic Beverages BACKGROUND: abstract

Food and nonalcoholic beverage companies spend millions of dollars on professional sports sponsorships, yet this form of marketing is understudied. These sponsorships are valuable marketing tools but prompt concerns when unhealthy products METHODS: are associated with popular sports organizations, especially those viewed by youth. – This descriptive study used Nielsen audience data to select 10 sports organizations with the most 2 17 year old viewers of 2015 televised events. Sponsors of these organizations were identified and assigned to product categories. We identified advertisements promoting food and/or nonalcoholic beverage sponsorships on television, YouTube, and sports organization Web sites from 2006 to 2016, and the number of YouTube RESULTS: advertisement views. The nutritional quality of advertised products was assessed.

Youth watched telecasts associated with thesen sports organizations over 412 million times. These organizations had 44 food and/or nonalcoholicn beverage sponsors (18.8% of sponsors),n second to automotiven sponsors ( = 46). The National Football League had the most food and/or nonalcoholic beverage sponsors ( = 10), followed by the National Hockey League ( = 7) and Little League ( = 7). We identified 273 advertisementsn that featured food and/or nonalcoholic beveragen products 328 times and product logos 83 times (some advertisements showed multiple products). Seventy-six percent ( = 132) of foods had unhealthy nutrition scores, and 52.4% ( = 111) of nonalcoholic beverages were sugar- CONCLUSIONS: sweetened. YouTube sponsorship advertisements totaled 195.6 million views.

Sports sponsorships are commonly used to market unhealthy food and NIH nonalcoholic beverages, exposing millions of consumers to these advertisements.

WHAT’S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Food and beverage companies spend millions of dollars a b Department of Population Health, School of Medicine, and College of Global Public Health, New York annually on sports sponsorships to use their logos, University, New York, New York; cDepartment of Medical Ethics & Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; dHarvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, brand names, and products in sports venues and Massachusetts; eDivision of Adolescent Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; fRudd advertisements. The public health community has Center for Food Policy and Obesity, University of Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut; and gSanford School of raised concerns about unhealthy food and beverage Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina promotion through sponsorships. Dr Bragg originated the study idea and design, helped with data acquisition and analyses, WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: The study provides the led the writing of the manuscript, had full access to all of the data in the study, and takes first comprehensive analysis of food and beverage responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the analysis; Ms Miller helped with sponsorships of US sports organizations. Food the data acquisition and analysis and helped draft the manuscript; Drs Roberto, Harris, and and beverage companies were the second largest Brownell helped interpret the results and provided critical feedback on drafts of the manuscript; Ms Sam and Mr Sarda helped with the data acquisition and analysis and provided feedback on category of sponsors, and the majority of food the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be and beverages in sponsorship commercials were accountable for all aspects of the work. unhealthy. DOI: https://​doi.​org/​10.​1542/​peds.​2017-​2822 Accepted for publication Jan 16, 2018 To cite: Bragg MA, Miller AN, Roberto CA, et al. Sports Sponsorships of Food and Nonalcoholic Beverages. Pedi­ atrics. 2018;141(4):e20172822

Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 PEDIATRICS Volume 141, number 4, April 2018:e20172822 ARTICLE Poor diet is a significant driver of with the sponsored entity (ie, sports– of 1 systematic review on food childhood obesity and is associated1, 2​ organization) to the sponsor (ie,23 25 marketing and sports sponsorship with a number of serious illnesses. ‍ food and/or beverage brand). ‍ ‍ noted that just 13 studies exist,38 with Food marketing is 1 factor that For example, feelings of excitement 10 taking place in Australia. Digital contributes to poor diet among youth. and accomplishment associated (ie, Internet-based) marketing is 1 ’ Exposure to food advertisements with the Olympics may transfer to platform used in sponsorship, yet this can influence children s food excitement and a positive self-image form of advertising is understudied. preferences and purchase– requests when consuming products of an Because digital marketing is a and can lead to increased3 7short- Olympic sponsor, such as Coca-Cola. newer and growing frontier, it is term food consumption,​ ‍‍ even Companies –have also attributed critical for public health researchers for foods that are8 not shown in the sales growth26 32 to sports sponsorship to examine the types of products advertisement. Public health experts activities. ‍ promoted on these platforms and and government agencies are calling the scope of this form of advertising. Studies examining the influence of for policies that limit the marketing In 2006, YouTube was the fastest – food sponsorship on consumers of unhealthy foods and encourage the growing Web brand, increasing its 1,9​ 12 have revealed high levels of recall promotion of healthy messages. ‍ ‍ monthly audience from 4.9 million and preference for food sponsors. 39 “ to 19.6 million in 5 months. Sponsorship is 1 form of marketing, The authors of 1 study showed 40 Recent Nielsen data reveal that defined as the provision of that 68% of children ages 10 to 14 the YouTube mobile application was assistance, either financial or in-kind, years could recall an average of 2 ranked as the third most frequently to an activity by a commercial sponsors associated with their own ” used smartphone application. organization for the purpose of 13 youth sports team (including 1 food achieving commercial objectives. ‍ sponsor); children ages 10 to 11 Public health advocates cited The high financial cost of sports years were more likely than older concerns about the effects of sponsorship contracts reveals that children to state that they thought unhealthy sports sponsorships companies find immense value in about sponsors when making ’ during growing criticism of the these marketing opportunities, with food or beverage purchases and – partnership between McDonald s global expenditures totaling $57.5 that they should return the favor ’ 41 43 14 ’ and the Olympics. ‍‍ In 2017, billion in 2015. In 2011, PepsiCo of sponsorship by purchasing the “ 33 ” McDonald s prematurely ended agreed to pay $90 million per year sponsor s products. In addition, their 41-year Olympics sponsorship, during their 10-year sponsorship 4 of the 10 most-liked commercials ’ although the company reported renewal contact with the National during the 2010 Olympics were “ ” 15 that the decision reflected a need Football League (NFL). In exchange McDonald s and Coca-Cola ’ 44 34 to focus on other priorities. ‍ for an estimated $20 million per sponsorship commercials. The ’ Despite McDonald s visible presence Olympic Games, sponsors like Coca- possibility of brand image transfer as a sponsor that terminated its Cola, McDonald s, and Visa were between unhealthy food brands and partnership amid such public granted a variety of marketing sports organizations is concerning criticism, no study authors have privileges, including the use of if consumers inaccurately associate 16 quantified the extent of sponsorship Olympic rings in advertisements. In unhealthy food products with health 35 as a food marketing tactic among fact, Coca-Cola has sponsored every and fitness. a variety of professional sports Olympic Games since 1928, making it 17 Although the use of sports organizations and food and beverage the longest continuous partner. sponsorships by food companies companies in the United States,

