9 Ads per Minute: FIFA Cup 26 – "the price of the beautiful game"
2 hours ago
- A FIFA World Cup study from University of Bristol and Oxford analyzed 172.6 hours of live play, finding harmful product branding in every match and visible during nearly a quarter of all live play.
- Unhealthy food and drink brands dominated sponsorship, making up over 70% of branding, followed by prediction markets, alcohol, gambling, and cryptocurrency.
- Four brands (soft drink, fast-food chain, sports drink, crisps) accounted for 65% of all harmful commodity logos recorded.
- FIFA did not use virtual board replacement technology to adapt advertising for different countries' laws, leading to gambling and alcohol ads in nations where such products are restricted or illegal.
- Researchers call for governments to regulate embedded branding in live sports and for FIFA to adopt a public interest standard for commercial partnerships.
- Exposure to harmful product marketing is linked to increased consumption and health, social, and financial harms, especially among children and young people.