Sportswashing through Media: Coca-Cola’s Olympic Play – A Research Report

For nearly a century, Coca-Cola has used its Olympic sponsorship to strengthen its brand image and align sugary drinks with elite athleticism, global celebration and unity—despite the well-established health and environmental harms associated with its products. This form of corporate sportswashing allows Coca-Cola and similar companies to leverage the prestige of sport to enhance their reputations and deflect attention from mounting public health and environmental concerns.

This report, produced by Vital Strategies, analyzes how Coca-Cola’s partnership with the Olympics is portrayed in the media and to what extent public health perspectives are included – or omitted – from the discussion. The findings are based on a systematic content analysis of 85 English-language, online news articles.  

Read the report.