Companies selling ‘junk food' in Ireland named in investigation into sponsorship deals in sports
Ireland
have been named in an investigation into sponsorship deals in professional
sports
published by the British Medical Journal on Wednesday. The finding comes amid growing concerns about junk food's impact on public
health
, particularly on children.
The investigation found 95 deals between 'junk food' companies and sporting stars, teams or official governing bodies in the
UK
. The brands include Cadbury,
Kellogg's
,
Coca Cola
, Pepsi, Just Eat, Red Bull, and Monster Energy.
'Junk food sponsorship is everywhere – it is pernicious and ubiquitous', says Francis Finucane, consultant endocrinologist at Galway University Hospitals.
Kellogg's has been sponsoring the GAA Cúl Camps for the past 14 years. Just Eat sponsors the Uefa women's Euro 2025 league and Leinster Rugby. The Irish national women's soccer team have been sponsored by Cadbury since 2021. Irish rugby is sponsored by Goodfellas, a frozen-pizza company.
The report 'highlights the scale and extent of an important public health problem. Sports sponsorship in the EU is a €23 billion market, and junk food manufacturers see it as an important way of raising awareness of their products,' says Dr Finucane.
Unhealthy food products have a 'health halo effect' when used in sports sponsorship, according to research. 'These players are in absolute peak physical condition and they are unfortunately promoting products that just do not generally feature in athletes' diets,' says Robin Ireland at Glasgow University's school of health and wellbeing.
This is because the quality of the fuel in junk food is poor, which impacts energy and ability to perform, explains Daniel Murphy, a dietitian and owner of Apex Nutrition in Co Cork.
Red Bull and Monster Energy are also sponsors in the Irish sports industry, with the former sponsoring Olympic gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and the latter partnering with surfer Gearoid McDaid and the Straight Blast MMA Gym.
Mr Ireland says marketers are using tobacco-style tactics in sport to encourage young people to consume energy drinks. 'You want to encourage young consumers – because if you encourage young consumers you may have them for life.'
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Junk food's marketing revolution has sparked 'staggering changes' in Irish children's health
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]
But Dr Finucane notes the smoking ban is also a route to dealing with ultra-processed food. 'We need to emulate the proportionality and ambition of the smoking ban, with taxation and meaningful restrictions on marketing and advertising. It is important for politicians and legislators as well as public health actors to understand these 'commercial determinants of health'.'
Dr Francis Finucane, consultant endocrinologist at Galway University Hospitals. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy
Experts also advise educating young people about nutrition. 'The younger that people are exposed to these foods, the more it will affect them growing up,' Mr Murphy says.
Rules introduced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of Ireland in 2021 prevent companies from advertising products with high fat, sugar or salt content through platforms where the majority of the audience is under 15 years old. The ASA did not deem any complaints from members of the public in 2024 about the advertising of food and drink to children to be in breach of its code.
Kellogg's says its partnership with the GAA Cúl Camps is fully compliant with all regulatory requirements. The other companies mentioned did not respond to a request for comment on how they work within the 2021 rules.
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Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy 'There may be people who are actively dying, they know they are dying. Well, we are all dying of course, that's what we have in common,' she says. Some are dealing with the loss of partners or parents. 'When listening to people's stories, you can see that they are living their lives and it is very instructive and it's a privilege,' she says. 'It's a privilege to talk about death and dying with people because you learn a lot about living from doing that.' Some are very fearful of death. 'There is one person who is terrified, she has a real fear of death. And I said to her, the fact that you are here is really impressive. A lot of people would run a mile from something called a Death Cafe and you are here talking to other people. That might not feel like progress, but it probably is.' A Death Cafe won't prevent or cure fear, but it can be cathartic for attendees, says Moran Stritch. 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A Death Cafe meeting participant at the Victoria Hotel, Galway city. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy A participant at the Galway Death Cafe meeting at the Victoria Hotel in Galway. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy It's about understanding viscerally, as Underwood did, that time isn't forever, she says. Your life is finite, so make the most of it. 'It enables me to keep from straying too far from spending too much time doing the wrong things, from wasting time. It's really hard to get angry about waiting in a supermarket queue if you think 'I'm lucky to be alive'. Not everyone is,' she says. Patricia O'Sullivan hosts a monthly Death Cafe in the side room of the community hall in Ballydehob, Co Cork. 'There are no experts at a Death Cafe,' she says. 'We are all equal. It's simply people talking and being heard on the subject of death.' O'Sullivan arranges the tea and cake. She has lived in the area for 34 years, attending the Death Cafe events in the village for years before taking on the hosting duties herself. 'I just think it's an excellent idea. Any subject that is difficult to speak about for people, I just think, what a beautiful idea to gather and talk about it.' Ballydehob's Death Cafe attracts all ages, some regulars and some new joiners. Some will be well known to each other, but it's unlikely they have ever spoken about their feelings around death to each other before. [ The things I've learned about living from dying Opens in new window ] 'In the olden days people gathered a lot more easily, but in this day and age we have to make it happen. To be sure, it brings a closeness and a connection when you hear people's really authentic expression about something that is so important for all of us. It brings connection.' The Death Cafe enables you to hear people's experiences. It might not change how you feel about death, but listening can open new ways of thinking, she says. 'If you think about death, you also inevitably think more about life.' For her personally, the meetings have brought a sense of 'spaciousness'. 'Now, when I imagine the moment of death, rather than feeling fearful, it brings a feeling of spaciousness. Hopefully, I'll be more able to deal with it, to be in the moment. That's what I would hope for.' Jon Underwood died suddenly of an undiagnosed leukaemia in June 2017, aged just 44. His invitation to talk about death and dying over tea and cake has led to more than 20,000 Death Cafe meetings in cafes, homes, at festivals and in universities in 93 countries. His mother Sue Barsky Reid and sister Jools Barsky continue his Death Cafe work as he requested. Before the longest day of the year in June, the Ballydehob Death Cafe took place outside at the nearby graveyard of Kilcoe. The oldest legible headstone there dates back to the 1820s. Still standing inside this graveyard are the ruins of a church from the 1400s. The dead have been buried there for centuries. 'It did feel different,' O'Sullivan says. 'In the beauty of the sun, this graveyard was gorgeous.'
