World Cup Broadcasts Bombarded Fans with Over 65,000 Junk Food Ads, Study Reveals
Football fans were subjected to a "constant bombardment" of junk food and drink promotions during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with unhealthy brand logos appearing more than 65,000 times during live match coverage, according to a major new study.
Researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford deployed an artificial intelligence tool to track pitchside digital hoardings and stadium advertisements across all 104 matches held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They identified 65,722 individual exposures to brands classified under UK government guidelines as high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS).
Across the entire tournament, junk food adverts were visible on television screens for a cumulative total of 28.1 hours—accounting for over 16% of live playing time. On average, viewers on the global international feed were shown 576 visible junk food and sugary drink adverts per match. Crucially, the figures only account for in-game play and exclude commercial breaks, pre-match analysis, and in-game hydration stops.
Major Sponsors Dominate Screen Time
Coca-Cola was recorded as the most prominent advertiser with 21,893 on-screen appearances, followed by fast-food chain McDonald's with 13,915. Sports drink brand Powerade, owned by Coca-Cola, featured 12,777 times, while crisp manufacturer Lay's appeared 12,087 times. All are official FIFA commercial partners.
The study highlighted that junk food marketing heavily outpaced other controversial industries. Unhealthy food and beverage branding appeared roughly seven times more frequently than alcohol and prediction markets, ten times more than traditional gambling firms, and nearly 25 times more often than cryptocurrency promotions.
"Repeatedly connecting unhealthy food and drink brands with football, excitement and national identity can make these brands familiar and normalise their consumption," the study's researchers noted.
Dr Elisa Becker, co-author of the report, expressed deep concern over the findings: "We are facing a global crisis of childhood obesity and diet-related disease, yet the world's biggest sporting event is saturated with marketing for unhealthy food and drinks. Sport should be part of the solution to poor health – not one of the world's most powerful advertising platforms for the products driving it."
Regulatory Loopholes Under Scrutiny
The findings have drawn criticism from health leaders who argue that pitchside hoardings create a regulatory loophole around television advertising bans. While countries such as the UK enforce pre-9pm broadcast restrictions on HFSS products, stadium perimeter boards broadcast on international feeds remain exempt from national broadcast advertising laws.
"It is definitely a loophole," said Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health. "There is acres of evidence demonstrating that governments around the world are legislating very hard at the moment to limit advertising of junk food. It requires worldwide collaboration because obesity is a problem everywhere."
Fell added: "Obesity is almost the new tobacco - there isn't much difference with the methods the tobacco industry used before they were excluded from advertising. A lot of this is targeted at children, because these companies want to grow their markets, and children are the future market."
In response to the study, a FIFA spokesperson defended the governing body's commercial partnerships, stating: "FIFA works with a broad, global portfolio of partners, all of which are subject to its governance and compliance frameworks. FIFA's social impact campaigns, including Be Active, delivered messages of unity, inclusion, health and friendship to audiences on an unprecedented scale throughout the World Cup."