City Research Online

Abstract

Background: Alcohol sports sponsorship is a prominent marketing strategy that links alcohol with athletic success, celebration, and fandom. Sponsorship has been associated with harmful drinking behaviors, yet little is known about how young people interpret these messages. This study explores how young people understand and evaluate alcohol sports sponsorship, including perceived contradictions and processes of normalization.

Methods: Ten online focus groups were conducted with 44 young people aged 11–17 years in Scotland. Groups were stratified by age and sex and analyzed using qualitative content analysis to explore awareness, interpretations, and attitudes toward alcohol sponsorship.

Results: Participants reported frequent exposure to alcohol sponsorship, particularly through televised sport and social media. They demonstrated a clear understanding of sponsorship as a marketing strategy and often viewed alcohol’s presence in sport as incongruous with its health-oriented values. However, these views co-existed with more permissive attitudes in spectator and leisure contexts, where alcohol consumption was seen as normative, particularly for adults. Participants also expressed concerns about the potential influence on younger audiences.

Conclusion: Young people critically yet contextually interpret alcohol sports sponsorship, reflecting both skepticism and normalization. These findings highlight the need to consider how marketing is embedded across youth-accessible contexts when developing policy responses.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	Alcohol, sponsorship, young people, qualitative, focus groups
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Population Health & Policy
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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