Sponsorships are valuable for has been10, criticized12,​ 33​ by public health nor have any quantified exposure several reasons. First,– brand experts,​ ‍ ‍ there are scant data to these commercials via newer awareness increases18 21 as a result in the United States on its scope media channels such as YouTube. In of sponsorship. ‍‍ Specifically, and the types of foods promoted. the current study, we aimed to (1) Americans who viewed the 2008 The authors of 1 study found that determine the prevalence of food Olympic Games on television and the 9% of sports sponsors in Australia and nonalcoholic beverage company Internet had higher brand awareness were food companies, and 63% sponsorships among professional for companies that spent the most of those sponsors promoted sports organizations popular among ’ 36 on sponsorship (ie, Coca-Cola, unhealthy products. Another youth ages 2 to 17 years in the United

McDonald s, Visa)22 compared with Australian study revealed that 70% States, (2) assess the nutritional other sponsors. Sponsorship may of parents surveyed supported quality of products featured in ’ also lead to brand image transfer, or limiting unhealthy food37 sponsors advertisements promoting these the transfer of positive associations in children s sports. The authors sponsorships, and (3) assess Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 2 BRAGG et al “ the number of times food and sponsorship industry organization system used to identify nutritious ” nonalcoholic beverage sponsorship that has shaped and defined 47 products that– can be advertised to commercials were viewed on sponsorship for over 3 decades. ‍ children in48 the50 United Kingdom and YouTube. Most sports organizations listed Australia. ‍ ‍ The model uses the METHODS sponsors on their official Web numerical nutrition information (eg, site, but sponsor information for number of calories, grams of fiber, ’ 3 organizations was only available etc) from the Nutrition Facts Panel 45 through IEG. to generate an objective numerical We used Nielsen s television 48,49,​ 51​ nutrition score. ‍ A score of ratings for sports programs shown A research assistant blind to the “ ” 64 or higher identifies food products during 2015 to identify the 10 purpose of the study sorted all as nutritious. A nutrition score was organizations whose televised events sponsors into the following 11 – generated for each endorsed food were most frequently watched by categories: food and/or nonalcoholic product, and an average Nutrient youth (2 17 years) in the United beverages, automotive, consumer Profile Index (NPI) score for all States. First, all televised sports goods (eg, makeup, headphones), food products endorsed by each programs were ranked according communications (eg, cell phone sports organization was determined to the number of youth viewers. To companies), finance (eg, credit ’ (Table 1). For advertisements that identify the 10 sports organizations cards), sports (eg, Nike), retail only showed a logo, members of (eg, NFL, National Basketball (eg, Lowe s Home Improvement), the study team randomly selected Association [NBA]) with the most tobacco and/or alcohol, services 5 products from the company Web youth viewers, we identified the (eg, Google), airlines, and other. sites and averaged the NPI scores 500 individual sports programs with These categories were based on “ ” of the selected products to generate the most youth viewers and then sponsorship categories created 47 an average NPI brand score. Oreo identified the total number of youth by IEG. The other category was and Ritz snacks advertisements viewers for all programs from the created to capture military sponsors were included in the nutritional same sports organization. (eg, the US Air Force), which did not Sponsorship Identification analyses because they appeared Nutritionalfit in any other Analysis category. in advertisements on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing For each of the 10 sports (NASCAR) cars, although they were After developing a list of sponsors, organizations identified above, we not listed as official sponsors of 2 researchers reviewed each food compiled a list of all sponsors using NASCAR in 2015. Advertisements and/or nonalcoholic beverage publicly available information. featuring generic products sponsorship advertisement identified Sponsorship was defined as an unassociated with the advertised above, removed duplicates, and instance when an official sports brand (eg, unlabeled juice in a Quaker coded the food and/or beverage organization logo or name (eg, NFL) Oatmeal advertisement) were left brand or product appearing in the was shown with an official company uncategorized because they were not ’ advertisement as