Hello. This is 6 Minute English
from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
And I’m Sam.
The Olympic Games happen every four years
and the most recent games were held in
Tokyo this summer. Did you watch them, Sam?
Yes, I saw British swimmer,
Adam Peaty, win a gold medal and -
my personal favourite - 13-year-old, Sky Brown,
competing in an exciting sport which was added
to the Olympics this year: skateboarding.
Olympic athletes inspire people
around the world to take on
new challenges, eat healthily and get fit.
So it seems strange that some of the
companies that sponsor – or pay for, the
Olympic Games also sell food and drink which is
linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Tobacco advertising was banned from
international sport in 2005 because of the
harmful effects of smoking. But other companies
selling less-than-healthy products
still sponsor big sporting events.
These could be sugary drink
companies, or others who sell fast food –
hot food, like hamburgers, that is quick to cook
and serve but which is often unhealthy.
In this programme we’ll be asking whether it’s
right for companies selling unhealthy
products to sponsor sporting events.
But first it’s time for my quiz question, Sam.
McDonalds had a long history with the Olympic Games
until the company ended the partnership
ahead of the 2024 games in Paris. But why did
McDonalds choose to quit? Was it because:
a) they wanted to change the
name of French fries to McFries?
b) they didn’t want to call
their hamburger, ‘Le Big Mac’? or,
c) they wanted to be the only
company selling cheese for cheeseburgers?
Hmm, I think maybe it’s a) because
they wanted to call French fries, McFries.
OK, Sam, we’ll find out the
answer later in the programme.
Someone who is worried about the
relationship between fast food and sport is Dr
Sandro Demaio. He worked for the
World Health Organisation specialising in obesity
before starting his own public
health agency in Australia.
Here is Dr Demaio speaking with BBC World
Service programme, The Food Chain,
about the problem with unhealthy
brands and food products:
By having their brand alongside a young
person’s favourite sporting hero, on the chest
of their national team, it does two things.
First of all, it creates brand attachment, so if
you’re a young child you built the connection
in your mind that basically fast food
equals success. At the same time it also gives a
health halo to that brand. Then you
start to think in your mind, even
subconsciously, that it can’t be that bad…
You’ve probably heard of ‘brand loyalty’,
where people have a favourite
brand they always buy, but Dr Demaio is
concerned about brand attachment.
Brand attachment is the emotional connection
between humans and brands. It goes
deeper than loyalty so that people mentally
connect a particular company with feelings
of winning, being healthy and success.
The problem comes when these feelings
attach to companies that aren’t healthy at all.
Dr Demaio says this creates a health halo –
the belief that something is good,
like an angel’s halo, even though
there is little evidence to support this.
On the other hand, fast food and fizzy drink
companies invest large amounts of money
in sport, over 4.5 billion dollars since the
2016 Rio Olympics, much of it supporting
athletes around the world.
Yes, with travel, training and equipment
the cost of being an Olympic athlete can be
huge. And depending on your country
and your sport, there may be little financial help.
Many athletes are desperate for any
sponsorship they can get - but does that make it
right to promote unhealthy eating in return?
Not according to Dr Demaio, who thinks
people should worry about the nutritional
value of fast food, as he explained
to BBC World Service’s, The Food Chain:
When we think about foods and beverages
of public health concern, we tend to start
by talking about highly-processed foods,
particularly ultra-processed foods. These are
foods that have been really broken down
to their basic elements and then built up –
they’re more products really than foods –
they’re made in a laboratory not a kitchen.
Dr Demaio mentions unhealthy foods and
beverages – another word for drinks.
He’s concerned about the public health risk
of ultra-processed food – foods containing
extra ingredients like chemicals, colourings
and sweeteners that you wouldn’t add
when cooking homemade food.
A potato, for example, is natural -
minimally processed. Bake a potato and it
becomes ‘processed’. Make French
fries and it’s ‘ultra-processed’.
And speaking of French fries, Neil, what was
the answer to your quiz question?
Yes, I asked Sam the reason behind
the decision McDonald’s made not to
sponsor the 2024 Paris Olympics.
I said it was, a) because they
wanted to call French fries, McFries.
Which was… the wrong answer!
In fact, McDonald’s
wanted to be only company allowed to advertise
cheese so it could boost cheeseburger sales.
This didn’t go down well with
officials in France, a country with
over a thousand different types of cheese!
OK, let’s recap the vocabulary
from this programme starting with
fast food – hot food that is quick to
cook but may be unhealthy.
Companies that sponsor sports events,
pay for them to happen.
Brand attachment is a psychological
connection between someone and a brand.
A health halo is the
perception that something is
healthy for you, even if it’s not.
Ultra-processed foods are foods
containing added artificial ingredients
like colourings and preservatives.
And a beverage is
another word for a drink.
That’s all from us,
but if you’d like to find out more
about the business, science and
culture of food, why not download
The Food Chain podcast! –
it’s updated weekly and available now.
Join us again soon for
more topical discussion and
vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.
Bye for now!
Goodbye!