Given that the Olympic motto is: “Faster, Higher, Stronger”,
are companies that sell unhealthy products sponsoring the London 2012 Olympics
making the average spectator “fatter, drunker and sicker?”
By: Ringo Bones
Probably the only high-level scandal plaguing the 2012
Olympiad beside the security contractor G4S failing some of its obligations,
the issue of companies peddling unhealthy products being allowed to sponsor every
Summer Olympic event since the 1984 L.A. Olympics has been finally given the
focus it desperately deserves. Many are now questioning the wisdom of Mc
Donald’s, Heiniken and Coca Cola – just to name a few – being allowed by the
International Olympic Committee to sponsor every Olympic event since, given
that these products have the propensity of making the average Olympic
enthusiasts chronic health problems like obesity, heart disease, cirrhosis of
the liver, type-2 diabetes and other “diseases of civilization”. Given that the
Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius – or in English:
“Faster, Higher, Stronger”, should companies peddling unhealthy products be
prevented from sponsoring any Summer Olympic events in the future?
In a BBC interview back in July 14, 2012, former
International Olympic Committee marketing director Michael Payne is also
concerned of the growing number of companies who sell unhealthy food and drinks
being allowed to sponsor the Summer Olympic Games. But he also stresses that if
these companies were banned from sponsoring the games, the IOC would be left
with a financial black hole that can’t be easily filled with other sponsors who
sell much healthier products. Isn’t the Olympic Games primarily a celebration
of health and fitness whether you are an Olympic hopeful or just a mere
spectator?
Given that the UK government’s budget for spreading
awareness about healthier diet is way, way smaller than these multi-national
corporations who spend millions every year advertising their alcoholic and
sugar-saturated drinks and junk food – most ordinary folks tend to opt for a
dubious eating and drinking lifestyle choice because its what they frequently
see on the telly anyway. A recent public health study in Britain shows that if this
current trend of an unhealthy lifestyle choice continues by the year 2050, 90%
of the UK population could be overweight. This means the already burdened UK’s
NHS could be strained even further with obesity and diet-related chronic health
problems. At present, over-indulgent dietary related diseases kill 35-million
around the world every year – 5 times more than that of tobacco related deaths.
And at present, junk food and alcoholic beverage sponsors of the London 2012
Olympics still can’t be held accountable – let alone responsible – of the way
their products ruin the health of the UK public.