follows: (1) name of name, product, and/or logo (eg, part of the brand being advertised. the beverage product (eg, Coke Zero), McDonald s). To identify sponsorship Overall, NPI scores were determined “ ” (2) name of the food product (eg, instances, we used the following by using nutritional information of “ ” “ M&Ms Regular), or (3) name of food search terms: official sponsor,​ food products from 34 brands. When ” “ ” or beverage logo if food products official partner,​ corporate brands featured multiple products were not shown or if the type of sponsor,​ sponsor,​ and the sports in their advertisements, NPI scores food shown was unclear (eg, type of organization name, and we then were averaged. wings present in Buffalo Wild Wings searched the following outlets: (1) advertisement). official sports organization and food This nutrition profiling tool codes company Web sites, (2) news media Researchers then gathered nutrition many sugary beverages similarly announcements identified with information for all products shown because sugar is the only ingredient. Google searches, (3) commercials in sponsorship advertisements To further differentiate the sugar- ’ on YouTube from 2006 to 2016, by searching official food and sweetened beverages (SSBs), (4) advertisements on the Kantar nonalcoholic beverage companies we sorted nonalcoholic drinks ’ Media AdScope database from 2006 Web sites between January and into sugary drink outlined in the to 2016 (includes advertisements March of 2016. The nutrition Rudd Center s Sugary Drink Food appearing in television,46 print, radio, information for each food product Advertising to52 Children and Teens and magazines),​ and (5) the was evaluated by using the Nutrient Score Report (Table 2). We also International Events Group (IEG), a Profile Model, a nutrition profiling added a category for plain coffee Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 PEDIATRICS Volume 141, number 4, April 2018 3 TABLE 1 Viewership Ranked by Televised Sports Events in 2015 and YouTube Views Sports Organization Average No. Television YouTube Views for No. YouTube and Impressions for Viewers Sports Organization’s AdScope Advertisements YouTube, and official company Ages 2–17 ya Sponsorship Associated With Sponsor and sports organization Web sites. Advertisements through (Date of Earliest Post for Advertisements included television b 2016 Advertisements) commercials and still advertisements NFL 244 260 000 93 208 599 153 (2006) (eg, images featured on sports NCAA 64 919 000 398 104 15 (2009) organization Web sites). Within the NBA 36711000 80009245 22 (2007) 273 unique advertisements in the FIFA 33 655 000 4 177 442 11 (2010) MLB 14 721 000 4 651 487 33 (2007) sample, there were 83 instances NASCAR 7 586 000 6 922 475 24 (2008) within advertisements in which only NHL 5 931 000 2 006 194 14 (2010) a logo was shown (ie, no actual food c PGA 2 927 000 — 11 (2010) or nonalcoholic beverage products Little League 829 000 4 222 473 13 (2009) UFCc 545 000 — — were shown, so the instance was Total 412 084 000 195 596 019 272 coded as the hallmark product) FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association; MLB, Major League Baseball; NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic and 196 instances in which 1 or Association; —, not applicable. more food or nonalcoholic beverage a This No. represents the average No. of viewers for any given program. For example, on average, 244 260 000 children products were shown. Because watched any given televised NFL program during 2009. b YouTube does not provide public data on repeat viewers or the demographic characteristics of viewers. more than 1 food or nonalcoholic c No commercials associated with this organization were found on YouTube. beverage product was shown in 58 advertisements, the total “ number of nonalcoholic beverage ” products shown in the sample of beverages: no added sugars, no youth ages 2 to 17 years viewed advertisements was 155 and the calorie coffee drink. sports programs associated with Marketing Analyses total number of food products shown these 10 sports organizations 45 was 173. Nutter Butter, Buffalo Wild during 2015 (Table 1). Overall, Wings, and Cracker Barrel food and 234 sponsors were associated with Finally, we quantified the total nonalcoholic beverage products