Naomi stands up for Health

As you likely saw in the headlines, Naomi Osaka pulled out of the French Open prior to her second round match after the tournament fined her $15,000 for not appearing at a mandatory press conference. In her statement, Naomi explained she has been suffering from depression since winning the 2018 US Open and that press conferences exacerbate her mental health. 

I am hopeful that the authenticity Naomi showed, in the name of health, proves to be an inflection point for professional athletes to raise the bar for their role in championing health. I see a tension point in today’s market where professional athletes who are personally investing in peak performance fueled by optimal nutrition are also promoting heavily processed foods to their fans.  Gen Z is highly tuned into authentic messages. This could become a brand risk for Athletes promoting one thing and doing another.

Most of Naomi’s corporate sponsors quickly rallied to support her publicly. Nathaniel Ru, Sweetgreen’s chief brand officer, posted a WSJ article on LinkedIn with the tagline, “mental health - is health. Proud to stand with Naomi.” I was intrigued to see Sweetgreen sign Naomi because I’ve followed how she is using her platform to be vocal about social issues. 

For those of you who are not familiar, Sweetgreen is a fast fresh restaurant with a mission to participate in building healthier communities by connecting people to real food. It has experienced steady growth since its launch in 2007, in part, because US coastal city-dwellers find their food offerings to be delicious, convenient, and nutritious. At $13-15 a meal, it’s not widely affordable, but it is a model for what good could look like. Everytable, a Los Angeles based, quick service restaurant has a highly geo-local pricing strategy that serves as an example of how nutrient dense foods can be delicious, convenient, nutritious, AND more affordable. 

Affordable nutrition is a critical tool to improve health. Defining what affordable nutrition means and the role athlete endorsements will play in messaging it remains an ongoing experiment. I foresee a call to action around elevating the role an athlete plays at the intersection of food equity and fan health. During the NCAA Basketball tournament in March, the NCAA was publicly shamed for feeding female athletes food of worse quality than what was being offered to the men. More recently, the Oakland Athletics had to answer for food that the organization described as, “completely unacceptable” to their minor league players. If fans today are outraged and inspire change when informed about food inequity athletes face, will we also see the general public begin to show outrage when athletes endorse high-sugar, heavily processed food products? 

In 2019, Lebron James opened the I Promise School in his hometown. I am thankful for his leadership within his hometown community to positively impact about 250 kids annually. However, some of his endorsement deals encourage kids across the world to consume excess sugar. This endorsement is disappointing to me because it’s in complete conflict with how he feeds his own body. No man or woman capable of investing more than $1M annually on maintaining his or her physical performance would regularly consume the products he endorses.

Lebron is one of the biggest influencers in this space, but he’s not alone. Prior to the Super Bowl in 2021, a highly entertaining commercial aired hosted by Marshawn Lynch (another hometown hero serving the under-served) encouraging fans to “Don’t forget the chips!” In the commercial, the NFL lends some of its generational icons to encourage fans to eat chips right before another ad about its “Play 60” initiative which encourages kids to be physically active. This commercial is another example of personal performance and commercial brand endorsement conflict. I am not arguing that we should never have chips, soda, or other indulgent foods but rather thinking about a near future when and if the standards of peak athletic performance will start to enter endorsement deal conversations. Gen Z, the youngest consumer generation, values authenticity in messaging. Athletes should begin to consider food and beverage alignment with their brand values in order to avoid the risk of inauthentic endorsements.

My hope is that as athletes and other celebrities like Naomi stand up for health, their actions encourage peers and brands to evaluate their market positions. Individuals and commercial brands are still early enough to act proactively with regard to food and health outcomes. This landscape will shift tremendously by the end of 2022 and early winners and losers will be clear. By then, brands will either be reinforcing existing messages or reacting to limit the damage.