Apparently Peyton Manning Is The Best Junk Food Endorser
And you thought Beyoncé was hot in the food ad world. A new study from researchers at Yale found that Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is the most effective spokesperson for junk food, having more of a negative effect on Americans' diets than, say, Kris Humphries.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that Manning, followed by Serena Williams and LeBron James, were the highest ranked spokespersons who had the unhealthiest endorsements. Manning tends to go for things like Oreos, Papa John's Pizza, and Gatorade, rather than apples and carrots. The ranking looked at product endorsements form 100 athletes (so Beyoncé didn't count; we may still be right!), looking at athletes based on endorsement values and prominence.
Then, the study examined the nutritional values of what products these athletes were shilling for. Of all the 512 brands endorsed by those athletes, 23.8 percent were food and drink brands. Sadly, 79 percent of those products were considered "energy-dense and nutrient-poor," and 93 percent of the drinks had calories mostly from sugar.