be grown locally as opposed to grown in the wider country or imported (Remar et al., 2016). This is vital information when it comes to food marketing and helps companies make informed decisions about their food marketing strategies. Food marketing via sponsorships Corporate spending on sponsorship worldwide grew 5.1% in 2015 reaching $57.5 billion, with the biggest spenders on sponsorships being food and beverage giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, spending $350m and $290m respectively. Professional sporting events are primary targets for food companies when utilising sponsorship as a form a marketing communication, however sports organisations are increasingly demanding high prices for access to their exploitable marketing rights. Food and beverage company MillerCoors were willing to spend $3.8m for a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl XLVII. Global food brand have also been seen to increase their marketing effort through sponsorships of amateur sporting events. In 2010 Yum! Brands paid $13.5m to name a university basketball stadium the ‘bucket’, creating the KFC stadium, similarly Papa John's purchased the naming rights of a college stadium for $5M. Food companies are also investing millions into individual athletes in return for accesses to their exploitable commercial potential. Peyton Manning reportedly earns $10M per year from sponsorship alone, with the highest percentage of sponsorship coming from Papa John's and Gatorade; similarly Kobe Bryant’s sponsorship from McDonald's was reportedly worth $12M. Ethics of sponsorship strategies With regards to marketing according to Liaw and Tam (2015), ethics deals with moral principles behind the operation of marketing. The main ethical issue surrounding sponsorship being utilised as a form of marketing communication by food companies is the sponsorship of sport from perceived unhealthy food and beverage companies, such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Olympics. Although different in many ways, similarities have been drawn between the marketing practices of tobacco companies and the food industry. At major sporting events, customers are exposed to a multitude of food-related sponsorship, with sponsorship associated with products classed as unhealthy twice as common as those classed as healthy (32.7% versus 15.5%). Sponsorships of sport from food or beverage companies that are perceived as unhealthy pose great health concern, often being cited as a contributing factor leading to an energy-dense and nutrient poor diet. Other ethical concerns with sponsorship being used as a marketing tactic by food companies include; the specific targeting of youths, sponsorship from alcohol brands and the misconceptions created through sponsorships by