the 10 sports organizations linked number of food and/or nonalcoholic were excluded from nutrition to the 500 most-watched sports beverage sponsorship advertisements analyses because complete nutrition telecasts from which these 10 sports that were identified during information was unavailable. organizations were identified. Food the search process described and/or nonalcoholic beverage above (ie, 2 research assistants n was the second most common There were 212 instances in which independently searched YouTube sponsor category ( = 44, 18.8%), nonalcoholic beverage products for food and nonalcoholic beverage n exceeded only by automotive brands were promoted in sponsorship advertisements using the following ( = 46, 19.7%). These 44 food advertisements, including 57 search terms: official sponsor, official and/or nonalcoholic beverage brand (26.9%) instances in which only partner, corporate sponsor, sponsor, sponsors belonged to 18 parent the nonalcoholic beverage logo was and the sports organization name). companies. In some cases, multiple shown, without showing a specific The researchers recorded the total brands within the same company product (Table 3). Out of the 155 number of food and/or nonalcoholic ’ were listed as official sponsors. For instances in which a nonalcoholic beverage sponsorship commercials example, the Professional Golfers beverage product was shown, that were uploaded to YouTube from Association (PGA) official Web site 111 (52.4%) advertised SSBs, and 2006 to 2016 and the number of views lists 4 PepsiCo brands: Aquafina, 51 (20.8%) advertised non-SSBs associated with each commercial. Gatorade, Pepsi, and Lipton. The (eg, unsweetened teas, diet sodas, Capturing a 10-year period of NFL had the highest number of water, etc). Full-calorie, regular soft endorsements allowed us to create food and/or nonalcoholic beverage drinks were the largest category of a more comprehensive profile of N sponsors, followed by the National nonalcoholic beverages shown sponsorship. The data on viewership N Hockey League (NHL) and Little ( = 68, 43.9%), followed by diet soft for YouTube videos represent the total N NutritionalLeague Baseball Quality (Table of Sponsors 2). drinks ( = 31, 20.0%) and sports number of views as of August 2016. ’ Products drinks ( = 19, 12.3%). Plain water was RESULTS featured 6 times (3.9%), no-calorie coffee was featured 3 times (1.9%), Two hundred seventy-three and milk was featuredN 3 times (1.9%). Nielsen audience viewership data sponsorship advertisements were PepsiCo products were featured revealed that more than 412 million identified from searching AdScope, most frequently ( = 111, 69.0%), Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 4 BRAGG et al ’ whereas its products logos were shown, 132 (76.3%) promoted (Table 4). The PGA had the worst featured 48 times. foods with NPI scores lower than overall NPI average (NPI = 18.0) Out of the 173 instances in which 64, indicating that they were energy- because the only product they food products or brand logos were dense, nutrient-poor products featured in a food sponsor TABLE 2 Sports Organization 2015 Sponsorship Profiles advertisement was a high-sugar Sports Official Sponsor Actual Brands No. Food and Percentage of Mean NPI SponsorshipGatorade Protein Commercial Bar. Viewership Organization of the Sports Featured in Beverage Sponsors That Score Organization for Advertisements Sponsors Are Food and/ for Food 2015 Between 2006 or Beverage Productsa and 2016 Companies A total of 195596019 YouTube views were associated with food NFL Campbell Soup Campbell’s Soup 10 27.0 44.0 Company and nonalcoholic beverage sports Dairy Got Milk?b sponsorship advertisements in Management the sample of commercials posted Inc between 2006 and 2016 (Table 1). PepsiCo Pepsi Frito-Lay Diet Pepsi Pepsi (including Pepsi Regular, Pepsi Max, etc) sponsorship Gatorade Pepsi Max N Quaker Pepsi Next advertisements had the most N Mars Snackfood Lay’s views on YouTube ( = 132351532), Papa John’s Doritos followed by Gatorade ( = 24728056). The Dannon Sunchips Company DISCUSSION McDonald’s Fritos Rold Gold Cracker Jack This study reveals the high Ruffles Gatorade prevalence of partnerships between M&M’s Crispy sports organizations and food and/or M&M’s Peanut nonalcoholic beverage company Skittles