Should unhealthy food and drinks be allowed to sponsor sport?
Polls
23rd June 2021
FOOTBALLERS have been taking a stand against unhealthy drinks being promoted during the Euro 2020 championship.
One of the tournament’s best known players, Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Portugal, removed two bottles of Coca-Cola during a press conference.
Renowned for looking after his health, he held up a bottle of water, saying “agua” (Portuguese for water).
The next day, France star Paul Pogba moved a non-alcoholic bottle of beer away from his press conference table. He’s a Muslim and, for religious reasons, doesn’t drink alcohol.
Italy’s midfielder Manuel Locatelli was next, also replacing the Coca-Cola bottle on his table with water.
While the players’ actions were praised by those concerned about healthy diets, UEFA, who run the tournament, were upset. They warned teams that they could face fines if their players moved drinks provided by sponsors at news conferences.
Some of the world’s biggest companies – like Coca-Cola, Adidas and JustEat – have spent millions of pounds to be associated with Euro 2020.
This includes having their products displayed on advertising in stadiums, and drinks on press conference tables. McDonald’s has been a sponsor of the Euros before, as well as World Cups, the Olympics and Paralympics.
It’s a difficult puzzle to solve because, while athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo don’t want to promote food and drinks that aren’t part of a healthy diet, the money that sponsors pay is important. Not only does their cash help pay for sporting events to take place, but some of it is also used to fund local sport facilities and activities, which you might take part in.
England manager Gareth Southgate says it’s a balance: “I think there are lots of sponsors in sport and the impact of their money, at all levels, helps sport to function. Grassroots sport in our country requires investment and without some of those companies it would be very difficult to have the facilities we need.
“We’re mindful in our country of obesity and health but everything can be done in moderation, and anything that is done in moderation is rarely a problem.”
The advertising and promotion of unhealthy food and drinks, high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS), is banned in the UK during children’s TV programming and, you might have noticed, First News does not allow advertising of this kind.
The UK Government is also bringing in a total ban on online adverts for HFSS products by the end of 2022, as well as extending the ban on TV ads for any HFSS foods before 9pm. But what do you think?
37 Comments
squish123 · 3 years ago
Healthy sport healthy food
squish123 · 3 years ago
first to comment
izzy89 · 3 years ago
Hard to decide
Need money from sponsors to pay but unhealthy food and drinks is bad for for football players who need to be fit.
milkpuddin · 3 years ago
they should not be allowed :D
scarlet10 · 3 years ago
defiantly not
scarlet10 · 3 years ago
if you want to be fit you want to have healthy stuff!
kittymoi · 3 years ago
Need heathy food
games can be played better with protine and vegg
brizoceto · 3 years ago
Sport is about getting active, having fun and being healthy so i think that unhealthy food should not be allowed to sponsor
dolphin201 · 3 years ago
no no no no no
mwhitty · 3 years ago
It should definitely be discouraged
monkey61 · 3 years ago
They shouldn't have unhealthy food for advertising because it will incourage others to eat and drink them which can be bad. Especially for the football players.
ansha007 · 3 years ago
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
jazzystar1 · 3 years ago
I don’t get how so many people have voted yes. because it promotes an unhealthy lifestyle.
ginny09876 · 3 years ago
Sport is supposed to be good for you. Using unhealthy food could stop people’s enthusiasm about it. If sport is healthy then healthy food should be used to sponsor sport.
guest_8133 · 3 years ago
They should, because they're getting healthier over time, take Coke Zero, and Diet Coke, for example, they're two sugar-free evolutions of Coke, Zero being the newer, presumably less unhealthy one.
duckduck21 · 3 years ago
I think unhealthy food and drinks shouldn’t be allowed because it is encouraging people and footballers to eat and drink unhealthy. Footballers need to keep fit and fruit and vegetables 🍅 are a treat for your body! Choose healthy!!!🍎🥦🥒
duckduck21 · 3 years ago
VOTE FOR NO!!!!!🍎🥦🍅🥒💧
jdoryan · 3 years ago
yeah, if junk stuff is sponsoring sport, then those he really like sport will be encouraged to drink or eat the unhealthy things.
backbender · 3 years ago
You need to promote being healthy, not unhealthy!
mollymoo42 · 3 years ago
Definitely not, because sportsmen need to stay fit to be one, I think they should sponsor healthy food instead.
katkid10 · 3 years ago
I don't think that they should sponsor the sports as people might think that the foods that are being advertised are okay for you as it is in a football game. Which might imply that those people have it and it is good for you.
lewism · 3 years ago
No, sport is to make you healthy. Not more unfit.
panda89 · 3 years ago
I think it should be discouraged but not banned
duckduck21 · 3 years ago
Yay no are winning!!!
trainboi · 3 years ago
I’ve just scrolled through these comments for a bit to see people’s opinions and I’ve looked at some other public opinions and they interest me. I voted no but I was surprised about the amount of yes votes, assuming most people who voted read the article above first. I’ve seen a lot of people saying the organisers of the sport event need the money and while this is quite a reasonable idea, normally the organisers would already have a heap of cash and all the companies with a big enough budget would really want to take the place of the unhealthy drink sponsorship. I doubt this would be a giant loss if they lost sponsorship from Coca-Cola etc. as companies such as TikTok would for sure want to jump in and sponsor the sport if it was a big tournament. Many people may think it doesn’t matter because lot’s of people aren’t influenced by adverts but I feel we often are, yet we are unaware of it. Anyway, those who see this, please leave a comment about why you chose what you chose - I’d be very interested to see more opinions :)
opalstar · 3 years ago
I think no, only healthy food should be allows to sponsor sport
catcoder · 3 years ago
I don't think it should be aloud, because sport is meant to be healthy so the food and drinks sponsoring them should be healthy to.
marthajja · 3 years ago
What about equaling it out with healthy food and unhealthy food
xiangxiang · 3 years ago
Noooooooo! Do not have unhealthy food at sport because it's unhealthy and its bad for the football players. Especially for the England football players.
loldoll20 · 3 years ago
Nowaywhydopeoplethinkthat. Why are sports players letting unhealthy drinks on the scene? I know about the sponsoring but you can do that with healthy foods!
marthajja · 3 years ago
Why it will just make players and sport lovers unhealthy so they might not be able to do things they like to do .We might Aswell sponsor foods like grocery stores or fruit and veg seeds .🍉🍌🍍🥭🥝🍓🍅🥒
ridulfa · 3 years ago
I think not because a lot of people watch sport, therefore a lot of people will see the ads and make unhealthy choices
ivansp2011 · 3 years ago
I don't think so as people will buy more unhealthy drinks and become overweight or obese.
humbugs · 3 years ago
Sport is about being healthy so junk food should NOT have a place in a stadium or gym
humbugs · 3 years ago
Also what squish123 said.
mothstar · 3 years ago
definitely NOT
tradcath · 3 years ago
Why not?