Professor Anna Greenwood (History) has recently been successful in winning a c.£1.7 million Wellcome Discovery Award for her project: ‘Kicking the Habit: Historicising ‘Addictive’ Sport Sponsorship in Britain, 1965-2025’.
The project will run from September 2024-August 2030 with Co-investigators Dr Alex Mold (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Prof Heather Wardle (University of Glasgow).
Focussing on three ‘addictive’ ‘vices’—tobacco, alcohol, and gambling—the project presents the first historical genealogy of professional sports sponsorship in Britain, from 1965 when UK tobacco television advertising was banned, to 2025, when the project’s data collection phase will be completed. By mapping the rise—and sometimes demise—of sponsorship agreements with five popular elite sports (football, rugby, cricket, formula one, tennis), this project uses historical data to ask for the first time: How did the relationship between sport and ‘additive’ sponsorship come about? How has it been shaped over time? What has been its impact? And what can this history tell us about tactics to regulate sports sponsorship in the future?
It is anticipated that the project will significantly shift understandings of how sponsorship precedents were established, and regulatory limitations were negotiated or elided during the period when unhealthy sports sponsorship has boomed in Britain. This will provide vital qualitative historical data exploring the commercial determinants of health, allowing the research team to help shape strategies and ethical guidelines within both sport and public health.
Learn more about Professor Anna Greenwood
Posted on Wednesday 4th October 2023