‘Constant bombardment’ – Fans shown 65,000 junk food ads at World Cup

Football fans were shown a “constant bombardment” of advertisements promoting junk food and drinks during matches at the 2026 Fifa World Cup, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford created an AI tool to analyse ads which were visible to television viewers during live play in the tournament’s 104 matches, mostly displayed on pitchside advertising boards and around stadiums in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

They found that logos and products for brands that produce junk food and drinks – defined by the UK government as being high in fat, salt or sugar – were displayed 65,722 times in total.

And the study also found that those adverts were visible for 28.1 hours’ time across the tournament, or just over 16% of the total time that matches were being played.

The ads were all shown on the international feed of matches during play – meaning they were visible to every viewer in every country broadcasting matches – and do not include ads shown during pre-match coverage, half-time commercial breaks, or the controversial in-match hydration breaks.

The model used by the researchers estimated that there were an average of 576 visible ads for junk food and drink shown during each individual match.

Coca-Cola had the highest number (21,893), followed by McDonald’s (13,915), Powerade (12,777), and Lay’s – the crisps manufacturer known as Walkers in the UK – (12,087).

All four brands are official partners of the world football governing body Fifa, with the Powerade energy drink owned by the Coca-Cola company.

In response to the findings, Fifa argued that the vast majority of its revenue is put back into football, including on projects promoting health and wellbeing in which thousands of people participate.

A Fifa spokesperson said: “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”.

BBC Sport also contacted Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and PepsiCo – which owns Lay’s – but did not receive a reply.

Junk food promoted 10 times more than gambling

The report also analysed other forms of “potentially harmful” advertising, and found that junk food and drink promotion was far more prevalent.

Junk food and drink logos were recorded around seven times more often than those for alcohol and prediction market brands, 10 times more often than those of gambling firms, and almost 25 times more often than cryptocurrency.

“Repeatedly connecting unhealthy food and drink brands with football, excitement and national identity can make these brands familiar and normalise their consumption,” the researchers argue.

Image source: Getty Images

Image caption: McDonald’s advertisements were displayed frequently throughout Spain’s victory over Argentina in the World Cup final

Since October 2025, foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and drinks with added sugar have been included in a ban on junk food advertising on TV before 9pm in the UK.

But because the advertising shown during matches appears on hoardings, and is at an international event, it falls outside the legislation.

That means viewers see ads for burgers, crisps and fizzy drinks during the hours they are theoretically banned, and calls have grown for a more global approach.

“It is definitely a loophole,” Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, told BBC Sport.

“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. Advertising is one of the key mechanisms by which harm from obesity happens.

“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.”

The UK government recently announced sweeping changes to school dinner rules, banning deep-fried food and increasing the inclusion of fruit, vegetables, fibre and wholegrains, in an attempt to tackle childhood obesity.

According to the NHS, data from 2024 showed that 15% of children in the UK were obese, and 26% were overweight.

“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”, said Dr Elisa Becker, one of the report’s co-authors.

“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.”