According to a report published by Jacqueline Crowle has shown that 62% of males and 47% of females under the age of 18 in Australia are obese. About 1 in 4 and the number is growing. The prevalence of children at risk is higher in deprived areas and the cost of treating them costs us $58 million dollars a year and this figure will increase if they remain obese going into adulthood and it get’s worse. Based on current trends, nearly half of the children in the country will be overweight or obese by the year 2020 and of course the main causes of obesity are sedentary lifestyles with low levels of physical activity including high levels of television viewing, parental inactivity and excessive consumption of high fat, high calorific foods and sugar filled drinks. Yet Big Macs, chicken nuggets, fries, sugar rich milk shakes and coke drinks has shared centre stage with Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the Games since 1976. McDonalds and Coca-Cola the food and non-alcoholic drink companies will have exclusive branding rights.

The marketing messages to the visitors and billions of viewers is clear; the association of their brands with fit athletes; the pinnacle of sporting achievement, health and success. Professor Tarrence Stevenson, the vice chairman of the Academy of Rural Medical Colleges in Britain has stated the the governments voluntary approach of trusting the food industry to cut calories and advising people on healthy diets was inherently flawed and is failing to tackle obesity. He said ‘it’s very sad that an event that celebrates the very best of athleticism should not be sponsored by companies contributing to the problem and unhealthy habits. Crowle found that 64% of Australian adults surveyed at the beginning of this year agreed that the sponsors such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola undermine the healthy ethos of the Olympic Games. 60% thought that it