Business

Fans shown 65,000 junk food ads at World Cup

Coca-Cola had the highest number (21,893), followed by McDonald’s (13,915), Powerade (12,777), and Lay’s – the crisps manufacturer known as Walkers in the UK – (12,087).

Published

1 day ago

September 22, 2026

OCHEFA

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Football fans were shown a “constant bombardment” of advertisements promoting junk food and drinks during matches at the 2026 Fifa World Cup, according to a new study.

BBC reported that researchers at the University of Bristol and University of Oxford created an AI tool to analyse ads which were visible to television viewers during live play in the tournament’s 104 matches, mostly displayed on pitchside advertising boards and around stadiums in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

They found that logos and products for brands that produce junk food and drinks – defined by the UK government as being high in fat, salt or sugar – were displayed 65,722 times in total.

And the study also found that those adverts were visible for 28.1 hours’ time across the tournament, or just over 16% of the total time that matches were being played.

The ads were all shown on the international feed of matches during play – meaning they were visible to every viewer in every country broadcasting matches – and do not include ads shown during pre-match coverage, half-time commercial breaks, or the controversial in-match hydration breaks.

The model used by the researchers estimated that there were an average of 576 visible ads for junk food and drink shown during each individual match.

Coca-Cola had the highest number (21,893), followed by McDonald’s (13,915), Powerade (12,777), and Lay’s – the crisps manufacturer known as Walkers in the UK – (12,087).

All four brands are official partners of world football governing body Fifa, with the Powerade energy drink owned by the Coca-Cola company.

In response to the findings, Fifa argued that the vast majority of its revenue is put back into football, including on projects promoting health and wellbeing in which thousands of people participate.

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Airtel Money Targets October Listing On London Stock Exchange

Airtel Money’s parent company is Airtel Africa, a telecoms provider that is part of the Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises, which is ultimately controlled by the billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Published

32 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

OCHEFA

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Airtel Money, the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa, has concluded plans to float on the London Stock Exchange in October.

Airtel Money’s chief executive, Ian Ferrao, made the disclosure Wednesday emphasising that the company would announce more details about the float in early October, including the indicative price range and number of shares to be offered, with final pricing to follow later in the month.

Airtel Africa had originally targeted a listing in the first six months of 2026 but delayed it to the second half of the year, blaming unfavourable market conditions as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Several other companies also pushed back planned IPOs amid the market volatility caused by the conflict.

The company is hoping to raise about $800m (£601m) from the initial public offering (IPO) and is targeting a valuation of $8bn to $9bn, which would make it one of London’s largest listings in recent years.

Airtel Money has 53 million monthly active users across 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It operates through a network of branches and kiosks, which enable customers to load money on to their phones, withdraw cash and access other money services, and the company generated revenues of just under $1.4bn in the last financial year.

Business

Cardoso Says Multiple FX Windows Cost Nigeria 3% of GDP, Higher Than Fuel Subsidy

Before the CBN introduced FX reforms in 2023 to unify exchange rates, Nigeria had different channels through which dollars could be bought and sold. Different rates applied to different users and transactions.

Published

6 hours ago

September 23, 2026

OCHEFA

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Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Olayemi Cardoso has estimated that Nigeria lost about three per cent of its gross domestic product to multiple foreign exchange windows.

Mr Cardoso spoke in Abuja on Tuesday while answering questions after the 307th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.

He put the losses from the fuel subsidy regime at about 2.2 per cent of GDP, meaning the two distortions together cost the country roughly 5.2 per cent of GDP.

The committee cut the benchmark Monetary Policy Rate to 23 per cent from 26.5 per cent, a decision the governor described as an important operational realignment aimed at strengthening monetary policy transmission.

Mr Cardoso compared the cost of the old exchange rate system to the fuel subsidy, which he said was already a staggering amount of money.

The losses that we were making as a result of these multiple exchange rate windows was more. It was 3 per cent of GDP. So between those, you had 5.2 per cent of GDP lost,” he said.