Fast food and alchohol companies are big sponsors of Australian sport.
“The playing field of Australian sports sponsorships resembles a fast-food addict on a bender”, is how the Age put it recently. Cricket, AFL, rugby league, netball, golf and motor sport all benefit.
Pressure is mounting in Australia to ban such ads. The Australian Medical Association says it is time to discuss “blowing the final whistle on tie-ups between fast food and sport”. It was done with tobacco. It can be done again. It would, however, be costly. But it’s critical.
“There’s no reason why sports role models should be used to promote behaviours that are actually antithetical to sporting success,” argued the Public Health Advocacy Institute of Western Australia.
Read more: Sunday Age, 12 Oct 2008