Conference Agenda

Much is written about the commercial determinants of tobacco, diet, alcohol use and gambling, including through WHO Europe, but nothing on physical activity. This abstract reports on field-defining work in the commercial determinants of physical activity, presenting an initial classification of the major themes across physical activity areas subject to commercial influences.

These themes developed were: [i] commercial influence on active environments, especially through car manufacturing, urban development, and fossil fuels; [ii] the promotion of small screen time; [iii] the commercial sponsorship of sport and physical activity, sometimes delivered as marketing to distract from companies’ unhealthy products (e.g., Coca-Cola, McDonalds); [iv] programs delivered by the fitness and wellness industries; [v] commercial actors using the ‘concept’ of physical activity / active lifestyles to promote products (active footwear, active leisure clothes); [vi] direct private sector funding of physical activity programs; and [vii] commercial influences on physical activity researcher and scientific evidence.

These areas are mapped against the themes developed in the 2023 Lancet series on commercial determinants of health, but focusing on physical activity; these include political practices, distractor marketing and sportswashing, financial practices, influences on science and publication, and reputational actions by the commercial sector. These exist within the complex intersectoral nature and social determinants of physical activity, as physical activity is not one product or service.

This framework inform global practice and policy, in conceptualising commercial influences as part of the social determinants of physical activity and initiate public health actions to understand and counter these commercial forces.