The government should ban high-profile food companies from using sport to promote the consumption of their unhealthy products to young people, according to health and wellbeing experts.
Robin Ireland, an honorary research fellow based at Glasgow University’s school of health and wellbeing, is one of the experts calling an end to junk foods’ sponsorship of sports. He and others point to the levels of exposure that such sponsorship gives to brands and the potential damaging impact on children’s health.
‘We need to have some morals and ethics about the types of products we associate with sport,’ Dr Ireland said. ‘We should not be allowing food brands to be using sport to promote consumption of their unhealthy products to young people. It simply should be banned.’
Dr Ireland said that many players who are in ‘absolute peak physical condition’ are ‘unfortunately promoting products that just do not generally feature in athletes’ diets’. He spoke out after the results of a BMJ investigation were published in an article by Sophie Borland in the journal last week (9 July).
This found that junk food firms currently had more than 90 current sponsorship deals in top UK sports. Brands including Cadbury, Pepsi, KP Snacks, Walkers, Kellogg’s, Red Bull and Monster were among those with ongoing partnerships with sporting stars, topflight teams, or official governing bodies.
‘Some of these sports personalities, these football stars, these rugby stars … They are kids’ idols. You can’t underestimate how much some kids idolise those players’ [Beth Bradshaw, Food Active]
Star struck
They include deals with top men’s and women’s football stars Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Leah Williamson, and Lauren James, England cricket captain Ben Stokes, cyclist Tom Pidcock, and Formula 1 driver Lando Norris.
The findings come amid the women’s Euro 2025 football tournament in Switzerland, with an expected audience of 500 million people around the world. Official sponsors include Just Eat Takeaway, Hellman’s mayonnaise and PepsiCo – brands that will feature prominently on LED boards beside pitches, and on interview backdrops during press conferences.
While the food industry has a long history of sponsoring sports, experts say the adverts have become more ‘pervasive’ and ‘prominent’ than ever, now with huge digital marketing campaigns in the run-up to events and brands being able to target fans through sports stars’ social media.
Beth Bradshaw, policy and advocacy manager at Food Active, part of the public health charity Health Equalities Group, says: ‘It’s so important because it’s kids. Some of these sports personalities, these football stars, these rugby stars … They are kids’ idols. You can’t underestimate how much some kids idolise those players.’
In January 2026 the government is due to bring in legislation banning adverts for products that are high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) before the 9pm TV watershed, but this regulation has been repeatedly delayed due to lobbying by the food industry.
Examples of ‘genuine sportswashing’
The BMJ’s findings demonstrate ‘genuine sportswashing,’ argues Labour MP and GP Simon Opher, who tabled a parliamentary question to ask the health secretary ‘whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ban sponsorship of sports events by unhealthy food brands.’
In response, the government said it had ‘no current plans to ban the sponsorship of sports events by food brands associated with less healthy food or drink products or ban the advertising of less healthy food or drink products at sports events’. The statement added: ‘We continue to review the evidence of the impacts on children of less healthy food or drink product advertising and will consider where further action is needed.’
The BMJ investigation also exposes the extent to which sports sponsorship deals will avoid these new regulations, allowing unhealthy products to appear on daytime TV, including Hula Hoops on England cricket shirts, Red Bull logos beside football pitches, and Kit Kat branding alongside Formula 1 race tracks.
Experts say sports sponsorship gives junk food firms a ‘health halo effect’ by making their products seem more acceptable and less harmful to consumers. This is supported by research that shows it improves children’s opinions of unhealthy brands.
To access the full version of the article – titled: Junk food ‘avoids advertising regulation’ with top level UK sports sponsorship doi: 10.1136/bmj.r1363 – see: https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1363
Image: Shutterstock
