Abstract
BackgroundUnhealthy foods are promoted heavily, through food company sponsorship of elite sport, resulting in extensive exposure among young adults who are avid sport spectators. This study explores the effects of sponsorship of an elite sporting event by: (A) non-food brands (control), (B) unhealthy food brands, (C) healthier food brands, or (D) an obesity prevention public health campaign on young adults’ brand awareness, attitudes, image perceptions, event-sponsor fit perceptions, and preference for food sponsors’ products.MethodsA between-subjects web-based experiment was conducted, consisting of four sponsorship conditions (A through D) featuring three product categories within each condition. Australian adults (N = 1132) aged 18–24 years were recruited via a national online panel. Participants viewed promotional videos and news stories about an upcoming international, multi-sport event (with sponsor content edited to reflect each condition), completed a distractor task, and then answered questions assessing the response variables. Regression analyses were conducted to test for differences by sponsorship condition on the respective outcome measures.ResultsCompared to the control condition, unhealthy food sponsorship promoted higher awareness of, and more favourable attitudes towards, unhealthy food sponsor brands. Unhealthy food sponsorship also led to greater perceived event-sponsor fit and transfer of perceptions of the sporting event to the unhealthy food sponsor brands, relative to the control group. Exposure to sponsorship for healthier foods produced similar sponsorship effects for healthier food sponsor brands, as well as prompting a significant increase in the proportion of young adults showing a preference for these products. Obesity prevention campaign sponsorship promoted higher campaign awareness and perceived event-sponsor fit, but did not impact food attitudes or preference for unhealthy versus healthier foods.ConclusionFindings suggest that restricting elite sport sponsorship to healthier food brands that meet set nutritional criteria could help promote healthier eating among young adults. Sporting organisations should be encouraged to seek sponsorship from companies who produce healthier food brands and government-funded social marketing campaigns.Clinical trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) registration number ACTRN12618000368235. Retrospectively registered 12 March 2018.
Highlights
Unhealthy foods are promoted heavily, through food company sponsorship of elite sport, resulting in extensive exposure among young adults who are avid sport spectators
Young people are susceptible to influence by unhealthy food marketing [3], comparably little public health attention has been directed to assessing the impacts of prominent forms of unhealthy food marketing targeted at adolescents and young adults
The present study provides evidence that young adults were influenced by brief exposure to branded sponsorship of an elite sporting event under simulated conditions, with effects found for both unhealthy and healthier sponsor brands
Summary
Unhealthy foods are promoted heavily, through food company sponsorship of elite sport, resulting in extensive exposure among young adults who are avid sport spectators. The lifestyle changes young adults face during the transition from adolescence to adulthood can make them vulnerable to declines in diet quality and weight gain [5, 6], rendering it a important life stage for establishing and intervening on long-term health behaviours. To help address this gap, the current study assessed young adults’ responses to elite sport sponsorship by unhealthy food brands. It explored the efficacy of using alternative, pro-health sport sponsorship models to improve young adults’ dietary choices; in recognition that elite sport sponsorship is a potentially modifiable environmental factor
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