“Schools Shouldn’t Be Billboards for Junk Food”

Think back to your school days.

Think about Sports Day, the Boys’ and Girls’ Championships in Jamaica, or the CARIFTA Games: championship banners around the cricket field, a free drink after your race, a tent with refreshments, and company logos on the scoreboard, programme, or medals.

For many people in the Caribbean, these moments evoke nostalgia, community, and celebration. But they also make us wonder about something we may not have thought about before: What are children really being exposed to, and who benefits from that exposure?

The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that our health is shaped long before we ever go to a hospital. Where we are born, learn, play, and grow is a social determinant of health, and it often affects our future health. Schools are therefore among the most important places for public health. But across the Caribbean, schools have also turned into valuable places for marketing. To be clear, this is not an argument against sponsorship.

Schools need help. Governments cannot shoulder every financial burden, and corporate partners have helped fund sports programmes, scholarships, music festivals, laboratories, and countless opportunities that might otherwise not have existed. Many businesses genuinely want to invest in young people, and those contributions deserve recognition. But let’s also acknowledge something equally true. Sponsorship is never simply generosity. It is marketing.

Companies spend millions on sponsorships because it works. If putting a logo on a Sports Day banner or handing out branded gifts didn’t affect what people buy, businesses wouldn’t keep doing it. Marketing builds familiarity, trust, loyalty, and eventually, sales. Behavioural scientists call this the “mere exposure effect.” Just seeing a brand repeatedly makes us more likely to remember it, trust it, and choose it later. Children are especially vulnerable because they are still learning how advertising works.

The evidence is clear. The WHO, UNICEF, and many studies have found that marketing unhealthy foods and drinks makes children more likely to recognise brands, prefer certain foods, ask for them, and eat them. It shapes what kids ask their parents to buy, what they think is normal, and what they end up eating.

So those colourful logos on marketing paraphernalia are more than just decorations. They are investments. And they are often excellent investments. This matters because the Caribbean is dealing with one of the fastest-growing childhood obesity problems in the world. About 80% of deaths in the region are now caused by diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. These illnesses are appearing earlier in life.

Regional data shows that childhood overweight and obesity are still rising in CARICOM countries. In Jamaica, almost one in four children aged 5 to 9 is overweight or obese, and some nearby Caribbean countries report rates as high as two out of every five children. These numbers are not just statistics; they show a generation growing up with a higher risk of lifelong illness.

The irony is difficult to ignore. Our schools teach healthy eating. Our health professionals encourage physical activity. Our ministries invest millions in preventing chronic diseases. Yet the same environments designed to nurture healthy children often become platforms where brands associated with products high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats gain credibility through repeated exposure. This is precisely why the Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s “Make It Make Sense” campaign is so important. It challenges us to ask a simple but powerful question: If schools exist to protect and develop children, should they also serve as marketing spaces for products that contribute to poor health? The answer should guide what we do next.

Notice what the campaign is not saying. It is not attacking schools. It is not dismissing corporate generosity. It is not suggesting schools refuse much-needed support. Instead, it asks whether we can do better. Could banks, tech companies, phone providers, renewable energy firms, bookstores, or other businesses that promote health become better partners for schools? Could governments offer incentives for healthier sponsorships? Could businesses keep supporting schools without tying their help to marketing unhealthy products? These are practical options worth pursuing.

These are not anti-business questions. They are public health questions. Barbara McGaw from the Heart Foundation of Jamaica summed it up well: “Supporting children should never come at the expense of their health.” Youth advocate Shannique Bowden also calls unhealthy food marketing to children a child rights issue, saying young people deserve places that put their well-being before business interests.

Perhaps the most important point is this: this conversation is bigger than food. It is about how we define health. For years, we have thought of health as something that starts in clinics and hospitals. But research now shows that’s not true. Health is shaped in our homes, communities, workplaces, policies, and schools. Every choice that affects a child’s environment is, in some way, a health choice.

Social determinants of health are more than abstract concepts; they define our lives, shape our futures, and determine whether we thrive or struggle. So the question isn’t whether schools should receive sponsorship. Of course they should. The real question is whether we have the creativity, determination, and shared responsibility to choose sponsorships that help children now while protecting their health in the future. That is the standard we should set. We should choose the sponsorships that do both.

Offniel Lamont is a Sports Medicine Physiotherapist and Public Health Youth Advocate with Healthy Caribbean Youth (HCY), Jamaica Health Advocates – Youth Arm (JHAYA) and Fix My Food Jamaica (UNICEF Jamaica).

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