Oral Presentation ANZOS-OSSANZ-AOCO Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Harnessing the power of elite sport sponsorship to promote healthy eating by young adults (#114)

Helen Dixon 1 , Maree Scully 1 , Melanie Wakefield 1 , Bridget Kelly 2 , Simone Pettigrew 3 , Jeff Niederdeppe 4 , Kathy Chapman 5
  1. Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. Early Start, School of Health and Society, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  3. School of Psychology, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
  4. Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
  5. Cancer Council New South Wales, Woolloomooloo, NSW, Australia

Background:

Unhealthy foods are promoted heavily, both in Australia and internationally, through food company sponsorship of elite sport, resulting in extensive exposure among young adults (YAs) who are avid sport spectators.

Aim:

To explore 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 YA brand awareness, attitudes and image perceptions, and preference for food sponsors’ products.

Methods:

Between-subjects web-based experiment consisting of four sponsorship conditions featuring three product categories within each condition (e.g. breakfast cereal, take-away food, non-alcoholic beverage for conditions B & C). YAs aged 18-24 years (N=1,132) were recruited via a national online panel. Participants viewed promotional videos and news stories on an upcoming international, multi-sport event (with sponsor content edited to reflect each condition), completed a distractor task, then answered questions assessing the response variables.

Results:

Compared to the control condition, unhealthy food sponsorship promoted higher awareness of and more favourable attitudes towards unhealthy food sponsor brands and greater transfer of perceptions of the sporting event to the unhealthy food sponsor brands. Exposure to healthier food sponsorship produced similar sponsorship effects for healthier food sponsor brands, as well as prompting a significant increase in the proportion of YAs showing a preference for healthier food sponsor products. Obesity prevention campaign sponsorship promoted higher awareness of that campaign but did not impact food attitudes or preference for unhealthy versus healthier foods.

Conclusion:

Findings suggest that restricting elite sport sponsorship to healthier food brands that meet set nutritional criteria could help promote healthy eating to YAs. However, as policy action in this area is unlikely in the short-term, sporting organisations should be encouraged to seek sponsorship from companies wishing to market healthier food brands through elite sport.