sponsors. The NFL had the most ’ Snickers food and/or nonalcoholic beverage Papa John’s Danimals sponsors, and the organization s Oikos Yogurt telecast also had the most youth in McDonald’s the audience (totaling 244 million Quaker youth viewers in 2015). National NHL Kraft Heinz Heinz Ketchup 7 20.6 39.0 Little League had the third highest Company number of food and/or nonalcoholic PepsiCo Lay’s ’ McDonald’s Gatorade beverage sponsors, suggesting that Kellogg Company McDonald’s sponsorships of children s sports The Hershey Tim Horton’s organizations are highly valued Company by food and beverage companies. Tim Horton s Frosted Flakes ’ Only 1 organization, the Ultimate Mondeleza Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Fighting Championship (UFC), did not Maxwell House have any food and/or nonalcoholic Little League PepsiCo Gatorade 6 35.3 44.9 beverage sponsors. Kraft Heinz Heinz Ketchup Company The vast majority of food and Kellogg Company Kellogg’s Frosted nonalcoholic beverage products Flakes advertised in association with Lance Snack ToastChee the other 9 sports organizations Foods Inc Crackers did not qualify as nutritious. Full- Synder’s-Lance Subway Subway The Original calorie, regular sodas were the most Bomb Pop frequently appearing nonalcoholic MLB Pepsi Aquafina 4 18.2 42.6 beverages in advertisements in the Frito-Lay Gatorade sample, followed by diet soda and Aquafina Cracker Jack Gatorade sports drinks. In contrast, plain water was only featured 6 times, and low- fat milk appeared once within the Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 PEDIATRICS Volume 141, number 4, April 2018 5 TABLE 2 Continued Sports Official Sponsor Actual Brands No. Food and Percentage of Mean NPI Organization of the Sports Featured in Beverage Sponsors That Score up to 75% of their youth sports61 clubs Organization for Advertisements Sponsors Are Food and/ for Food maintain food sponsorships. 2015 Between 2006 or Beverage Productsa and 2016 Companies Television program viewer data NCAA The Coca-Cola Coca-Cola 4 23.5 37.6 reveal that millions of youth tune Company into sports programs each year. The Buffalo Wild Coke Zero general viewership data available Wingsa for the 228 YouTube food and/or Reese’s Buffalo Wild Wingsa nonalcoholic beverage sponsorship Nabisco Reese s Peanut commercials in our sample reveal ’ Butter Cups how broadly these commercials are Ritz viewed (195596019 views). Newer Oreo Triscuit media outlets such as YouTube provide companies with new ways of Wheat Thins ’ Nutter Buttera reaching consumers and potentially PGA Pepsi Aquafina 4 12.1 18 broadening consumers exposure Gatorade Brisk to advertisements, in part because Aquafina Gatorade Lipton Iced Tea Lipton YouTube is easily available. Sports Brisk organizations in this sample clearly NASCAR The Coca-Cola Coca-Cola 4 10.3 31 provide tremendous opportunities Company for food sponsors interested in M&M Candy Coke Zero marketing to youth, and the paradox (Mars Snackfood) of using sports to promote unhealthy Nabisco/Kraft Oreo products is alarming, especially Unilever Ritz given the large number of youth who (Hellman’s M&M’s Crispy watch televised sports. In addition, Mayonnaise) M&M s Peanut ’ the authors of 1 study showed that Butter NBA PepsiCo Pepsi 4 13.6 18 food sponsor logos were visible The Coca-Cola Pepsi Max during 44% to62 74% of 3 televised Company cricket games,​ suggesting a need Taco Bell Mountain Dew for more research on how exposure Nabisco/Kraft Mountain Dew to advertisements during televised Kickstart Gatorade games affects dietary behaviors. Spritec Taco Bell Because of these results, concerns Handi Snacks about partnerships between FIFA The Coca-Cola Coca-Cola 1 20.0 — sports organizations and food and Company nonalcoholic beverage companies UFC — — 0 — — are reinforced. Four of the 10 sports Total 44 18.4 34.39 — — organizations evaluated in our FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association; MLB, Major League Baseball; NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic study did not have policies on child- Association; —, not applicable. 63 a directed marketing. Furthermore, Lower scores (<64) represent less healthy foods. Scores are based on products shown in sponsorship commercials. ’ b Complete nutrition information was unavailable for this company, so it was excluded from analyses. 10 of 18 companies involved in c PepsiCo replaced Coca-Cola in 2015 as an NBA sponsor. Sprite is associated with Coca-Cola, which is not a sponsor of the the Children s Food and Beverage NBA. However, Sprite sponsors the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) industry self-regulatory program

