Fast food doesn’t make you fast.
It doesn’t build muscle.
And it certainly doesn’t build metabolic health.
When fast-food brands position their products as fuel for “gains”, the problem is not subtle; it is structural. When marketing campaigns position ultra-processed fast food as compatible with fitness and performance, they are not just confusing; they are fundamentally misleading.
A recent campaign released by a well-known fast food restaurant, promoting “protein-packed” fast food, accompanied by highly muscular bodies, gym wear, and slogans like “They hacked it. We backed it” and “11 herbs and gains”, exemplifies a growing trend of the rebranding of unhealthy food through selective nutrient claims and aspirational imagery. This approach stands in direct opposition to what both science and health ethics tell us. This is not just about individual choice. It is about how commercial narratives reshape what populations come to see as normal, acceptable, and aspirational food. This matters because food marketing is becoming more sophisticated, more personalised, and more psychologically targeted. The line between entertainment, fitness culture, and food advertising is becoming increasingly blurred.
The idea that fast food can be positioned as performance fuel ignores a simple reality: fast food doesn’t make you fast. Athletic performance is built on consistent training, recovery, sleep, and diets centred on minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods. No amount of protein branding can override the metabolic effects of ultra-processed food. When fried convenience food is marketed as “fuel for gains”, it doesn’t elevate nutrition; it lowers the bar for what society accepts as healthy.
Overwhelming evidence shows that ultra-processed foods are associated with an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, regardless of whether they contain protein. While protein is an essential component of a healthy body, it can’t counteract deep frying in industrial seed oils or refined starch coatings, not to mention the traditional ‘sides’. Reframing fried fast food as “healthy” because it contains protein ignores the broader nutritional context and misrepresents what real, health-supportive eating looks like.
The use of visibly athletic bodies in this kind of marketing is not accidental; it is a deliberate strategy designed to transfer the values we associate with sport (discipline, health, strength, and success) onto products that do not deliver those outcomes. Evidence shows that pairing unhealthy foods with athletic imagery increases purchase intention, even when the products are nutritionally poor. Sports-linked branding can also create a powerful “health halo,” where consumers perceive unhealthy products as more acceptable or beneficial simply because they are associated with sport or performance. This is particularly concerning for younger audiences, as exposure to unhealthy food marketing, especially when linked to sport or fitness, is associated with a stronger desire and intention to consume those foods, helping to normalise poor-quality nutrition.
As many members of the public rightly pointed out in response to this campaign, this food will never be “healthy”, regardless of how it is styled. If ultra-processed fast food genuinely supported performance, we would expect to see it forming the foundation of elite athlete nutrition strategies. It doesn’t, and that tells us everything.
When corporations blur the line between health and convenience food, the consequences fall disproportionately on communities already struggling with obesity, diabetes, and food insecurity.
The idea that ultra-processed fast food can be “hacked” into health through protein fortification or clever branding undermines decades of nutrition science. Health is not achieved through slogans or selective metrics. It is built through metabolic awareness and honest education.
Because real health doesn’t need to be rebranded, it needs to be respected.
References
Dixon H, Scully M, Wakefield M, Kelly B, Pettigrew S, Chapman K, Niederdeppe J. The impact of unhealthy food sponsorship vs. pro-health sponsorship models on young adults’ food preferences: a randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2018 Dec 20;18(1):1399. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6298-4. PMID: 30572864; PMCID: PMC6302434.
Bragg MA, Liu PJ, Roberto CA, Sarda V, Harris JL, Brownell KD. The use of sports references in marketing of food and beverage products in supermarkets. Public Health Nutr. 2013 Apr;16(4):738-42. doi: 10.1017/S1368980012003163. Epub 2012 Jul 2. PMID: 22874497; PMCID: PMC10271797.
