Are Students Paid to Market Sugar-Sweetened Beverages to Peers? A Review of University Pouring Rights Contracts

Background: Many university students regularly consume sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which are associated with obesity and related chronic diseases. Moreover, students are strongly influenced by both their peers and product marketing. Our exploratory study examined pouring rights contracts between universities and beverage companies, focusing on provisions establishing campus/brand ambassador positions and marketing/merchandising manager positions whose jobs are to market SSBs on campus.Methods: For this cross-sectional study conducted in late 2020, two independent coders reviewed 131 pouring rights contracts between Coca-Cola or Pepsi and 124 unique public universities with 20,000 or more students enrolled. Contracts were active in 2018 or 2019.Results: Twenty-six contracts (20%) contained provisions specifically establishing either campus/brand ambassador positions (n = 16), marketing/merchandising manager positions (n = 7), both (n = 1), or unclear language related to these positions (n = 2). Thirteen contracts (10%) required that the position be filled by a current student. The objectives for both types of positions included increasing revenue and driving beverage sales. When stated in the contracts (n = 5), the payments allocated for these positions ranged between $5,000 and $10,000 per year.Conclusions: Given the association between SSBs and obesity and other related health outcomes, combined with the influence that peers and product marketing may have on adolescents' and young adults' attitudes toward consumption of these beverages, universities should be more transparent when these provisions are included in their pouring rights contracts and should carefully consider whether it is appropriate for these contracts to include funding for students to market SSBs.

Automated summary

This study examined pouring rights contracts between universities and beverage companies, focusing on provisions related to campus/brand ambassador positions and marketing/merchandising manager positions. The study found that a portion of these contracts required students to fill these positions, with the objective of increasing revenue and driving beverage sales.