Review article
Marketing Food and Beverages to Youth Through Sports

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.06.016Get rights and content

Abstract

Food and beverage marketing has been identified as a major driver of obesity yet sports sponsorship remains common practice and represents millions of dollars in advertising expenditures. Research shows that food and beverage products associated with sports (e.g., M&M's with National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing logo) generate positive feelings, excitement, and a positive self-image among adults and children. Despite this, self-regulatory pledges made by food companies to limit exposure of unhealthy products to children have not improved the nutritional quality of foods marketed to children. We reviewed the literature about sports-related food marketing, including food and beverage companies' use of sports sponsorships, athlete endorsements, and sports video games. This review demonstrates that sports sponsorships with food and beverage companies often promote energy-dense, nutrient-poor products and while many of these promotions do not explicitly target youth, sports-related marketing affects food perceptions and preferences among youth. Furthermore, endorsement of unhealthy products by professional athletes sends mixed messages; although athletes may promote physical activity, they simultaneously encourage consumption of unhealthy products that can lead to negative health outcomes. We argue that more athletes and sports organizations should stop promoting unhealthy foods and beverages and work with health experts to encourage healthy eating habits among youth.

Section snippets

Theoretical Framework for Understanding Food and Beverage Marketing

A variety of psychological principles contribute to scientific understanding of the way advertising influences consumer perceptions and behavior. Cue reactivity is one concept that suggests that exposure to stimuli (e.g., cigarette and food) can influence a physiological response and a specific craving that can lead to a specific behavior (e.g., smoking and eating unhealthy foods) [24]. For example, one study found that food-branded advergames increased consumption of both healthy and unhealthy

Food Companies' Use of Sports Sponsorships, Athlete Endorsements, and Video Game Product Placement

Three major ways food and beverage companies engage in child-targeted, sports-related marketing are sports sponsorship, athlete endorsements, and video game product placement. Sponsorship is one form of sports-linked marketing and has been described as “indirect marketing” [32]. Sponsorship began gaining traction in the late 1980s and early 1990s and is now a $37 billion industry worldwide [33]. Food companies engage in sports-related sponsorships in the United States and international sports

The Psychology of Sports Sponsorships, Athlete Endorsements, and Video Game Product Placement

Food and beverage company logos, brand names, and products are featured in sports sponsorships, athlete endorsements, and sports video games in ways that affect youth perceptions and product preferences. Specifically, sponsorship has been shown to influence brand awareness and consumer attitudes, which are both typically used as markers to determine the effectiveness of a given advertising technique [32]. A number of studies have demonstrated the value of brand image transfer in sponsorships,

Policy Interference Recommendations Regarding Sports Sponsorships and Endorsements

Currently, there are no government-based regulations on sports sponsorships with food companies in the United States. However, one approach to limiting the association between sports and unhealthy food and beverage products is to provide funding to organizations that rely on monetary assistance from these food and beverage companies (i.e., compensatory funding). This government-driven initiative would support promotion of healthy activities and prevention of chronic disease [100]. The Victorian

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    Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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