Experts Urge Olympic Committee to Terminate Coca-Cola Sponsorship

Coca-Cola's nearly 100-year history of sponsoring the Olympics and luring athletes into endorsing unhealthy, sugar-laden drinks needs to stop, according to the authors of a new opinion paper.

The Coca-Cola Company has had a long-standing relationship with the Olympic Games, specifically the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The soft drink maker has sponsored the Olympics for nearly a century and is expected to continue the partnership for at least another eight years.

Moreover, in 2023, Coca-Cola sponsored more sporting events than any other brand, including high-profile sport-based companies like Nike. Still, its largest sponsorship deal is with the IOC.

However, according to an opinion paper published in BMJ Global Health, the company's 96-year relationship with the Olympic Games is significantly flawed and contradicts the IOC's mission to promote the health of athletes.

The paper's authors, Trish Cotter, Global Lead of the Food Policy Program, and Sandra Mullin, Senior Vice President of Policy Advocacy and Communication at Vital Strategies, an international public health organization, say the company's sponsorship also influences the health of billions of people, including children, by promoting unhealthy sugar-laden beverages.

Moreover, the authors claim that producing these products requires excessive water usage and creates millions of tons of plastic, contributing to the climate crisis.

Due to these issues, Cotter and Mullin urge the IOC to cut ties with Coca-Cola and partner with sponsors that promote healthier and more sustainable products.

Why ban Coca-Cola?

Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of sugar per 12-ounce serving. According to the American Heart Association, men should consume no more than 36 grams of sugar per day, and women no more than 25 grams per day. So, one 12-ounce serving of this popular soft drink would put both men and women over the recommended limit.

High sugar intake is linked to 45 health conditions, including obesity, stroke, heart attack, and early mortality. The evidence that sugar harms health and wellbeing is so robust that the World Health Organization (WHO) recently urged countries to implement an excise tax on sugar-sweetened drinks along with alcohol.

"The company promises to 'refresh' athletes, officials, and spectators at the event, by positioning its suite of sugar-sweetened beverage brands alongside sporting achievement," Cotter and Mullin told Healthnews. "In reality, it 'sports washes' negative associations, particularly for children, who are unaware of the company's more insidious actions. It's a well-worn strategy that Big Tobacco companies used successfully for many years."

In an emailed statement to Healthnews, a Coca-Cola Company spokesperson said, "As a total beverage company, we support recommendations to limit added sugar to 10% of daily calories and continuously adapt our product range by reducing added sugar and introducing innovative products to meet evolving consumer tastes. At the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games, we are offering a lineup of drinks for fans to enjoy, including water, tea, coffee, juice and sparkling beverages."

Regarding plastic bottle usage, the spokesperson said that where feasible, the company is leveraging beverage fountains and returnable glass bottles, serving drinks into reusable and returnable cups provided and managed by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.

"In venues where we can't have drink fountains, we serve beverages from recycled plastic bottles (made from recycled materials, excluding the label and cap) or returnable glass bottles (RGB) into reusable and returnable cups and are thus working to collect and recycle our bottles at the source," the spokesperson said.

Athlete endorsements

While some athletes have no issue endorsing Coca-Cola products, others have rebelled against the company's sponsorship. For example, at a 2021 UEFA European Football Championship press conference, an event sponsored by the soda giant, athlete Cristiano Ronaldo moved two bottles of Coca-Cola out of camera view, held up a bottle of water, and expressed his preference for "água."

According to Cotter and Mullin, that short video clip cost Coca-Cola $4 billion in market value, showing the influence sporting events and athletes can have on consumer spending.

Since the Olympic Games have a substantial global audience, its influence on consumer choices is significant. According to the paper, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics reached over 3 billion television viewers and garnered 28 billion video views on digital platforms.

"With a viewership this size, advertising during the Olympic Games is a coveted opportunity for companies to feature their products, however detrimental those products might be to consumers," Cotter and Mullin wrote.

The darker side of sponsorship

In addition to being an effective marketing strategy, the authors suggest that Coca-Cola's Olympic Games sponsorship allows its senior executives to network with elite athletes and political and business leaders.

"It is well-known that Big Soda spends billions in efforts that undermine public health policy to protect profit," Cotter and Mullin explain. "This includes lobbying, campaign contributions, charitable giving and the funding of research that furthers the industry's claims denying its health and environmental impacts."

They add that through lobbying efforts, these beverage giants forge relationships with legislators and government officials, giving them unprecedented access to the policymaking process.

"Between 2009 and 2015, it was reported the industry spent at least $106 million to defeat public health initiatives at the local, state and national level in the United States," the authors told Healthnews.

IOC goals conflict with 'big soda' sponsor

At this year's World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization, the IOC and WHO announced an extension of their 2020 cooperation agreement through 2025. The agreement demonstrates the organizations' commitment to promoting health and wellbeing through sports.

During his address, IOC president Thomas Bach said, "The theme of this World Health Assembly — 'All for Health, Health for All' — is a timely call for collective action. Addressing global health challenges is a team effort. The world of sport is ready to join this team to build healthy and resilient communities everywhere."

Bach added that obesity, cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases contributed to mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"For all these diseases and predispositions, sport is an excellent tool for prevention," Bach concluded.

However, according to Cotter and Mullins, the IOC and its president must acknowledge that Coca-Cola's relationship with the Olympics contradicts this goal through sugary beverage promotion and undermines the sporting event's fundamental values.

Experts offer a plan of action

To right these alleged wrongs, Cotter and Mullins suggest that the IOC shift gears and move toward three new goals:

• Terminate Coca-Cola's contract.
• Refrain from entering into future agreements with companies whose products harm public health and the environment.
• Promote healthier and more sustainable alternatives in all Olympic sponsorship and branding aspects.

"By severing ties with Coca-Cola, the IOC can send a powerful message that the Olympics stand for integrity, health, and sustainability," Collins and Mullin wrote.

However, Coca-Cola's spokesperson told Healthnews that this worldwide sponsorship provides essential support to many of the teams and athletes who compete in the Olympic Games, and this funding is critical to enable athletes from around the world to train, prepare for and compete in the Games.

To move forward with its initiative, Vital Strategies partnered with dozens of global organizations in a "Kick Big Soda Out of Sport" movement urging the IOC to cut ties with Coca-Cola. The campaign aims to gather signatures on a petition calling for the IOC, National Olympic Committees, and the National Ministries of Health to oust the soda giant and commit to sponsorships aligned with Olympic values.

"While the weight of health harm evidence has relegated Big Tobacco into history at these major sporting events, we now need to hold Big Soda accountable," Cotter and Mullin said. "The 'Kick Big Soda Out of Sport' campaign shines a light on the relationship between sport and Big Soda and has mobilized individuals and organizations to demand change."

Cotter and Mullin told Healthnews that to date, over 116,000 people have signed the petition.