Anyone who watched the 2026 World Cup saw roughly 576 adverts for junk food and drink per match without ever choosing to. That figure comes from a new study by researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford, who built an AI tool to count every logo and product visible to television viewers during live play across all 104 games.
The total came to 65,722. Those adverts were on screen for 28.1 hours across the tournament, which works out at just over 16% of the time the ball was actually in play.
What the count actually covers
The number is conservative, which is the part worth sitting with. It only includes what appeared on the international feed during play, mostly pitchside boards and stadium signage in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Pre-match coverage is not in it. Neither are half-time commercial breaks or the in-match hydration breaks that caused so much argument during the tournament.
Coca-Cola led the count with 21,893 appearances, followed by McDonald's on 13,915, Powerade on 12,777 and Lay's, sold as Walkers in the UK, on 12,087. All four are official Fifa partners, and Powerade is a Coca-Cola brand, so one company accounts for more than half the total on its own.
Junk food, defined by the UK government as products high in fat, salt or sugar, appeared around seven times more often than alcohol and prediction market brands, ten times more often than gambling firms, and nearly 25 times more often than cryptocurrency.
Fifa's response
Fifa points to where the money goes. A spokesperson said the governing body "works with a broad, global portfolio of partners, all of which are subject to its governance and compliance frameworks", and that its social impact campaigns, including Be Active, "delivered messages of unity, inclusion, health and friendship to audiences on an unprecedented scale throughout the World Cup". The vast majority of revenue, Fifa argues, is reinvested in football.
Coca-Cola, McDonald's and PepsiCo, which owns Lay's, were contacted by BBC Sport and did not reply.
A loophole with a name on it
Since October 2025 the UK has banned junk food advertising on television before 9pm, with burgers, chips, crisps and sugary drinks all covered. None of that applied here. Hoardings at an international event sit outside the legislation, so British viewers watched the exact products the ban was written for during the hours it supposedly protects.
"It is definitely a loophole," Greg Fell, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, told BBC Sport. He wants coordinated action rather than national rules that stop at the border. "It requires worldwide collaboration because obesity is a problem everywhere. Advertising is one of the key mechanisms by which harm from obesity happens."
Fell drew a comparison that will not please the companies involved. "Obesity is almost the new tobacco. There isn't much difference with the methods the tobacco industry used before they were excluded from advertising. A lot of this is targeted at children, because these companies want to grow their markets, and children are the future market."
NHS data from 2024 put 15% of UK children in the obese category and 26% overweight. The government has since rewritten school dinner rules, banning deep-fried food and pushing fruit, vegetables, fibre and wholegrains.
Dr Elisa Becker, one of the report's co-authors, framed the finding as a contradiction. "We are facing a global crisis of childhood obesity and diet-related disease, yet the world's biggest sporting event is saturated with marketing for unhealthy food and drinks. Sport should be part of the solution to poor health, not one of the world's most powerful advertising platforms for the products driving it."
Study facts: Universities of Bristol and Oxford, AI analysis of all 104 matches at the 2026 Fifa World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Junk food and drink logos appeared 65,722 times, visible for 28.1 hours, or 16% of total playing time, averaging 576 per match. Top brands: Coca-Cola 21,893, McDonald's 13,915, Powerade 12,777, Lay's 12,087.
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