دانلود رایگان مقاله بازاریابی مواد غذایی و نوشیدنی به جوانان از طریق ورزش

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.

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 Health Promotion Foundation in Australia, for example, targets contributors to poor health and provides programs to influence healthier lifestyles such as increasing access to fresh food and reducing salt intake [101]. Although known to contribute to childhood obesity rates in the United States, the government is unable to restrict food and beverage marketing under the First Amendment, and food and beverage companies often use this argument to defend their marketing practices. However, some companies involved in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative pledge to limit their marketing practices by not advertising unhealthy products (e.g., chips) to children aged 6 to 12 years and to not advertise to children younger than 6 years. Yet, study results show that children aged 6 to 11 years were exposed to 53% more snack food products over a 4-year period from companies that pledged not to do so [49]. Therefore, policymakers should propose policies that target unhealthy food products while proposing healthy alternatives. Still, efforts to circumvent or squash public health policies may foreshadow future antipolicy efforts of the food industry.