Football fans watching the 2026 Fifa World Cup were subjected to a ‘constant bombardment’ of advertising for junk food and drinks, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford. The researchers created an AI tool to analyse advertisements visible to television viewers during live play across the tournament’s 104 matches, mostly on pitchside advertising boards and around stadiums in the United States, Canada and Mexico. They found that logos and products from brands producing junk food and drinks — defined by the UK government as high in fat, salt or sugar — were displayed 65,722 times in total.
The study calculated that those advertisements were visible for 28.1 hours across the tournament, just over 16% of the total time that matches were being played. The ads appeared on the international feed during play, meaning they were visible to every viewer in every country broadcasting matches. The analysis did not include advertising shown during pre-match coverage, half-time commercial breaks or the controversial in-match hydration breaks. On average, the model estimated 576 visible junk food and drink ads per match.
Coca-Cola accounted for the highest number of displays with 21,893, followed by McDonald’s with 13,915, Powerade with 12,777 and Lay’s — the crisps manufacturer known as Walkers in the UK — with 12,087. All four brands are official partners of Fifa, world football’s governing body, and Powerade is owned by the Coca-Cola company. The report also compared the prevalence of junk food and drink promotion with other ‘potentially harmful’ advertising. It found that junk food and drink logos were recorded around seven times more often than alcohol and prediction market brands, 10 times more often than gambling firms, and almost 25 times more often than cryptocurrency.
In response, Fifa argued that the vast majority of its revenue is put back into football, including 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.’ Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and PepsiCo, which owns Lay’s, were contacted for comment but did not reply.
The findings have intensified concerns about a regulatory loophole. Since October 2025, foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and drinks with added sugar have been included in a UK ban on junk food advertising on television before 9pm. But because the advertising during matches appears on hoardings at an international event, it falls outside that legislation. That means viewers can see ads for burgers, crisps and fizzy drinks during hours when such advertising is theoretically banned, and calls have grown for a more global approach.
Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, described the situation as ‘definitely a loophole’. He said there is ‘acres of evidence’ that governments around the world are legislating hard to limit junk food advertising, and argued that worldwide collaboration is required because obesity is a problem everywhere. ‘Advertising is one of the key mechanisms by which harm from obesity happens,’ he said. ‘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 report’s researchers argue that repeatedly connecting unhealthy food and drink brands with football, excitement and national identity can make those brands familiar and normalise their consumption. Dr Elisa Becker, one of the report’s co-authors, said: ‘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.’
The debate also comes amid wider UK action on diet and childhood obesity. 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. According to the NHS, data from 2024 showed that 15% of children in the UK were obese and 26% were overweight.