Introduction by Croakey: More than 65,500 people and 64 organisations from around the world have signed an online petition urging the International Olympic Committee to end its sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola (those were the numbers as of 8pm AEST on 30 July).
The petition is one element of a global campaign, Kick Big Soda Out of Sport, which both educates about the harms of sugary drinks while demanding action from its audience to create change, according to Trish Cotter, Global Lead, Food Policy Program at Vital Strategies.
The campaign “is igniting advocates and activists, and inspiring people around the world to question the corporations that govern our daily existence”, she writes below.
Trish Cotter writes:
Since 1928, the Coca-Cola Company has been the longest-standing official partner of the Olympic Movement. At every Summer Games for nearly a century, the beverage giant has used an unparalleled marketing opportunity to “sports wash” away its health and environmental harms.
By ensuring its logo is present at every match, race and event, Coca-Cola, and its sugary drinks, have become synonymous with Olympic victory.
As a result, Big Soda’s sponsorship of sport has been a looming issue for global health experts and advocates fighting for healthier food environments, especially as the commercial determinants of health threaten equity and progress.
Private sector activities, including the production and marketing of ultra-processed products, have clear health impacts, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
With these challenges in mind, a group of delegates gathered earlier this year at the 2024 Food Governance Conference in Sydney. These advocates from Colombia, the Caribbean and Brazil illustrated the daily challenges and the responsibility of shepherding in healthy food policy in the face of significant competition and opposition from the food and beverage industry. To take on these multinational companies, this fight needed a global audience.
Campaign elements
The Olympics, and its Big Soda partner, presents a clear opportunity to spotlight the unscrupulous practices of the beverage industry.
A global campaign that focuses on Big Soda’s takeover of sport is a chance to mobilise concerned individuals and organisations, troubled by the industry’s harms to the health of people and our planet, to apply pressure on beverage companies and give experts and advocates a platform to push for policy reform.
Using tactics from tobacco control, the worldwide campaign Kick Big Soda Out of Sport both educates about the harms of sugary drinks and demands action from its audience to create change.
The campaign accounts for Big Soda’s full spectrum of damages. Short videos identify Big Soda as a leading plastic producer as well as a frequent exploiter of scare water sources.
Further, it features a crucial depiction of industry’s interference in the policymaking process, thereby using the campaign as a springboard for future efforts to disrupt these insidious actions.
The campaign is currently running on digital media throughout the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The response has been swift and decisive. In just two weeks, Kick Big Soda Out of Sport has attracted a significant amount of public support.
One element, a petition addressed to the International Olympic Committee urging it to end its sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola, has received over 65,500 signatures and 64 organisations from 20 countries have endorsed it.
Growing consciousness
This groundswell has tapped into the global community’s growing concerns over the role of multinational corporations in shaping our lives and importantly, our health. A growing consciousness about the commercial determinants of health extends far beyond public health professionals.
To truly dismantle Big Soda’s influence, we must assemble a motivated coalition that spans disciplines and prioritises collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Campaign monitoring has shown a considerable amount of engagement among younger people, a clear sign of the campaign’s impact and reach.
While the International Olympic Committee is preoccupied with the current Paris Games, the movement to end Big Soda’s reign over sport is growing.
The world is beginning to see the truth behind Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Olympics and its long history of “sports washing” away its health and environmental impacts.
With an eye towards Brisbane 2032, the calls for a new sponsor, one that doesn’t target children by co-opting their favourite athletes, are only getting louder.
Dismantling Big Soda’s influence requires a motivated, collaborative alliance. Kick Big Soda Out of Sport is igniting advocates and activists, and inspiring people around the world to question the corporations that govern our daily existence.
Olympic podiums or press conferences should not feature both incredible athletes and a soda company’s ubiquitous branding.
In the case of Big Soda, it has absolutely no place in sport. To make your voice heard, sign the petition and share on your channels here and here.
Caption: Dr Simón Barquera, Director, Nutrition and Health Research Centre at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico and President-Elect of the World Obesity Federation, urges his followers to sign and share the Kick Big Soda Out of Sport petition.
Translation: Let’s no longer tolerate the use of advertising and #sportswashing by corporations that capture our children and make them lifelong consumers of unhealthy products such as soft drinks 🥤☠️
Sports should not be a way to promote consumption that harms human, planetary and developmental health. We must act!
• Trish Cotter is Global Lead, Food Policy Program at Vital Strategies
See Croakey’s archive of articles on the commercial determinants of health
