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Do the Olympic Games promote dietary health for spectators? An interdisciplinary study of health promotion through sport

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journal contribution
posted on 2018-12-13, 16:33 authored by Joe PigginJoe Piggin, Doralice Souza, Sabrina Furtado, Matheus Milanez, George Cunha, Bruno H. Louzada, Billy Graeff-Bastos, Haifa Tlili
Research question: Debates about dietary health promotion at sports events are becoming more prominent and are making food and drink sport sponsorship arrangements increasingly problematic. This study uses choice architecture as a guiding framework to examine how ideas about ‘healthy choices’ for customer food and drink were operationalised at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil. Research methods: An interdisciplinary perspective was applied, whereby considerations of public health, marketing, psychology, policy studies, nutrition and event management informed the research. A multi-method approach was utilised, which included policy analysis, menu analysis, event process analysis, and interviews with spectators. The data were compared and contrasted to see how ideas about health manifested in policy and practice, culminating in the Rio 2016 event. Results and findings: While ‘healthy choice’ claims featured prominently in Rio 2016 policy, the practical reality consisted of spaces with both a very low amount of choice for Olympic spectators, and a large amount of high- and ultra-processed food. Rio 2016 organisers shaped the choice architecture so that the food and drink being sold and consumed met neither the spectators’ nor Brazilian policy definitions of health. Implications: The results show a need for organisers of sport events to question and challenge popular claims of health promotion. Recommendations for governments and sport organisations include the need to alter the accepted production practices of sport mega events, especially since the events are often in receipt of public money and involve unfulfilled claims about health promotion.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

European Sport Management Quarterly

Volume

19

Issue

4

Pages

481 - 501

Citation

PIGGIN, J. ... et al, 2019. Do the Olympic Games promote dietary health for spectators? An interdisciplinary study of health promotion through sport. European Sport Management Quarterly, 19 (4), pp.481-501.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© European Association for Sport Management

Publisher statement

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Sport Management Quarterly on 8 January 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/16184742.2018.1562484.

Acceptance date

2018-12-10

Publication date

2019-01-08

Copyright date

2019

ISSN

1618-4742

eISSN

1746-031X

Language

  • en

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