World Cup viewers saw 65,000 unhealthy food and drink brands
Fans watching the FIFA World Cup on TV were exposed to junk food, alcohol and gambling branding every seven seconds, a study has found.
Football fans who watch the FIFA World Cup on television were exposed to junk food, alcohol and gambling branding every seven seconds, a study has found.
The research, led by the University of Bristol in collaboration with the University of Oxford, is the first to examine commodity branding across an entire FIFA World Cup.
It found more than 93,000 visible appearances of brands promoting unhealthy food and drink, alcohol, gambling and speculative products were recorded during coverage of the largest World Cup in history.
Unhealthy food and drink brands accounted for more than seven in 10 of these, with 65,722 appearances.
Junk food, alcohol and gambling branding seen every seven seconds
The team used the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, Isambard-AI, based at the University of Bristol, to analyse all 172.6 hours of live play across the tournament’s 104 matches.
FIFA reported that nearly six billion people around the world engaged with the tournament, while broadcast records were broken in more than 30 countries.
For the UK, the researchers estimated that harmful product advertising generated 267 billion impressions across the 53 broadcasts for which audience data were available.
The analysis counted advertising built into the match footage from the hoardings rather than commercials shown during advertising breaks.
Harmful product branding appeared in every match and was visible during 39.3 hours of live play.
Unhealthy food and drink brands were found to dominate the tournament’s sponsorship, representing more than 70% of all branding detected.
This was followed by prediction markets with 9,360 appearances, alcohol with 9,266, gambling with 6,429 and cryptocurrency with 2,632.
Exposure was heavily concentrated among a handful of globally recognised brands.
Unhealthy food and drink brands were found to dominate 70% of tournament’s sponsorship
Study co-author Dr Raffaello Rossi, from the University of Bristol, said: “As one of the world’s most watched sporting events, reaching billions of people, this year’s FIFA World Cup provided an unparalleled platform for advertising.
“Our findings reveal the sheer scale of branding embedded throughout tournament broadcasts, making exposure to unhealthy food, alcohol and gambling brands both omnipresent and unavoidable for viewers.
“This is particularly concerning given the substantial body of evidence linking marketing for unhealthy products, alcohol and gambling with increased consumption and a range of health, social and financial harms, especially among children and young people.”
Co-author Dr Elisa Becker, from the University of Oxford, said: “We are facing a global crisis of childhood obesity and diet-related disease, yet the world’s biggest sporting event is saturated with marketing for unhealthy food and drinks.
“Sport should be part of the solution to poor health – not one of the world’s most powerful advertising platforms for the products driving it.”
A key issue highlighted by the research is that FIFA’s match footage, which featured the same embedded advertising around the pitch, was shared with broadcasters around the world, including in countries where alcohol, gambling or prediction markets advertising may be restricted or illegal.
Dr Rossi said: “FIFA’s marketing deals appeared to show little respect for national laws and licensing regimes.
“The tournament featured around 16,000 gambling and prediction markets logos, with this advertising reaching a host of countries where the promoted brands were unlicensed, or where their legal status was uncertain.
“Indeed, one of the most advertised gambling brands listed licences in around 20 countries, while the World Cup was broadcast across more than 220 territories.
“Put plainly, audiences in the overwhelming majority of countries were shown advertising for a gambling operator that was not licensed locally.
“What makes this particularly disappointing is that the problem was avoidable.
“Technology previously used by the UEFA Euro 2024 already allows different countries to see different pitchside advertising, yet it was not used to remove or replace branding where products could not lawfully be advertised or offered.”
The researchers are calling for governments and regulators to ensure that marketing rules apply to commercial branding embedded within live sports broadcasts, backed by meaningful penalties.
They also urged FIFA to adopt an independently developed public interest standard for commercial partnerships and use existing technology to remove or replace branding where products cannot lawfully be advertised or offered.
The report is entitled: The price of the beautiful game: how the biggest Fifa World Cup ever became a global platform for promoting harmful products.
FIFA's response
A FIFA spokesperson said: “FIFA works with a broad, global portfolio of partners, all of which are subject to its governance and compliance frameworks.
"The vast majority of FIFA’s projected revenues of USD 14 billion for the 2027–2030 cycle, will be reinvested back into the global game, including through the FIFA Forward programme and targeted development initiatives that support participation, infrastructure, social and health programmes and the continued growth of women’s football across the world.
"This record level of reinvestment helps ensure football can be organised and developed in more than 100 countries where it would otherwise not be possible – underpinned by commercial partnerships.
“FIFA's social impact campaigns, including Be Active, delivered messages of unity, inclusion, health and friendship to audiences on an unprecedented scale throughout the FIFA World Cup 2026.
"The campaigns reached million of fans inside stadiums and FIFA Fan Festivals, as well as thousands through the Canada Celebrates programme.
“At the grassroots level, 56,204 guests attended Community Training Sessions where the Be Active message was promoted, while 1,150 children participated in dedicated Be Active training sessions alongside FIFA World Cup players.
"Since opening on 8 June, the FIFA Arena in New York City's iconic Central Park welcomed more than 9,903 participants, using football to encourage healthy and active lifestyles.”