Food and beverage company sponsorship of children's sport: publicity or philanthropy?

While the causes of obesity are complex and many, children’s exposure to food marketing affects the food and drinks that children prefer, request, purchase and consume. Sport sponsorship is a significant form of marketing that, when directed at children’s activities, allows brands to be embedded within children’s experiences of entertainment and socialisation. The research outlined in this thesis aimed to determine the scope of unhealthy food and beverage sponsorship of children’s sport in New South Wales (NSW), Australia; the effect of this sponsorship on children; and potential solutions to create healthier sponsorship. Six studies were conducted: i) a telephone survey with officials from randomly sampled sports clubs in NSW (n = 108); and ii) a website analysis of peak sporting organisations (n = 55) to determine sponsorship arrangements; iii) an analysis of children’s sport participation from the Exercise, Recreation and Sport Survey 2009/10, to estimate sponsorship exposure; iv) interviews at clubs with parents (n = 200), children (n = 103) and officials (n = 40); and v) a representative telephone survey of parents (n = 825) and online survey of children (n = 243) across NSW, to determine attitudes to sponsorship, and vi) a Delphi survey of experts (n = 18) in health promotion and sport explored standards for health promoting sports clubs. A large number of sponsors were identified at sports clubs and for peak sporting organisations, with 9% to 17% being food or beverage companies. Most food companies did not meet independently-developed criteria for healthy sponsors. Children perceived sponsors to have positive brand attributes, with the greatest proportion agreeing that sponsors were ‘cool’, exciting and fun. Children also reported that sponsorship encouraged them to purchase sponsors’ products. Parents and the junior sporting community were supportive of regulatory interventions to restrict unhealthy food and beverage company sponsorship at children’s sport. Unhealthy food and beverage sponsorship of children’s sport is widespread and influences children’s perceptions of these companies and reported purchasing habits. Regulatory action is required to reduce children’s exposure to this marketing. Such regulatory intervention is possible and is unlikely to have a significant impact on the financial capability of the community sport sector

Women Faculty of Color: Success Stories from the Margins

Based on data from a larger, longitudinal study of 22 women faculty on the tenure track, this qualitative study examines the socialization experiences of four women faculty of color (WFOC) who earned tenure at two public, research extensive, predominantly White institutions (PWIs) in the U.S. This study gives voice to WFOC who broke through the glass ceiling of tenure and were promoted to associate professor. Although these women earned tenure, their adjustment as newcomers to the academy was fraught with marginalization for being both women and persons of color. Specifically, the WFOC experienced challenges to their role clarity, self-efficacy and social acceptance—all of which are all key factors in the socialization of outsiders (untenured) to insiders (tenured) of an organization. This study holds implications for how WFOC can not only survive but also thrive in the tenure process

History of Antiracism Education: Lessons For Today’s Practitioners

This article presents a definition and a historical perspective of antiracism education. Antiracism education has evolved from what educators called intercultural education in the 1920s, to what now is considered a focus on one’s individual racism. Antiracism education interventions are designed to help White students understand the power and privilege they hold in society, and to help students of color unlearn negative stereotypes of Whites and themselves (Derman-Sparks & Phillips, 1997). In addition, this education may prompt all students to examine their personal biases, beliefs, and social interactions around race. The article concludes with interracial dialogue as a pedagogical practice found to be an effective way to teach antiracism education. Researchers and practitioners found interracial dialogue to be successful in positively influencing students’ racial attitudes and interracial interactions. Thus, this article offers practitioners a way to approach the complex issue of race with college students

Alternative Forms of Mentoring to Retain Faculty of Color

This keynote address examines critical approaches and perspectives that improve success for faculty of Color and advance alternative forms of mentoring. The keynote includes examples of diverse mentoring relationships (e.g. students, faculty, and administrators in and out of the academy) that reflect decades of support as well as newly formed mentoring communities, and the use of digital technologies to fortify mentoring

Unhealthy sport sponsorship continues to target kids

In the final month of the countdown to the Olympic Games, our sports stars are probably not eating and drinking the Games sponsors\u27 foods. Again, as in previous Olympics, the Olympic Games sponsors are Coca-Cola, McDonald\u27s and Cadburys, whose foods and drinks are not good choices for athletes due to their lack of nutrition and high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats

Sports sponsorship and kids\u27 health: who are the real winners?

Over the weekend, Australian children and their parents witnessed some of the country\u27s finest sportsmen display feats of strength, skill and endurance in the Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) grand finals. I\u27m sure many young people would have been inspired to emulate the actions and successes of their heroes. What spectators and viewers would also have seen was the paradoxical promotion of Carlton breweries and McDonalds in commercial advertisements during the games. The websites of the NRL, AFL reveal a similar picture of sponsorship and marketing by unhealthy food and drink companies such as Coca-Cola and Red Bull. We\u27ve also recently seen television adverts for Coles and Cadbury\u27s, where Adam Goodes, the captain of the winning Sydney Swans, and player Dale Thomas promote products that are hardly the fuel of champions. It\u27s understood, and even expected, that adults might enjoy a few beers and perhaps some pub food during these annual events (and, no doubt, at player post-match celebrations). But the impact of ever-present junk food and alcohol advertising on those of a more impressionable age is of concern