In the world of the Olympics, swifter, higher, stronger means consuming junk food and beer

MEDIA & MARKETING:International Olympics Committee finds gold in less-than-healthy fast food and drink products, writes Siobhán O'Connell

FOR AN event featuring the world's greatest athletes, it's curious that Olympic sponsors should include some less-than-healthy food and drink products. Even some of the Olympics' best-known faces are not shy about endorsing the fast food and soft drink brands.

Record-breaking swimmer Michael Phelps is the picture of muscular health - just the image burger chain McDonald's likes to associate with. Phelps is McDonald's global ambassador for its Champion Kids programme, a connection that American consumers are sure to hear a lot more about when Phelps returns in glory from China. McDonald's and Coca-Cola are two of the 12 main sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, having paid $70 million for the privilege.

McDonald's has been the official restaurant of the Olympic Games since 1980. Four official McDonald's Olympic restaurants have been opened in Beijing, including one in the Olympic village.

To promote its partnership with the Olympics, McDonald's has rolled out Chinese-inspired menu items in some markets, including a "Beijing Burger" and rice sticks. In Ireland, television advertisements have been running in recent weeks promoting the restaurant chain's new Oriental menu offering.

Coca-Cola has been an Olympics sponsor for longer than any other corporation and, if you want a soft drink at Olympics venues, Coke is it and nothing else. In China, the brand's advertising activity centres on "shuang" - Chinese for "physical, emotional and spiritual refreshment". Coke products in China are adorned with the message "delicious happiness", a phrase derived from the Chinese symbols used to represent the Coke trademark in China.

Bending its code of having one supplier per category, the Beijing Olympics has three beer companies as sponsors - Budweiser and local brews Tsingtao and Yanjing. On sale in Olympics-themed beer gardens around Beijing are Budweiser cans in gold, silver and bronze.

The Washington-based Multinational Monitor and Commercial Alert argues there is a "basic disconnect" between these junk food and beer sponsors and the Olympics' commitment to "exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind". However, the International Olympics Committee stopped taking those concerns on board a long time ago.

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There were mixed fortunes for British mass market women's magazines in the Audit Bureau of Circulations report for the first half of 2008. The lifestyle and fashion sector fared well, growing 21 per cent year-on-year.

Fashion monthly Glamour, is now the bestselling women's title, with a circulation of 551,000. In second place is Cosmopolitan, with average issue sales of 471,000, up 4 per cent. The largest increase in circulation was enjoyed by Psychologies, which added 15 per cent for an average issue sale of 151,000.

Women's weeklies aren't doing so well, with the sector down 6 per cent. Hardest hit was More, down 38 per cent to 163,000. In the celebrity category, sales of OK! increased 9 per cent year-on-year to 607,000. Hello has an average weekly sale of 427,000, while Heat sells 470,000, down 16 per cent on 2007.

Unfortunately, there is no way of finding out exactly what portion of British magazine sales occur in the Republic as the ABC does not break out sales for this country. Informed sources indicate that about 25,000 copies of Glamour are supplied to Irish newsagents each month and OK! sold 67,000 copies of its summer issue featuring the wedding of Wayne and Coleen Rooney.

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Dr Edward De Bono and Ronan Harris, online sales and operations director, Google Europe, are among the confirmed speakers at a seminar titled Digital Media Engagement '08, which will take place in the Burlington Hotel on November 13th. For details phone: 01 2846096.

• siobhan@businessplus.ie