Should fast food sponsor sport? - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

The Olympic Games happen every four years

and the most recent games were held in

Tokyo this summer. Did you watch them, Sam?

Yes, I saw British swimmer,

Adam Peaty, win a gold medal and -

my personal favourite - 13-year-old, Sky Brown,

competing in an exciting sport which was added

to the Olympics this year: skateboarding.

Olympic athletes inspire people

around the world to take on

new challenges, eat healthily and get fit.

So it seems strange that some of the

companies that sponsor – or pay for, the

Olympic Games also sell food and drink which is

linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Tobacco advertising was banned from

international sport in 2005 because of the

harmful effects of smoking. But other companies

selling less-than-healthy products

still sponsor big sporting events.

These could be sugary drink

companies, or others who sell fast food –

hot food, like hamburgers, that is quick to cook

and serve but which is often unhealthy.

In this programme we’ll be asking whether it’s

right for companies selling unhealthy

products to sponsor sporting events.

But first it’s time for my quiz question, Sam.

McDonalds had a long history  with the Olympic Games

until the company ended the partnership

ahead of the 2024 games in Paris. But why did

McDonalds choose to quit? Was it because:

a) they wanted to change the

name of French fries to McFries?

b) they didn’t want to call

their hamburger, ‘Le Big Mac’? or,

c) they wanted to be the only

company selling cheese for cheeseburgers?

Hmm, I think maybe it’s a) because

they wanted to call French fries, McFries.

OK, Sam, we’ll find out the

answer later in the programme.

Someone who is worried about the

relationship between fast food and sport is Dr

Sandro Demaio. He worked for the

World Health Organisation specialising in obesity

before starting his own public

health agency in Australia.

Here is Dr Demaio speaking with BBC World

Service programme, The Food Chain,

about the problem with unhealthy

brands and food products:

By having their brand alongside a young

person’s favourite sporting hero, on the chest

of their national team, it does two things.

First of all, it creates brand attachment, so if

you’re a young child you built the connection

in your mind that basically fast food

equals success. At the same time it also gives a

health halo to that brand. Then you

start to think in your mind, even

subconsciously, that it can’t be that bad…

You’ve probably heard of ‘brand loyalty’,

where people have a favourite

brand they always buy, but Dr Demaio is

concerned about brand attachment.

Brand attachment is the emotional connection

between humans and brands. It goes

deeper than loyalty so that people mentally

connect a particular company with feelings

of winning, being healthy and success.

The problem comes when these feelings

attach to companies that aren’t healthy at all.

Dr Demaio says this creates a health halo –

the belief that something is good,

like an angel’s halo, even though

there is little evidence to support this.

On the other hand, fast food and fizzy drink

companies invest large amounts of money

in sport, over 4.5 billion dollars since the

2016 Rio Olympics, much of it supporting

athletes around the world.

Yes, with travel, training and equipment

the cost of being an Olympic athlete can be

huge. And depending on your country

and your sport, there may  be little financial help.

Many athletes are desperate for any

sponsorship they can get - but does that make it

right to promote unhealthy eating in return?

Not according to Dr Demaio, who thinks

people should worry about the nutritional

value of fast food, as he explained

to BBC World Service’s, The Food Chain:

When we think about foods and beverages

of public health concern, we tend to start

by talking about highly-processed foods,

particularly ultra-processed foods. These are

foods that have been really broken down

to their basic elements and then built up –

they’re more products really than foods –

they’re made in a laboratory not a kitchen.

Dr Demaio mentions unhealthy foods and

beverages – another word for drinks.

He’s concerned about the public health risk

of ultra-processed food – foods containing

extra ingredients like chemicals, colourings

and sweeteners that you wouldn’t add

when cooking homemade food.

A potato, for example, is natural -

minimally processed. Bake a potato and it

becomes ‘processed’. Make French

fries and it’s ‘ultra-processed’.

And speaking of French fries, Neil, what was

the answer to your quiz question?

Yes, I asked Sam the reason behind

the decision McDonald’s made not to

sponsor the 2024 Paris Olympics.

I said it was, a) because they

wanted to call French fries, McFries.

Which was… the wrong answer!

In fact, McDonald’s

wanted to be only company allowed to advertise

cheese so it could boost cheeseburger sales.

This didn’t go down well with

officials in France, a country with

over a thousand different types of cheese!

OK, let’s recap the vocabulary

from this programme starting with

fast food – hot food that is quick to

cook but may be unhealthy.

Companies that sponsor sports events,

pay for them to happen.

Brand attachment is a psychological

connection between someone and a brand.

A health halo is the

perception that something is

healthy for you, even if it’s not.

Ultra-processed foods are foods

containing added artificial ingredients

like colourings and preservatives.

And a beverage is

another word for a drink.

That’s all from us,

but if you’d like to find out more

about the business, science and

culture of food, why not download

The Food Chain podcast! –

it’s updated weekly and available now.

Join us again soon for

more topical discussion and

vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.

Bye for now!

Goodbye!