The Olympic Summer Games -- the quadrennial sports and advertising extravaganza -- are now underway. Once again, we'll be thrilled (and perhaps even inspired) by the graceful gymnasts, the lightning-fast sprinters, and the seemingly inexhaustible swimmers.
Less thrilling is the endless drumbeat of ads from long-time sponsors Coca-Cola (since 1928) and McDonald's (since 1976). Their ads are too clever to nag you to fill up on Big Macs and large Cokes. Instead, they worm their way into your heart to create warm, fuzzy feelings.
Companies love to sponsor the Olympics. They reach millions of eyeballs with their seductive TV ads, and they know that some of the squeaky clean, healthy images of star athletes will rub off on their sooty reputations.
How ironic! The global event that showcases the fittest people on the planet is bankrolled -- to the tune of about $4 billion -- by companies whose foods undermine our health. Major sponsors pay roughly $100 million and provide 40 percent of Olympics revenues. And that won't change until at least 2020. But the obesity epidemic is leading some to recognize the irony:
Of course, the companies have silky-smooth retorts. A Coke spinmeister said, "We believe all of our drinks can be enjoyed as part of an active, healthy lifestyle." McDonald's said, "Many athletes tell us we are their favorite place to eat."
The next summer games will be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Brazilians are one of the world's biggest consumers of soda (fueled by Coca-Cola's billion-dollars-a-year investments), and host to over 650 McDonald's outlets. Experts predict that Brazil's bulging waistlines may grab the world record from the United States by 2022. Will junk-food marketers get an Olympic carte blanche again?
I hope that the four-year breather will give Olympic officials and companies time to work out a deal: If you want to link your brand names to the games, you may only promote and sell your healthier products.
For more by Michael F. Jacobson, click here.
For more healthy living health news, click here.
Follow Michael F. Jacobson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CSPI
Sue Thomason: Are These Men Making Us All Fat?
Mark Knight: 'Ambush Marketing' Outlawed at London Olympics
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 |
| 3 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 |
| 5 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 |
| 6 | Japan | 7 | 14 | 17 |
It's funny, why do people react with such anger when they're confronted with the hard truth. I don't think Michael was saying you can't eat junk food, although anyone who has respect for their body would be advised not to, he's saying that promoting junk food on the world's biggest stage likely frequented by children sends the wrong message.
The point of teaching children behaviors that supports themselves and their health is to give them the opportunity to become the best they can be. Without your health it becomes impossible to become the best you can be.
Nobody wants to be 'told what to do' but learning effective strategies to get and maintain health is a good thing if you want to be healthy. Junk food, no matter how much is consumed, doesn't support health. I don't like it any better than you do but there you have it.
@AcuNatural
click Tin tuc cong nghe
Somehow, someway they got rid of them and still found a way to survive.
The Olympics are supposed to be an idealistic "movement."
They should be able to demand positive ads for products that actually benefit peoples lives.
Coke and McDonalds do not pass that test.
1. increases in saturated fats/person per year consumed versus heart attack/cardiavascular disease
2. Increases in salt (NaCl, sodium chloride not KCl, potassium chloride the good "light salt")/person per year vs. high blood pressure, strokes, kidney problems...
3. increases in refined sugars/person per year versus diabetes, weight gains, etc.
4. decreases in fiber intake form vegegtables, grains, fruit/person per year and increase of colon cancer, etc.
Children are more easily influenced by advertising--but, parents really have the last word! It's called "NO."