are sponsors of at least 1 sports64 organization in this sample. The 273 advertisements in our sample. especially concerning because study initiative is a voluntary industry-led These findings are consistent with authors have shown that up to 76% pledge in which food and beverage those within previous research of children surveyed can recall at companies publicly commit to revealing that the majority of food– least 1 food company59, that60​ sponsors a refraining from advertising unhealthy products promoted through 53sports58 sports organization. ‍ In addition, products to children <12 years of sponsorships are unhealthy. ‍ ‍ the authors of 1 study conducted age. Despite the fact that sports The promotion of unhealthy foods in Australia estimated that 80% of programming does not explicitly and beverages during sports is children play organized sports, and target children younger than 12 years Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 6 BRAGG et al TABLE 3 Nutritional Quality of Beverages Featured in Sports Sponsorship Commercials Drink Category Company Brand Sports Organizations No. Instances That Featured This This Beverage sources (eg, YouTube, Nielsen), Beverage Was Shown and the objective nutrition scoring Within the 273 procedure. Future researchers ’ Advertisements should examine the influence of Regular soda, full PepsiCo Pepsi NFL, MLB, PGA 30 sports sponsorships social media calories advertisements on adolescent Regular soda, full Coca-Cola Coca-Cola FIFA, NASCAR, NCAA, 26 perceptions and food intake. calories NFL Sports drink, full PepsiCo Gatorade PGA, MLB, Little 20 CONCLUSIONS calories League, NHL, NFL Other, diet drink (soda) PepsiCo Pepsi Max NFL, NBA, MLB 12 Other, diet drink Coca-Cola Coke Zero NCAA, NASCAR 10 Other, diet drink (soda) PepsiCo Diet Pepsi NFL, MLB 9 With the results of this study, we Regular soda, full PepsiCo Mountain NFL, NBA 8 calories Dew generate several implications. First, Plain water PepsiCo Aquafina PGA, MLB, NFL 7 sports organizations could develop Fruit drink, full calories PepsiCo Mountain NBA 4 more health-conscious policies Dew that prohibit partnerships with Kickstart companies primarily promoting Sports drink, full PepsiCo Gatorade NFL, NBA, MLB 3 ’ calories Recover unhealthy products or limit food Protein marketing to the company s Shake healthiest products. Voluntary Sports drink, full PepsiCo Gatorade NFL, NBA, MLB 3 food marketing pledges like CFBAI calories Whey should be expanded to include Protein adolescents, which is consistent Powder ’ Regular soda, reduced PepsiCo Pepsi Next NFL 2 with recommendations from the calories Robert Wood Johnson Foundation65s Regular soda, full Dr Pepper Dr Pepper NFL 1 Healthy Eating Research program calories Snapple and the American Academy of Group Sports drink, no PepsiCo Propel PGA 1 Pediatrics, which encourages calories pediatricians to support efforts to Regular soda, full PepsiCo Sierra Mist NFL 1 reduce food marketing while also calories educating patients on the66 importance Coffee drink, no calories Kraft Heinz Maxwell NHL 1 of limiting screen time. Finally, Company House grassroots efforts through public Total, n — 16 — 138 involvement and media attention FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association; MLB, Major League Baseball; NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic ’ Association; —, not applicable. could help shift current sponsorship practices. McDonald s decision to end their Olympic sponsorship after mounting criticism from public of age, these children are a large announcers during televised games. health advocates suggests that other segment of the audience viewing Furthermore, YouTube does not sports organizations could capitalize such programs. If these sponsorship distinguish between unique versus on the public pressure to improve commercials are showing during repeated views. Some sponsorship the healthfulness of sponsors. In televised sports programs, these