Unhealthy Food Sponsorship in Sports

This assignment delves into the controversial topic of unhealthy food sponsorship within the realm of sports. It analyzes the various effects of such sponsorships, exploring both the positive perceptions often associated with corporate involvement in sporting events and the potential negative consequences for public health. The assignment emphasizes ethical considerations surrounding this practice, highlighting concerns about promoting unhealthy dietary choices, particularly among children and adolescents who are heavily influenced by sports role models.

Running head: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Systematic Review on Unhealthy Sport Sponsorships
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Abstract:
The aim of this systematic review is to identify as well as critically understand the review
methods related to the idea of unhealthy food and sponsorships related to it. The extent of the
impact of the sponsorships on children’s minds is also discussed. Different articles are obtained
from scholarly and newspaper sources in connection to the topic of unhealthy nature of sport
sponsorships. The literature exploring the articles is analysed and the results are also discussed.
The recommendation section discusses what the government should do and what the parents
should do in order to stop the unhealthy sponsorships from impacting the children negatively.

2SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Methods:..........................................................................................................................................3
Inclusion Criteria:........................................................................................................................3
Search Strategy:...........................................................................................................................4
Results:............................................................................................................................................4
Nature of documents:...................................................................................................................4
The physical environment:..........................................................................................................4
The economic environment:........................................................................................................5
The political environment:...........................................................................................................5
The socio-cultural environment:..................................................................................................6
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................8
Strengths and Limitations:.............................................................................................................11
Recommendations:........................................................................................................................11
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................................................13

3SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Introduction:
A sport is an integral part of human life and it is extremely healthy and beneficial to
maintain the fitness levels in any individual. It is basically a form of physical exertion and skill
in which individuals or teams compete with one another for fun and also for the purpose of
entertainment. There are several national and international events annually or half-yearly or even
once in four years to encourage sport and give it the necessary importance. In events which are
organised by major clubs or sports organisations, there are numerous businesses which provide
the necessary funding for the sports, be it Olympics or any other specific sporting event.
Sponsorship is actually a situation when a business provides certain funds, resources and even
association to the respective club. The club also provides them with certain rights and
associations in turn which might prove helpful for the business commercially. These might be in
forms of advertisements or logos or any other forms of making known the sports event they are
supporting.
Sponsorships of sport offer companies an avenue to expose the children and young
people to their brand and encourage a connection and identification with a brand. It also enables
children and young people to influence the spending patterns of their parents which in turn has
the potential to foster brand-loyal, life ling customers.
Clubs develop their identities and culture over several years, sometimes for even decades
and are shaped according to the nature of their choices. It is necessary for other sporting codes in
order to reconsider their sponsorship arrangements with the unhealthy products and also seek the
ethical sponsorships in the interest of the public good rather than simply the revenue.

4SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Methods:
The methods for the systematic review are discussed with regard to the inclusion criteria
as well as the search strategy.
Inclusion Criteria:
The systematic review was concerned with sources which were published currently
between the years 2012 to 2017. Those studies which included the information on the nature of
the unhealthy food and those available in the sports settings were considered for the study.
Though the inclusion criteria were broad, the studies which were related to the benefits of food
and nutrition on the sport performance are excluded.
Search Strategy:
The search conducted for articles and sources for the systematic review included the
scholarly sources. Google scholar was used to find suitable journals, blogs, articles which were
based on the given topic at hand. The relevance and the accuracy of the articles were justified
before referring and drawing information from them. All the fourteen articles are relevant to the
topic and help in throwing light on the topic as well as in reaching a valid conclusion.
Results:
The results related to the survey are discussed and the nature of the documents, the
physical environment, the economic environment, the political environment, the socio-cultural
environment is all discussed in detail as follows:
Nature of documents:
For any topic of systematic review it is desirable that the nature of the documents is
scholarly and relevant to the topic on which the discussion is to be conducted. The documents

5SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
collected are basically scholarly articles, pdfs, journal articles and other newspaper and online
sources as well. The documents are all related to the situation in Australia and pertain to the
situation of the sport sponsorships in Australia. Thus it can be said that the nature of the
documents are genuine and pertain to the requirements of the systematic review.
The physical environment:
The physical environment is an essential determinant of how the unhealthy sponsorships
impact the health of the children. The promotion of the physical activity and the link with such
activities with the sponsorships might impact the minds of the children. Organised forms of sport
offer several chances and ample scope for promotion of physical activity and also health
promotion activities to a vast number of children. In particular it can be said that the restriction
of sponsorships of children’s sport by unhealthy food and beverage companies or even their
promotional activities is an extremely important message of the sporting clubs which need to be
performed in order to reinforce healthy eating messages. It is to be logically understood that no
sort of funding difficulties would occur if there is restriction imposed on unhealthy food and
beverage company sponsorships. This is because this sort of funding represents a very small
proportion of the total income base despite the fact that it provides vast number of opportunities
for the sponsors (11).
The high participation rates in the formal sport and consistent pairing of the
recommendations which link the physical activity and the healthy eating suggest that sports
settings might be ideal locations for encouraging improved amount of nutrition. The studies have
shown that healthy sponsorship funding can create healthier environments in sports clubs (6).

6SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
Although the elite sports people understand the fact that the role diet plays a significant
role in enhancing their performance. The sponsorship relationships between the sporting
organisations and food and beverage brands and companies do not always reinforce either the
sports related or more generalised nutritional recommendations. The sports sponsorships
associate consumption of energy-dense nutrient poor food with high performance sport. The elite
people consume and endorse the foods. It actually consumes energy dense nutrient poor foods
which is consistent with outstanding sporting performance. It clearly challenges as well as
undermines the nutritional advice from the health and dietary professionals (14).
The majority of the sponsorship providing companies produce items which are unhealthy
and not proper for use. The messages shown in the advertisements do not mention anything
about the nutritional advice from health and dietary professionals. A few numbers of studies
have investigated the characteristics and the investigation of sport. The studies have clearly
shown that majority of the companies did not meet the criteria as healthy. Majority of the
sponsors are food companies which promote the consumption of unhealthy food items (13).
The economic environment:
It can be said that unhealthy sponsorship has infiltrated all levels of sport. The main food
sponsors in case of the Olympics are the junk food giants Coca Cola, Cadbury and Mc Donald’s.
The junk food and drink sponsors were those companies which made the unhealthiest products.
Mc Donald’s was most responsible for the connectivity to the majority of sports. The sponsors
provided majority of products welcome packs and even branded uniforms with equipment (13).

7SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
The development programs at the junior level were adult sports’ modified versions and
those were set up to potentially modify the adult sports and also facilitate the participation and
also a lifelong interest in the sports (14).
The rates of childhood obesity are immensely high and the need for any sort of
sponsorship with the junk food businesses is absolutely unnecessary. It is not unknown that
children are influenced by food brands and children have the power to recall the sponsors which
are related to sport. According to the children, the sponsors are connected to the different forms
of sport and they feel that buying a product would help them return a sort of favour to the
sponsors (6).
The political environment:
Political environment and its impact is also very important. The Cancer council is
extremely concerned and rather worried about junk food marketing as it vastly influences the
children’s food preferences. The food they ask their parents to buy is also influenced by it.
Majority of obese children are likely to grow up as obese adults which might expose them to
eleven different forms of cancers. These forms of unhealthy sponsorships are in stark contrast
with the healthy lifestyle which children are asked to maintain by their families or at school. The
Cancer Council desires that the marketing of unhealthy products are regulated and unhealthy
sport sponsors should not be encouraged (7).
The government also has a significant role to play in the withdrawal of sports
sponsorships by ensuring that they be stopped so that they do not continue to negatively
influence the children and cause severe harms to their day to day life. It should also be done to

8SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
lessen their allegiance to any type of junk food which might pave the way for future illnesses of
severe nature which might even cause cancer (14).
According to the Supreme Court the kids lack the capabilities of rational decision making
and therefore leads to the conclusion that they often make wrong choices which might severely
impact their lives and the effects of these might not be possible to be altered. Also the Supreme
Court mentions that any sort of misleading advertising is a cause of propagation of wrong
messages and wrong sorts of ideas and therefore should be banned without any major forms of
thought or discussion. It is obvious for the consumers to pay attention to rational and deliberate
processing of information put forward in the advertisements and finally make decisions related to
purchase based on the information available to them. Both emotional as well as informational
marketing are utilised in order to appeal to the consumers and assist them in their purchase
decisions (12).
The government should however weed out all sorts of negativity concerning food items
so that no health hazards or serious diseases occur as a result of such misleading information
presented in sponsorships on unhealthy food items.
It is necessary for the authorities to stop the most negative sponsorships and ask the
companies to restrict their advertisements so that they do not show anything wrong that might
impact the minds of the children in a negative way.
The socio-cultural environment:
Different types of companies sponsor sports and the activation of sports sponsorship is a
method by which corporate sponsors investments can be leveraged in sports properties. Basically

9SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
in certain situations corporate sponsors form alliances by strategic planning majorly due to the
reason of the marketing of various goods and services. It is crucial to find the correct type of
sponsors for the company in order to understand whether they are suitable enough for the sport
event concerned. Sponsorship is basically a singular aspect of clubs which aims to potentially
influence them and also their participants. Sponsorship also influences brand awareness and the
attitudes so that the sponsorship of the brands might influence the contribution of companies to
unhealthy food habits and food preferences. The nature and extent of food sponsorships on kids
watching the sports is also significant (1).
In light of the several sponsorship programmes it is necessary to understand that there are
certain sponsorships which are of companies whose products are not healthy enough for
consumption especially by children. Therefore it is necessary to limit the exposure of such
sponsorships to children so that they do not impact the minds of the children negatively and do
not cause severe health hazards (9). It is the duty of the sports companies to ensure the
sponsorships do not negatively impact the children and their mindsets towards unhealthy food
consumption. It often happens that children get impacted by their influential campaigns thus
resulting in their unhealthy food consumption. This causes severe issues related to the children’s
health and thus the responsibility of the proper management of the sponsorships needs to be
taken seriously (2).
Children are a major target for all the advertising campaigns as their minds are easy to
influence and they in turn influence their parents and their spending on such unhealthy items. In
many cases children also have their own habits of spending and they have the chances as well as
the potential of becoming brand loyal as well as lifelong customers of the particular brands. It is
obvious that the sponsorship of development programs offer the chance to companies to expose

10SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
their brand products to children and also foster a connection between their brand and its products
with the children. Studies reveal that children aged between five to twelve considered the team
sports to be associated with the messages and their products which were promoted by the
sponsors of the team. It also showed that the sponsorships and branding of sports can influence
the overall product recall value and are responsible for enhancing the attitude of the children
towards the sponsor as well. Children aged ten to fourteen considered the companies which
sponsored their favourite teams and clubs as cool (5).
Discussion:
The situation related to these unhealthy sports sponsorships and the children’s health is
significant in Australia specifically. The proportion of children in Australia who are obese or
even overweight is increasing. This is a cause of huge concern for the people, the parents as well
as for the government. There are several complex causes for this which primarily is the
children’s exposure to high marketing levels of unhealthy food. This also happens in case of
several soft drinks and aerated drinks which the children consume and ask for. There are several
ways in which the children are exposed to unhealthy marketing of food and other sponsorships
(3).
The impact of the sponsorships of sports affects the image of the company more so in
case it is unhealthy. The unhealthy sponsorships impact the organisations specifically those
which are non profit in nature. The stock values are also impacted. The organisations need to
choose the sponsorship programmes and advertisements wisely so that it does not impact their
image (7).

11SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
A significant form of unhealthy food and drink marketing is that of sport sponsorships. It
is being seen that sports sponsorships are being used increasingly in order to market the
unhealthy drinks and food items to the children. Despite the fact that sports sponsorships are
crucial for the development and proper implementation of sports activities the sponsoring by
manufacturers of unhealthy food and drinks might cause harm to the health promoting goals of
sport. These might even undo the health benefits that are gained by the kids in participating in
sport and also help to reinforce the unhealthy eating habits which are difficult to undo and in
severe cases might even last throughout one’s lifetime (4).
The level of unhealthy sport sponsorships is so high that eight out of ten food and
beverage sponsors of the children’s sport developments are considered to be unhealthy.
The Olympics are the most important target for the unhealthy sponsorship of sports. It is
basically due to the reason that more or less everybody watches sports and the exposure of te
companies is maximum (14).
The main argument for sponsorship is the fact that the required amount of funding is
provided by it. It is required to understand that the views of society change over time and the
sports organisations need to understand that their thoughtfulness and decisions are reflected in
the way they organise and run their club. According to the Children’s code for advertising states
that food ads should in no way lower the food and nutrition policies in compliance with the
ministry of health with regard to the health and wellbeing of children (8).
According to popular nutritionists, parents need not take an extreme approach during
encouraging their kids to eat healthy. Small steps should be taken towards healthy eating. Instead
of fundraising with high sugar, trans-fat laden food, companies should focus on providing

12SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
something comparatively healthy. Healthy food needs to be normalised and not called healthy
unnecessarily. Companies producing healthy food need to be actually thought of as sponsors for
sports. Basically sports clubs have loads of things to consider before saying no to big companies.
The impact of saying no to big companies has a probability of affecting them negatively in
future. The future of clubs needs to be secured and for this reason the healthy sponsorships need
to be encouraged but in no way can the clubs neglect the noteworthy business groups (9).
There have many instances in which the company authorities have mustered the courage
to stop the unhealthy sponsorships of the products but though their thoughts have been initiated
in that direction they could not be successfully completed as the lure of the cash of the sponsors
outweighed any sort of considerations about the rising levels of obesity and other concerns (10).
Another aspect of campaigning that works in favour of the huge companies and
businesses is their free campaigns and offering of free samples to the people especially the kids.
This is due to the reason that the unhealthy products are reaching the public at every possible
opportunity in order to make a mark upon them and not to leave their minds in any way (12).
The fact that parents are genuinely worried about sport sponsorships are supported by
academic research. This is because of their well shown efforts to encourage their children to eat
healthy. It is not unknown that reviews and systematic surveys by the Food standards agency and
several other health bodies show clearly that the promotions of junk food and their free samples
at every possible opportunity has led to the risks of serious types of illness in childhood as well
as later on in life (11).
The sponsorships in Olympics make it worse. The healthier alternatives beyond the Mc
Donald’s Coca-cola as well as Cadbury’s are not even considered by the children. The sponsors

13SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
attempt to hide or somewhat sugar coat their involvement in important games with even greater
sports and schemes of exercise which according to them are responsible for making the children
more and more active. It can however be said that there is very little evidence that these short
term pushes will make the children physically active or anyhow increase their physical activity
levels. One major fact can never be neglected by the companies that no amount of free games
and sponsorships can make unhealthy food items any way less unhealthy. This is the main reason
why the popular junk food brands are such unsuitable sponsors for the sports of different
categories. The games are extremely valuable for the sponsors and therefore they always seek to
protect their privileged position. Their relationship should not be imbalanced at any point of
time. Huge amount of profits are obtained from the broadcasting rights as also from the
sponsorship deals and it also remains curiously reluctant to demand more and more from its
sponsors globally (11).
The popular sponsorship companies ensure that they are brands to reckon with in all the
famous games all over the world and due to this reason they are extremely reluctant to move
away from such famous sports all over the world (12).
In order to maximise the benefits delivered by sponsorship, many marketers augment
investment in teams, individuals or events with additional advertising and also the marketing
support. These additional activities enhance the brand associations created through the
sponsorships and extent the achieved reach. There is also a frequent amount of exposure to the
advertising that supports the sponsorship and it reminds the customers of the brand associations
and increases the brand recall, purchase intentions and actual purchase. The sponsorships
illustrate the brand associations and the vicarious learning promotes, stimulates and reinforces
the behaviour (12).

14SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
The brands and their advertisements aim to connect the players’ athleticism and high
performance with the consumption of the sponsor’s products and the implied use of the featured
brands. The extent of the food and beverage marketing in the sports settings might underestimate
the extent of sporting which might lead to the misconceptions in the minds of the viewers
especially children (11).
Strengths and Limitations:
The systematic review has its strengths in its accuracy and the relation of the journals to
the present times. The limitations of the sources are not from all possible popular sources and
hence there are fewer opportunities for comparison among studies.
Recommendations:
Also in order to correct the potentially misleading and harmful messages the media
literacy programmes as well as the nutritional education are utilised in order to teach children
about the persuasive intent of advertising. In addition to this they should also be taught about the
importance of having a healthy diet. It has been found that in many cases the food preferences of
young people are not always related to educational beliefs but are determined to a large extent by
the nature of their taste (8).
Though people state and believe that government needs to undertake steps in order to
issue messages and increase awareness among the people in the form of disclaimers before any
advertisement of sports sponsorships and unhealthy food items it has been revealed that the
people have only become more and more aware about the issue but their preferences have not

15SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
changed. Watching of such unhealthy food advertisements is permissible only when the youth
have the capability of resisting their urges to buy and consume unhealthy food items (9).
It needs to be understood that the children are bound to follow what the advertisements
state and hence parental guidance is necessary. In case the children get the required guidance
they can differentiate between what is right and what is wrong and because of this they can do
whatever is right and take the genuine decisions which they should.
Conclusion:
The obesity as well as the growing amount of unhealthy children is an area which needs
to be improved as it has reached the level of an epidemic. The nature of the marketing also needs
to be improved in order to properly cater to the people for which it is meant. It needs to be
remembered that the businessmen and the club owners are correct in their own rights but nothing
is more valuable than the lives of the people and hence necessary steps should be taken to ensure
the health of the children such that the unhealthy sport sponsorships do not ruin their future lives.
Unhealthy food and also beverage brands continue to sponsor sport. A little segment of
the people support their sponsorships with the marketing activities that directly encourage the
consumer purchases and maintain the brand salience. These sponsorships of high profile
regularly televised sports provide a repetitive amount of brand exposure which have a chance of
supporting favourable brand attribute associations.
Change is clearly needed to shift the focus away from the visual presence of unhealthy
sponsorships at the time of ensuring that the sports clubs remain commercially viable. There
have been several demonstration projects at the local level in order to reduce the unhealthy
sponsorship of sports.

16SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
The restriction of the unhealthy food sponsorships is supported by the sporting
community and the policy change is necessary to reduce the impact which is perceived regarding
the different aspects of marketing. Alternative mechanisms of funding have the potential to
maintain the funding related to sports and reducing the promotional opportunities. There are
alternative funding the mechanisms have the potential to maintain the sport funding at the time
of reducing the promotional opportunities for the unhealthy food and related issues.

17SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
References:
1. Batty RJ, Cuskelly G, Toohey K. Community Sport Events and CSR Sponsorship:
examining the impacts of a public health agenda. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 2016
Dec;40(6):545-64.
2. Flint SW, Peake R. Lead by example: should sport take a stand against brands of
unhealthy consumption. public health. 2016 May 1;134:117-9.
3. Friel S, Hattersley L, Ford L, O'Rourke K. Addressing inequities in healthy eating.
Health promotion international. 2015 Sep 1;30(suppl_2):ii77-88.
4. Jane B, Gibson K. Corporate sponsorship of physical activity promotion programmes:
part of the solution or part of the problem?. Journal of Public Health. 2017 Jun 7:1-0.
5. Kelly B, Baur LA, Bauman AE, King L, Chapman K, Smith BJ. " Food company
sponsors are kind, generous and cool":(Mis) conceptions of junior sports players.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2011 Sep 5;8(1):95.
6. Kelly B, Baur LA, Bauman AE, King L, Chapman K, Smith BJ. Restricting unhealthy
food sponsorship: attitudes of the sporting community. Health Policy. 2012 Mar
31;104(3):288-95.
7. Kelly B, Baur LA, Bauman AE, King L, Chapman K, Smith BJ. Views of children and
parents on limiting unhealthy food, drink and alcohol sponsorship of elite and children's
sports. Public health nutrition. 2013 Jan;16(1):130-5.
8. Kelly B, King, MPsy L, Chapman, MND K, Boyland E, Bauman AE, Baur LA. A
hierarchy of unhealthy food promotion effects: identifying methodological approaches
and knowledge gaps. American journal of public health. 2015 Apr;105(4):e86-95.

18SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON UNHEALTHY SPORT SPONSORSHIPS
9. Knai C, Petticrew M, Mays N. The childhood obesity strategy. BMJ (Clinical research
ed). 2016;354:i4613.
10. Lindsay S, Thomas S, Lewis S, Westberg K, Moodie R, Jones S. Eat, drink and gamble:
marketing messages about ‘risky’products in an Australian major sporting series. BMC
public health. 2013 Aug 5;13(1):719.
11. Macniven R, Kelly B, King L. Unhealthy product sponsorship of Australian national and
state sports organisations. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2014 Dec 1;18:e9.
12. Meenaghan T. Measuring sponsorship performance: challenge and direction. Psychology
& Marketing. 2013 May 1;30(5):385-93.
13. Sport sponsorship lends halo to supplements and sports drinks. 2014. The Conversation.
Retrieved 17 October 2017, from https://theconversation.com/sport-sponsorship-lends-
halo-to-supplements-and-sports-drinks-31961
14. Unhealthy sport sponsorship continues to target kids. 2016 The Conversation. Retrieved
17 October 2017, from https://theconversation.com/unhealthy-sport-sponsorship-
continues-to-target-kids-61505
15. Vandevijvere S, Swinburn B, International Network for Food and Obesity/non-
communicable diseases (NCDs) Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS.
Towards global benchmarking of food environments and policies to reduce obesity and
diet-related non-communicable diseases: design and methods for nation-wide surveys.
BMJ open. 2014 May 1;4(5):e005339.