Weekend reading: online marketing of soda and alcohol

Vital Strategies has issued two reports about digital marketing of soda and alcohol based on AI analysis of web content: Sick from Scrolling: Protecting the Next Generation from the Flood of Unregulated Social Media Marketing.

Soda and alcohol marketing is flooding social media at a scale that outpaces regulation—embedding brands into sports highlights, influencer content and viral moments that generate billions of impressions…The findings show this marketing is no longer confined to ads—it is woven directly into the content people watch and share every day, creating a constant stream of exposure that largely escapes oversight.

The reports and webinar

I. From Stadiums to Screens: Coca-Cola’s Sportswashing at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup

Researchers found that 795 posts identified by Canary generated an estimated 3.6 billion impressions, highlighting the reach of FIFA sponsorship. Coca-Cola branding was amplified primarily through sports accounts, broadcasters and streaming platforms resharing match footage that captured brand logos embedded in the frame…Every highlight reel functioned as advertising, with clips circulating online indefinitely.

II. Exposing Alcohol’s Advertising Playbook: Digital Marketing in RESET Alcohol Initiative Countries

Alcohol marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation in the digital age, moving from traditional advertising to sophisticated, algorithm-driven strategies that target consumers with unprecedented precision…Researchers found that nearly 4,000 posts…generated an estimated 2 billion impressions, underscoring the enormous reach of online alcohol promotion.

III.  The Webinar on the reports

Comment

Marketing on the web is challenging to analyze and this report performs a great public service in illustrating its scope and reach—and also its merging into content making advertising and content difficult to distinguish.

Regulation, anybody?