advertisements may have accrued summary, our results reveal that data reveal that sports sponsorships more views than others simply numerous food and beverage enable food and nonalcoholic because of sponsorship duration. companies promote unhealthy beverage companies that made Future study authors could examine products through sponsorship of CFBAI pledges to expose children to the nutritional quality of products a variety of professional sports, shown during broadcasts of sports millions of youth view sports unhealthy products while ostensibly ’ complying with their pledge. events and assess the influence of programs associated with unhealthy exposure on consumers food and sponsors, and food and beverage This study has several limitations. beverage preferences. However, the sponsorship advertisements reach First, we did not quantify strengths of the study include the millions of viewers on YouTube. sponsorship appearances large number of sports organizations These findings support the need to within games on the sidelines or and advertisements evaluated, expand criteria of voluntary food sponsor brand mentions made by the inclusion of 2 viewership data marketing pledges. Downloaded from www.aappublications.org/news by guest on September 29, 2021 PEDIATRICS Volume 141, number 4, April 2018 7 TABLE 4 Twenty-Five Brands or Products With the Worst NPI Scores Brand or Product Sports Organization NPI Score for Food Productsa the New York University SeedProgram for their contributions Gatorade Protein Bars NBA, PGA 18.0 in collecting data: Yrvane Pageot, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups NCAA 22.0 Snickers NFL 22.0 Ryan Hand, Alicia Korda, Margaret Peanut M&Ms NFL 26.0 Eby, Christina Marini, Alex Bragg, Oreos NASCAR 28.0 Maimuna Marenah, Greg Vann, Ritz Crackers NHL 30.0 Anna Davies, Alex Harvey, Skittles NFL 32.0 Handi Snacksb NHL, NBA 33.0 Tenay Greene, Sally Slingerland, Kraft Dinner NHL 35.1 Susan Stork, and Udit Modi. Philadelphia Cream Cheese NHL 36.0 Hershey’s NHL 36.8 ABBREVIATIONS Heinz Ketchup Little League 38.0 Lance Toast Peanut Butter Crackers Little League 38.0 ’ Cracker Jack MLB 38.0 Fritos NFL, MLB 38.8 CFBAI: Children s Food and Lay’s NFL, MLB 39.6 Beverage Advertising Frosted Flakes cereal NHL, Little League 40.0 Initiative Ruffles NFL, MLB 40.4 IEG: International Events Group Papa John’s Pizza NFL 43.1 Doritos NFL 45.2 NASCAR: National Association Rold Gold pretzels NFL, MLB 47.3 for Stock Car Auto McDonald’s NFL, NHL 48.0 Racing Sun Chips NFL, MLB 49.2 NBA: National Basketball Tostitos Chips NFL 50.8 Association The Original Bomb Pop Little League 62.0 NFL: National Football League MLB, Major League Baseball; NCAA, National Collegiate Athletic Association. NHL: National Hockey League a Lower scores (<64) represent less healthy foods. Scores are based on products shown in sponsorship commercials. ’ b Handi Snacks is a snack food product line sold by Mondelez International, which has a sports sponsorship affiliation NPI: Nutrient Profile Index with the NHL. PGA: Professional Golfers Association ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SSB: sugar-sweetened beverage Obesity for compiling the Nielsen UFC: Ultimate Fighting We thank Willie Frazier from the data. We also thank the following Championship Rudd Center for Food Policy and research assistants and staff from

Address correspondence to Marie A. Bragg, PhD, Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, 227 East 30th St, Room 622, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: [email protected] PEDIATRICS (ISSN Numbers: Print, 0031-4005; Online, 1098-4275). Copyright © 2018 by the American Academy of Pediatrics FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. FUNDING: Supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Dr Harris). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This project was also supported by the Rudd Foundation and Dr Bragg's National Institutes of Health (NIH) Early Independence Award (DP5OD021373-01) from the NIH Office of the Director, P60MD000538. Dr Roberto is supported by the National Institute on Aging of the NIH under award P30AG034546. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH. Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

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