BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Communications and Behavior Change
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1503680
Cricket, Commerce, and Public Health: Promotion of Tobacco, Alcohol, and High in Fat, Sugar, and Salt (HFSS) Products
Provisionally accepted
Prashant Kumar Singh1*
Rupal Jain2
Vandana Tamrakar1
Sanchita Roy Pradhan1Sagarika Rout1Chandresh Pragya Verma1
Amit Yadav3
Upendra Bhojani4
YATAN PAL SINGH BALHARA5
Shalini Singh1- 1ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, India
- 2School of Public Policy, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, NCT of Delhi, India
- 3Vital Strategies, Inc, New Delhi, India
- 4Indian Institute of Public Health, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- 5All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
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Background: Increasing incidences of non-communicable diseases globally present a major public health challenge, with tobacco, alcohol, and ultra processed food products high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) contributing significantly to this epidemic. Despite regulatory efforts, loopholes persist, allowing companies to promote such products through surrogate advertisements and new media platforms. This study investigates advertisements aired during the Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 on the Over-the-Top (OTT) platform.OTT platform during October-November 2023 was undertaken to assess the extent and type of advertising of alcohol, tobacco and HFSS products. A standardized observation protocol was followed, documenting the frequency, type, and celebrity featured in each advertisement. The observed advertisements were categorized into six segments including surrogate tobacco and alcohol, soft drinks, energy drinks, edible products commonly consumed by children, and other edibles/beverages.Observations show that 80.9% (n=1769) of total advertisements promoted tobacco, alcohol and HFSS products. Notably, surrogate tobacco advertisements were predominantly displayed during matches involving the Indian team, accounting for 86.7% of the total surrogate tobacco advertisements. Edible products commonly consumed by children comprised 60.6% of unhealthy advertisements during over-breaks. Celebrity endorsements, particularly by Bollywood actors and Indian cricketers were common.Observations reveal a concerning prevalence of advertisements promoting tobacco, alcohol, and HFSS products. Children emerged as a particularly vulnerable target for advertisement-induced consumption behaviors. These findings highlight the need for stricter regulations and effective enforcement to curb the promotion of unhealthy products.
Keywords: Tobacco promotion, Alcohol advertising, Ultra-Processed foods, Surrogate advertisements, Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms, Public health regulation
Received: 22 Jan 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Singh, Jain, Tamrakar, Roy Pradhan, Rout, Verma, Yadav, Bhojani, BALHARA and Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Prashant Kumar Singh, ICMR-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, India
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.