Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has joined Kick Big Soda Out of Sport and its 91 other partner organisations in a petition effort against the International Olympic Committee, IOC, emphasizing the need for the Committee to prioritize public health and environmental responsibility over corporate interests.
This is as the IOC is facing backlash over its partnership with major soft drink companies, including The Coca-Cola Company for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Critics argue that this association undermines the IOC’s commitment to promoting health and sustainability.
Robert Egbe, a public health advocate at CAPPA, stresses, “The IOC must live up to its responsibility to use sports as a vehicle for positive change, not as a platform for promoting harmful products. Ending the partnership with Big Soda is a crucial step in ensuring that the Olympics truly align with the values of health and sustainability.”
On October 16, 2021, the IOC endorsed the Olympism 365 strategy, aiming to use sport to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve global health and well-being.
However, the IOC’s collaboration with Big Soda—an umbrella term for major soft drink producers like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Keurig Dr Pepper—appears to contradict these objectives.
As the Paris 2024 Olympics approached, the IOC unveiled a new theme song, “Hello World,” in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company. While the song is intended to celebrate unity and the power of sport, its video prominently features Coca-Cola’s branding. This has raised concerns that the IOC is inadvertently endorsing products linked to health issues.
The partnership is seen as a form of “sportswashing,” a practice where corporations associate with positive sporting events to obscure the negative impacts of their products.
Sugary beverages, like those produced by Big Soda, are known contributors to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. These health concerns are particularly pressing in countries like Nigeria, where non-communicable diseases account for 27 percent of deaths.
A 2018 study highlighted that sports sponsorships can significantly influence young people’s food preferences, often making unhealthy products seem more appealing when endorsed by athletes. This is particularly troubling given the rising rates of childhood obesity linked to sugary drink consumption.
Beyond health issues, environmental concerns also arise. The sugary drinks industry is associated with plastic pollution, high carbon emissions, and water depletion—factors contributing to the global climate crisis.
In response, an online petition initiated by the group Kick Big Soda Out of Sport has garnered over 197,813 signatures as of September 3, 2024. The petition calls for the IOC to terminate its sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola and align its partnerships with its stated values of promoting health and sustainability.
A spokesperson for Kick Big Soda Out of Sport stated, “By accepting billions from Coca-Cola to sponsor the Olympic Games, the IOC implicitly endorses a world where health and environmental harms are ‘sports-washed’ away. We urge the IOC to demonstrate a genuine commitment to improving global health and protecting our planet by severing ties with Big Soda.”
Meanwhile, the IOC is yet to respond to the growing pressure from activists and concerned citizens demanding a shift in their sponsorship strategy.