My name is Aaron Schultz and I am a 41 year old father of two boys from Hobart Tasmania. We love our cricket.
I have had some major concerns for a while now around the high levels of alcohol and fast food promotion in sport and am worried about the effect it has on mine and other people’s children.
For instance, I’m watching the cricket with my son. Michael Slater is in the commentary box and suddenly he’s promoting VB. The game of cricket should promote healthy lifestyles, not alcohol and fast food. The bottom line, children go to the cricket and watch the cricket on telly, and alcohol and fast food is everywhere you turn. As long as it’s in their face, they are only going to want alcohol and fast food.
I have decided to do something about it.
Recently I started a petition directly targeting Cricket Australia to drop their association with their current Alcohol and Fast Food partners Carlton and United Breweries, Coca Cola and KFC. I called it:
Advertising Alcohol and Fast Food through sport is just not cricket!
Kids are being bombarded with messages from these suppliers and having sport used as a vehicle to promote their products is unethical and is sending the wrong message. Although my petition is targeting Cricket Australia, I believe that success with this campaign will discourage other sporting bodies and make them think twice before considering partnering with companies that provide products that are detrimental to people’s health and well being.
To send a clear message to Cricket Australia, I am aiming to have 100,000 on board with my petition by the end of March.
I believe that many parents throughout Australia are concerned about the issues surrounding targeted advertising towards children. What Cricket Australia is doing by partnering with their current sponsors is a concern to all who have kids that have an interest in Cricket and indeed sport in general.
Already I have received widespread support from organisations in the alcohol and other drugs sector.FARE and its blog Drink Tank, Cancer Council Tasmania, as well as mainstream media have covered my story both locally and nationally. However, I need more support to reach my goal.
I hope that you will join me in my journey. I encourage you to take 20 seconds and SIGN MY PETITION and share it with a couple of friends or family members. Together we can make a difference to the health and well being of our kids and our communities around the country.
