Professor Emma Boyland, Chair of Food Marketing and Child Health, Institute of Population Health, explores how food and drink brands use the global reach and emotional power of the FIFA World Cup to promote unhealthy products and considers what stronger regulation could do to protect fans, especially children.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has not been short of controversy. Among the most prominent talking points are the mandatory hydration breaks interrupting every match, which inside the stadiums have been met with a loud chorus of boos from spectators.
Introduced to protect players from the intense summer heat across North America, FIFA's position is that they should be enforced in every match, even in cooler conditions, to protect sporting integrity. But applying a heat-safety measure regardless of the temperature inevitably raises questions about what other purposes these interruptions now serve.
Food and drink companies recognised the commercial power of major sport long ago. Coca-Cola sponsored the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam and has remained closely associated with the Olympic movement ever since. Nearly a century later, the basic attraction is unchanged. The global appeal of sport gives brands access not only to huge audiences, but also to the excitement, loyalty and emotional intensity that come with it.
FIFA estimates that the 2026 tournament has already produced 20 billion video views across digital platforms, and cross the tournament, hydration breaks are expected to create an estimated 832 additional 30-second advertising slots. In the US alone, those extra opportunities could be worth more than US$250 million (£189 million).
The commercial environment surrounding major sporting events is often saturated with advertising for products that can harm health, including food and drink, alcohol and gambling. The healthy image of sport can therefore be used to lend credibility and appeal to industries whose products may undermine the very wellbeing that sport is supposed to promote.
Research shows that exposure to advertising for unhealthy food can influence what people want, buy and eat. The effects are especially concerning for children, who are more likely to want the products they see promoted, although similar patterns have also been found among adults. Over time, repeated exposure has been linked to poorer diets and an increased risk of childhood obesity.
The results illustrate why major sporting events are so commercially attractive to companies selling drinks and snacks. An analysis of US adults interested in the World Cup found that four of the five sponsor-linked brands making the greatest gains during the tournament's opening stages were food or drink companies. Coca-Cola, Pringles, Doritos and Cheetos all recorded substantial increases in measures including consumer awareness, conversation and purchase consideration.
Coca-Cola, for example, saw an 8.1-point increase in the proportion of World Cup followers who would consider buying the brand. Doritos achieved the largest rise in consumer buzz among the five leading brands, while Pringles recorded a ten-point increase in purchase consideration.
Athlete endorsements make these messages especially persuasive, associating brands with health and physical ability alongside the intoxicating blend of fame success, and adulation. Food marketing works through this generation of feelings and associations rather than purely rational thought, and sport amplifies this through excitement, belonging, pride and heartbreak.
Coca-Cola's World Cup campaign, "Uncanned Emotions", makes the strategy unusually explicit by placing the brand alongside the raw passion of football supporters. The aim is not merely to persuade fans to buy a drink. It is to make the product feel like a natural part of watching the tournament itself.
The evidence suggests that these associations deliver exactly what sponsors pay for. A recent YouGov report found that in some markets, more than four in five likely World Cup followers viewed tournament sponsors more favourably. That effectiveness is precisely why food marketing around sport deserves greater scrutiny.
The World Health Organization recommends comprehensive, mandatory restrictions to protect children from the harmful effects of food marketing. Enforced measures are more likely to work than voluntary industry promises, as when commercial companies decide which products, audiences and forms of marketing should be covered they tend to be more lenient.
The UK has already taken an important step by prohibiting advertisements for less healthy food and drink on television before 9pm, while paid-for online advertisements for these products are now restricted. But rules built around conventional advertisements may struggle to address the full range of marketing surrounding a tournament. Brand messages reach audiences through sophisticated and integrated activities across multiple media and settings including (but not limited to) pitch-side branding, press conferences, packaging, social media, fan activities and celebrity partnerships. A brand can therefore become inseparable from the spectacle of the World Cup without relying solely on a traditional advert.
There are risks for sponsors, however. At Euro 2020, Cristiano Ronaldo removed two Coca-Cola bottles from view during a press conference and encouraged viewers to drink water instead. This became a global story and exposed the limits of what even the most powerful sponsors can control when athletes have enormous audiences of their own.
The hostile response to the World Cup's hydration breaks offers a similar warning. Fans, players and commentators have questioned whether a measure presented as protecting player welfare is also being used to create advertising opportunities and reshape football around broadcasters' commercial needs.
Ultimately, fans are what make football what it is and it is their health on the line. The food industry make the money from promoting unhealthy snacks and the taxpayers get the bill for treating diet-related ill health. FIFA should listen to the feedback and take steps to better protect the welfare of both the players and the fans. Yes to hydration, no to junk food ads.
