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 25, 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, criticized 12,33 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