Unhealthy alliance between sport and junk food under threat as obesity crisis bites
➤Governing bodies have been happy to accept such sponsors, but Covid and child inactivity could be the catalyst for curbs
When Britain’s children are finally allowed to play football again after the latest lockdown is eased, one organisation will be waiting for them with open arms.
Mcdonald’s has been the Football Association’s community partner for almost two decades, ploughing tens of millions of pounds into the grass-roots game, including schemes for those as young as five.
“Providing five million hours of Fun Football to over 500,000 kids by 2022,” the company boasts of its fully-funded Fun Football Centres programme, formed in partnership with all four home FAS.
With children’s activity levels having plummeted during almost a year of lockdowns, and parents at their wits’ end following weeks of home schooling, what better than free football to lure kids off the sofa again?
But, for Caroline Cerny, the prospect of hundreds of thousands of children running about in Mcdonald’s-branded bibs kicking a Mcdonald’s-branded ball fills her with dread. “It just makes them think about Mcdonald’s and wanting to go and eat a Mcdonald’s,” said the mother of two and the lead for the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA).
“There is only one reason junkfood brands sponsor children’s sport and that’s to make sure their products are firmly centre stage in children’s minds.”
It is almost exactly 17 years since the then-director of worldwide marketing for Mcdonald’s, Jeff Wahl, told the Guardian the company’s sponsorship of football’s European Championship was a great way to “build brand loyalty with kids”.
In the intervening years Britain has imposed a ban on adverts for junk food – or products high in fats, salt or sugar (HFSS) – during children’s television programmes, and a sugar tax on soft drinks amid an epidemic of obesity that has led to more than a third of pre-teens and almost two-thirds of adults becoming overweight.
But the coronavirus crisis, in which clear evidence has emerged linking Britain’s record death rate with obesity, is now leading the Government to take its strongest action yet against junk-food adverts. The obesity strategy it launched last summer included a 9pm television watershed and the threat of a total ban on such ads online.
The OHA – a coalition of more than 40 organisations including the British Medical Association – and others want it to place curbs on sport’s promotion of fatty and sugary food and drink brands, including an outright ban on such brands within children’s sport.
Yet almost a year of lockdowns and bans on children’s sport – which prompted the Telegraph’s “Keep Kids Active” campaign – has not stopped those schoolchildren being reached by Mcdonald’s.
The company has provided weekly football skills videos featuring the likes of Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey and Lucy Bronze, which it says have been viewed more than a million times.
These videos are hosted on a web page at the top of which is a tab reading “Order Mcdelivery”, while at the bottom is a photograph of a young girl clutching a Happy Meal box.
Such companies have also become savvier in how they latch on to sport and children. Perhaps the ultimate example is the partnership between the Greggs Foundation and Premiership Rugby, which includes a scheme to teach children about healthy eating.
According to analysis by Sportbusiness Sponsorship, the coronavirus crisis has already brought an increase in the percentage of HFSS sponsors in the UK market, continuing a trend dating back 2½ years.
Most notoriously of all, the England and Wales Cricket Board allowed KP Snacks to become the shirt sponsor for all teams for the new Hundred competition.
Tam Fry, chairman of the UK’S National Obesity Forum and cofounder of the Child Growth Foundation, believes the solution to the country’s obesity crisis is to copy the example of Amsterdam, which eight years ago banned junk-food sponsorship, including of sporting events, which led to a 12 per cent cut in childhood obesity.
A Mcdonald’s spokesperson said: “We have never used our grassroots football programme to promote our food or menu. Our programme focuses solely on provision of fun, free football to local communities across the UK. We are the longest-standing supporter of grass-roots football in the UK with a 20-year partnership with the UK Football Associations.
“In the last three years, we’ve provided nearly four million hours of free football to children across the UK, enabling thousands of children to enjoy football in their community.”
An FA spokesperson added: “As a not-for-profit organisation, the support of our commercial partners helps the FA invest millions of pounds back into the grass-roots game on an annual basis.
“This revenue is vital in helping us continue to grow the game across England, from grass-roots level to our elite teams.”
A Greggs spokesperson said: “The Tackling Health programme is a fantastic initiative that teaches children to make healthier lifestyle choices and to stay active.”